Common questions

No. We are not a financial adviser, a financial advice provider, a broker or an insurer, and nothing on this site is financial advice. The disclosure page quotes the sections of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 that draw that line and explains where each part of this site sits.

An information site. We describe kinds of cover in general, publish factual information with its source attached, and run a calculator that shows its arithmetic. If you want advice about your own situation we recommend that you get it from somebody licensed, which the Act expressly says is not itself financial advice.

A flat referral fee paid by one adviser firm, for each introduction it accepts. Nothing from insurers, no advertising, nothing for sale. The disclosure page has the detail, including why the fee is flat rather than a share of any premium.

No. The fee comes out of the adviser firm's own revenue and is not linked to what you buy or what it costs.

Nobody, unless you fill in the referral form and tick the consent box — then one named adviser firm, and nowhere else. We do not sell leads, do not send details to several advisers and run no marketing list. The calculator sends nothing anywhere.

Yes, all of it. There is no gate, no account and no email-for-the-result anywhere.

No. It adds up numbers you type and subtracts other numbers you type, with the sum printed underneath. It recommends no product, no insurer and no cover type, and it never says you need an amount. Here is what it assumes and ignores.

Two reasons. Best for whom — it depends entirely on your health, budget and circumstances. And doing it would be an opinion about acquiring a particular financial advice product, which is regulated financial advice. Our insurer list is alphabetical and carries no ratings.

Because we could not find a New Zealand source we were willing to reproduce. The cost page sets out every source we checked and what was wrong with each, and links to the one dated comparison that exists.

The organisation. No personal byline, no photograph and no link to anybody's personal site.

That is a question about your situation, which makes it advice, and we are not allowed to answer it — nor should a website try. What we can do is explain what each kind of cover does and introduce you to someone licensed to answer it properly.

We do not publish a typical figure, because we could not source one for New Zealand. The calculator runs a common rule of thumb on your own numbers and shows the working, which is a more honest answer than an average.

Life cover pays a lump sum on death. Income protection pays a monthly amount while illness or injury stops you working, and it pays while you are alive. Different triggers, different shapes, different jobs. See the cover pages.

ACC covers personal injury caused by accident and says plainly it is unable to support conditions that are not injury related, such as general illness. What that gap is worth to you is an advice question. ACC and income protection quotes ACC on the detail.

We do not answer this, and that is deliberate. Inland Revenue has no page we could load that states it plainly for a beneficiary; its insurance payouts page says only that insurance payouts are generally excluded income, then carves out income protection and personal sickness policies. Ask Inland Revenue or an accountant. It is on the list of what we dropped.

Advice, so not ours to give. What is useful in general: check whether the document is a lump sum sized to the loan or cover for the repayments, and whether the money would go to you or to the lender. Mortgage protection explained.

Non-disclosure is one of the common reasons claims fail, and it is usually accidental rather than dishonest. If you think something was missed on an application you already hold, raise it with the insurer or an adviser rather than leaving it.