News - Insurance

Life insurances can be pretty confusing. There are so many products out there, and you never quite know which ones are best for you. And then, having decided on the type of insurance, there's the question of how much should you insure for? And when should you start with life insurance? One thing is for sure, however, living without any form of life-based insurance cover leaves your personal and business finances in a dangerous position. One of the most common ways of falling into debt is through the unexpected need to replace a lost or damaged asset that was not insured, and your greatest asset is your ability to earn. If that was suddenly removed from you, debt could quickly follow.

If we were buying a new appliance or vehicle, we'd shop around. If we wanted some new computer gear or were renovating our kitchen, we'd look for the best deal. So why don't we do that with insurance? I  t seems many New Zealanders think of insurance as coming in a fixed package at a fixed price, but there are some practical things you can do to save money on your insurances. Here are six hot tips.

There are a number of key things to remember when driving a car: always put on your seat belt, give way to traffic on the right, and make sure you've read the fine print of your insurance policy documents. These days you’d have to be pretty foolish to drive around without insurance. Damaging your car, or even worse, someone else’s, without insurance is a fast-track to debt. But something so many drivers forget is that even having insurance is not always a get-out-of-jail-free card. Your insurance policy will have so many special clauses and exclusions to give your insurer all they need to deny your claims, and put you out of pocket. Here are a few key exclusions to remember.

Sometimes it’s easy to feel like insurance is a waste of money, particularly if we’ve never made a claim. Before you get to thinking this way, however, remind yourself what insurance is for. When we purchase insurance, we’re purchasing a product. It’s like when we pay for groceries or petrol or a new television. In the case of insurance, we’re buying protection for our assets and for our financial future. A simple fact of life is this, unfortunate things happen. These things happen when we least expect them, and often catch us completely by surprise. In New Zealand today, one of the most common ways people fall into debt is through the unexpected need to replace a lost or damaged asset that was not insured. Here’s a general rule to bear in mind: anything you need for day to day living, which you could not replace with cash if you lost it, needs to be insured. In general, that boils down to three things: your home, your house contents, and your vehicle.