How to know you have the right insurance cover - Life Insurances How to know you have the right insurance cover - Life Insurances Contact Us Which life-insurance should I go for? Term life insurance or a whole of life policy, which one should you go for? The obvious advantage of a whole of life policy is that it's like a savings account. You pay your premiums, and at a certain age you get something back. The disadvantage is that, for all that time, the premiums are higher. The question to ask when deciding which policy to go for is this, "If I go for the cheaper (term life insurance) policy, what will I do with the money saved?" If the answer is that you would squander it, then an endowment policy with the compulsory savings component is perfect for you. If, however, you're able to be more disciplined and put that money aside in some sort of investment for the future, then you might consider doing that and going for a term life policy. Insurances to protect your income: We almost always insure our most valuable assets-it's crazy not to! So, you've probably taken out insurance on your house, your car, your possessions... but none of these are your most valuable asset. Your most valuable asset is your ability to earn an income, and this needs to be protected because without it, you cannot pay your bills. There are two ways to protect your income: Income protection insurance, sometimes called disability insurance. Most income protection policies will, in the event of you being unable to work as a result of illness or injury, pay you up to 75% of your previous taxable income for a pre-specified term. As part of the policy, you can usually choose a stand-down period of four, eight, or 13 weeks before any income is paid out. The length of stand-down you select will be reflected in the premium you are charged - the longer the stand-down, the lower the premium. So, income protection means you continue to get a weekly payment despite being unable to work. Trauma or crisis insurance, sometimes referred to as critical illness insurance. This policy provides a lump sum on the diagnosis of certain specified critical conditions such as, serious cancer, heart disease and stroke. Some people say, it's like life insurance, but you don't have to die! What this means is, if you're seriously ill and need to take time off work, you'll be paid a lump sum to help with medical expenses, living expenses etc. That lump sum is agreed at the time you purchase the policy and, the greater the lump sum, the higher the policy premiums. So, in short, income protection pays a percentage of your income; trauma insurance pays a lump sum. Do I need to protect my income? The simple answer to this is, "Yes." Everyone needs to protect their income in case of an accident or illness. However, when considering income protection insurance you need to consider the value of it by weighing up your income, occupation and any offsets such as ACC payments and the like. For instance, if you are earning $40,000 per year, it may be that you would be eligible for that amount via a sickness benefit should you become ill. It nullifies the need for income protection insurance. One thing is for sure: Whenever you take out insurance, read all documents carefully so you know what's covered and what's not. To get proper advice on life insurances we recommend that you speak to an accredited insurance agent. 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. Here's Futurisk's quick guide to life-based insurances. In terms of life-based insurances there are two aspects of cover you should consider to avoid potential debt for yourself or your dependents. The first is life insurance; this protects your dependents in the case of anything happening to you. The second is income protection insurance; this protects you and your dependents in a situation where you are unable to work because of some sort of illness. Let's look at these insurances more closely: Life insurances: The important thing to remember about life insurance is that it's not for you. Sure, it's your life that's insured, but the policy is for the benefit of your dependents. It's to ensure that they are able to live with some quality of lifestyle in the event that you're not there to provide for them. There are two types of life insurance policy: Term life insurance: Term life insurance agrees to pay your dependents or your estate an agreed amount if you die. The policy usually runs for a set term. That means, when you reach a certain age the cover ceases. You know longer pay premiums and you're no longer covered. Most people choose an age of about 65, a time when they no longer have children dependent on them, and have some income because they're receiving the pension. Because the insurance company realises the chance of you dying before this age is relatively slim, premiums are adjusted accordingly. This is why the premiums are usually lower than for the second type of life insurance. Whole of life or endowment insurance: Whole of life insurance (sometimes called endowment insurance) tends to be more expensive than straight life insurance because it combines life insurance with a savings or investment component. Endowment policies still mature when you reach a previously nominated age (usually 65), but you receive a lump sum. At that point the policy and premium payments cease. If you die before reaching that age, your estate receives the agreed insurance pay-out. View next post At Futurisk, we work for you, not the insurer. So when it’s time to make a claim, we’ve got your back. We’ve got your back Enquire Now Freephone 0800 17 18 19

