Just as in cricket, the best way to bat away life’s curved balls is to be prepared for them beforehand.

What does that mean in life, outside cricket?

- Have a good (insurance) plan, so you don’t get 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙙 when a curve ball does hit.

- Know the 𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 to help understand your risks – Pre-mature death at the 𝙎𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨, Traumatic health event at 𝙜𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮, unexpected medical costs at 𝙢𝙞𝙙 𝙤𝙛𝙛, unable to work due to a disability at 𝙢𝙞𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙩, etc.

- Make sure you are covered 𝙬𝙞𝙙𝙚-ly from more than a few angles and 𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙨 – Life, trauma, medical and disability insurances.

- Source your insurances through an experienced and knowledgeable 𝙬𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙩 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙧 (a non-aligned insurance advisor that can source the top products and companies at the most competitive price).

- Good quality, well designed products will help 𝙗𝙖𝙞𝙡 you out at these crucial times and avoid you being in a down and 𝙤𝙪𝙩 position.

- A well sourced insurance product prevents 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙨 at claim time.
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So now, you are ready to bat away happily through life 😊😊

Bought insurance directly?

You sure it doesn't look like this?

Talk to us and make sure it doesn't.

Recently I visited one of my clients for their insurance review.

I had not seen them for a while and as I got into explaining once again all the benefits included in their insurances, we came up to the Trauma Insurance which covers serious illnesses, like heart attacks, strokes, cancers, etc.

At that point the husband turns around and says “I had a heart attack a couple of years ago”.

Imagine my surprise at not being informed of this at that time. It seems that being caught up in all the dramatic events at that time with all the running around to Hospitals and Specialists, they had completely overlooked getting in touch with me to inquire about any insurance assistance.

 Now the question being, would there be a legitimate claim since the event had happened 2 years ago?

 I promptly organised all the paperwork to put in their claim and since their insurances were with a very good quality provider, on my express recommendation, a short time later, to their utter joy and relief, I could get back to them with the good news – their claim had been approved and their bank balance would be a lot, lot healthier in a couple of days.

Till the next post – eat well, sleep well, live well – and insure well.

Some nasty exclusions may be hidden there. Here's an example.

An exclusion on a Bank Life insurance policy which states that the insured person is not covered if the death is caused by an illegal act.

In New Zealand, we do not have a reminder system to renew our licenses when they expire. We have it for our Rego and sometimes WOFs but not for Drivers Licenses, and since these licenses are issued over long periods of time like 5 and 10 years, when it does expire, there is a very high chance that you will have driven around for quite some time before it comes to your attention that you are driving without a currently valid license.

Now if you die from an accident whilst driving at such a time, that Insurance policy may very easily decline a claim because you were driving illegally.

Worth the chance?

The policies we organise do not have these  exclusions.

Any Occupation, Own Occupation.
These words are definitions within a Total & Permanent Disability product which is designed to pay out a lump sum amount when the insured is totally and permanently disabled.

Now look at the 2 sentences below.

• "We will pay out your insured amount if you are deemed to be totally and permanently disabled, whereby you can never get back to doing any work/occupation."
• "We will pay out your insured amount if you are deemed to be totally and permanently disabled, whereby you can never get back to doing your own work/occupation."

Now, how do the above 2 statements differ?
There is one main word which is different in both statements which changes the implications for a client at claim time dramatically. The statement with the word 'Any' is far inferior to the word 'Own'.
Let me explain further. Total Permanent Disability (known as TPD in the industry) comes with 2 types of definitions:

1.  Own Occupation – Pays out when the insured is Totally and Permanently disabled to the extent that he or she is incapable of ever getting back to doing their own job/occupation that they were in prior to the disability.
2. Any Occupation – Pays out when the insured is Totally and Permanently disabled to the extent that he or she is incapable of ever getting back to doing their own and any other job/occupation.

Let's look at an example. Let's say a qualified professional like a Doctor, Lawyer, accountant, Builder, etc has got a TPD product and they incur a disability which makes them incapable of ever doing their job. They are still capable of doing some other type of job like data entry or working at a fast food joint.
Guess how their claim will be looked at if they have a product with the Any occupation definition? Yes, no claim as they can still do some other job.
The Own Occupation definition would pay out on the claim.
Now most of these 'Any Occupation' types of definitions are the only definitions in Policies which are sold directly to the public (online or through Banks) with no Adviser in the middle to look out for these fish hooks.
So why would you risk buying these insurances directly and get caught out when you can consult a professional Adviser for no cost?
Or in other words, why would you self-medicate through the internet for an ailment when the Doctor's home visit is free?

Insurance policies are very different from provider to provider and the inferior ones can have some nasty hooks. Almost all of the nasty ones are sold directly to consumers through the internet or over the counter sales like Banks because they know the lay person would not have a clue about these dangers. They are not sold through professional Advisors as these policies wouldn't stand a chance of being recommended to their clients.

Let's look at one such example.
An exclusion on a Bank Life insurance policy which states that the insured person is not covered if the death is caused by an illegal act.
In New Zealand, we do not have a reminder system to renew our licenses when they expire. We have it for our Rego and sometimes WOFs but not for Drivers Licenses, and since these licenses are issued over long periods of time like 5 and 10 years, when it does expire, there is a very high chance that you will have driven around for quite some time before it comes to your attention that you are driving without a currently valid license. Now if you die from an accident whilst driving at such a time, that Insurance policy can very easily decline a claim because you were driving illegally.
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HAVE A THINK ABOUT THAT.
Now is it worth rolling the dice and buying these sorts of policies directly or is it better to go through a non aligned Insurance Advisor to get free advice (they would not charge you any fees as they get paid commissions from the providers) and get the best product without such wordings for a similar price that you would anyway pay for the directly sourced shonky ones?