How to decide before you buy something How to decide before you buy something Contact Us THREE: What will this item really cost me? If ever you decide to buy something on credit, the first question you should ask it this: "What will this actually cost me?" Recently I saw a lap-top that I'd quite like. It cost around $1,000. But there was a deal - the store said I could have it for just $10 a week spread over three years. $10 a week didn't seem much, until I worked it out. Spread over three years, $10 a week is a lot more than $1,000 - it's $1,560! You see what I mean? It wasn't such a great deal after all. I was paying one and a half times what the lap-top would have cost if I paid cash. Avoid purchasing anything on credit, but if you do, calculate the actual cost of the item - it may make you change your mind! FOUR: What can't I have if I buy this? We all have a limited amount of money to spend. That means, when we spend money on one item, we have to go without something else. So, before you buy anything ask yourself, "What is it that I won't be able to afford to buy?" Then ask which of those items you'd rather have. Remember this, if we buy a luxury item with cash, but then have to put our weekly groceries or petrol on our credit card, we have, in effect, gone into debt for that luxury item. FIVE: Will buying this item blow my budget? This question is like a summary question of the previous four. Living without a budget is dangerous for our personal finances. But a budget is only worth anything if we stick to it. So, if you don't have the available money to buy that treat, put off buying it until you do, it could save a lot of heartache in the long term. If you'd like any advice on your personal or business finances, contact the team at Futurisk. "Your money is burning a hole in your pocket." That's a phrase my mother used to use. It's another way of saying, sometimes we just feel like buying something! And, we've all felt like that at some time or another. We're down at the mall and we see something we'd like. We say to ourselves, "I've got to have that, and it only costs..." The reality is this, every time we purchase anything it impinges on our future lifestyle and living standard. That's why we need to pause and ask ourselves a few searching questions before we pull out our eft-pos card. Here's Futurisk's five questions to ask before you buy anything: ONE: Do I really need this? Impulse buying can quickly lead to regret, especially when a credit card is used. While there's nothing wrong with buying the occasional luxury, we need to ensure those purchases are within our budget. The best thing to do is set aside some money for those treat-type items, and stick to your budget no matter what! TWO: If I buy this, will I go into debt? The answer to this question is always, "yes," unless you're buying with cash, eft-pos or debit card, or you can clear your credit card before the next due date. New Zealand is facing a debt crisis and this is the number one way ordinary New Zealanders get themselves into trouble with their personal finances;we overspend on our credit cards. It only takes a small luxury here and another small one there, and before you know it - you're struggling to repay your credit card debt. The simple rule is - avoid going into debt View next post At Futurisk, we work for you, not the insurer. So when it’s time to make a claim, we’ve got your back. We’ve got your back Enquire Now Freephone 0800 17 18 19

Top tips for keeping your house warm this winter Top tips for keeping your house warm this winter Contact Us Opening the curtains during the day is also a good idea. We often think that open curtains during daylight hour means losing all your precious heat during the day, but opening the curtains makes the most of the sun - the most effective and affordable heater known to man. Just make sure you remember to close them when the sun goes down. Closing unused rooms is another effective method to prevent your precious heat being wasted. If you're not intending to use certain rooms for the rest of the day, close the doors. That way your heat stays where you want it to be. Bear floor boards are a welcome invitation for the cold, and account for as much as 10 percent of heat loss. Wooden floors are the worst for leaking heat, but this can be prevented, or at least minimised, by placing rugs and blankets over the floor. This also has the added bonus of keeping your feet warmer too. If you're keen to know how you can further prevent heat loss in your home, get up and walk around on a cold evening. Are there drafts coming from outside? From beneath doors? From between the floorboards? Have a think about what you could do to keep your house warmer this winter without splashing the cash! Reference NZFSG Keeping your house warm over winter can be hard. It can cost a small fortune to generate enough heat to get your house warm, and then there are so many ways for cold air to take its place. Luckily there are some affordable and simple ways to keep your house warm this winter that don't require a big budget or a degree in rocket science. Thick curtains are great for trapping your heat inside, and curtains with thermal lining are even better. But if you have only got standard curtains in the house, there are a couple of tricks you can use to maximize their heat retention. Thermal lining can be expensive, but other materials, such as cheap fleece, can be almost as effective. Just line the backs of your curtains with some fleece from your local fabric shop, and you'll be able to see the difference. In fact, you can even use an old PVC shower curtain to do the same thing. And it's not just the windows that need to be covered. Doors are notorious for leaking heat, so putting a curtain over your door might be a good idea too. And why not put a rug or folded towel at the foot of the door to stop your precious heat leaving the room. View next post At Futurisk, we work for you, not the insurer. So when it’s time to make a claim, we’ve got your back. We’ve got your back Enquire Now Freephone 0800 17 18 19

Do you have an emergency nest egg? Do you have an emergency nest egg? Contact Us Most financial gurus and advisers these days recommend having a separate account that’s just for emergencies, and they’re not hard to set up. In fact, most banks will let you do it online. Just log in to your banking website and create a brand new internet account.But having the account is only half the job – now it just needs some money. Because many people live from pay day to pay day, putting a couple of hundred dollars aside into your emergency account is much easier said than done. Instead, consider starting an automatic payment, so every week or fortnight even as little as $5 is transferred into your emergency account without you having to do anything. $5 doesn't sound like much, but within 10 weeks you’ll have more than enough to put petrol in your car and buy some lunch if your pay doesn't come through. One of the key pieces of advice given about keeping an emergency accounts is to make it a little harder to access than your regular accounts. If you had a card in your wallet that had access to your emergency account, the temptation to spend the money would be too great. Instead, make it so that the only way to access that money is to have to transfer it from the special account into your regular account. So next time you need some emergency cash in a hurry, all you’ll need to do is whip out your smartphone, transfer some money and you’ll be away laughing. Earlier this year this was a glitch with ANZ’s payment system, and a whole lot of New Zealanders woke up on payday to discover they hadn't been paid. It didn't take long for the issue to be resolved, and everyone was paid by lunchtime, but the ANZ Facebook page was still inundated with complaints and tales of tragedy as people claimed they were now starving, cold and unable to put petrol in their car because of ANZ’s mistake. If you woke up on payday and found yourself in this situation, what would your day be like? Would you be going to work hungry because you couldn't afford to buy food for lunch? Would you have to walk to work because you had no money to pay for petrol or a bus? Or would you just transfer a few dollars from your emergency account and go on your merry way? For many, waking up on pay day to find their account empty should be a wake-up call, and one of the best things you can do if you’re scared of ever being in this situation is to create an emergency account. View next post At Futurisk, we work for you, not the insurer. So when it’s time to make a claim, we’ve got your back. We’ve got your back Enquire Now Freephone 0800 17 18 19

Cleaning up after Christmas Cleaning up after Christmas Contact Us The Futurisk plan to escape Christmas debt: Make escaping debt a priority. This is the most important step: make a conscious decision that you are going to do whatever it takes, and make whatever sacrifices you need to make, to get out of debt as quickly as possible. Work out what you can do without. To become debt free as soon as possible will require some short-term sacrifices. Think about some things that you could do without for the sake of being debt free. Maybe you only buy coffee twice a week at work instead of every day. Maybe you don't buy that weekly magazine for a little while. Maybe you don't go out for dinner until the bill is paid. Whatever sacrifice you make, it will be worth it to escape the stress and financial cost of credit card debt. Just make sure you put the money saved towards paying off that debt. Pay off more than the minimum. This is the biggest mistake made by people with credit card debt. They believe that, by paying the minimum payment required each month, the debt will quickly disappear. While it will eventually disappear, it will be a long and costly process. The quicker you pay off debt, the more you save in interest and the better off you are financially. Having decided what sacrifices you will make with your spending, calculate how much you can put towards paying off your debt each month, and stick to it. Don't add any more to your credit card. The temptation is always there to treat yourself. "It's only a few dollars," we say. But all those few dollars add up. When the credit card interest rate is added to that, we are just prolonging our time in debt. Set a goal. Having made the decision to be debt free; and worked out where you can economise; and calculated what is the most you can repay each month; and having determined not to add anything to your card, set a date at which you can be debt free. Circle that date on your calendar or in your diary; keep that date at the forefront of your mind... it's the day you'll feel a great sense of release--you'll be debt free! Celebrate. Being debt free is something worth celebrating. Plan a celebration for the day you pay off your debt - but don't make it an expensive celebration, and don't put the cost of celebrating onto your credit card! The team at Futurisk would love to talk to you about all aspects of your personal finances and insurances. Beware Christmas debt! As we wander around the shopping malls leading up to Christmas, it's so tempting to pull out our credit card to buy gifts and treats for family and friends. Of course, our intention is to quickly pay off the amount owing as soon as we get back to work in the New Year. Problem is, for many New Zealanders that doesn't happen. Some credit card statistics Leading up to Christmas last year the New Zealand Herald reported: New Zealanders were collectively paying more than $600 million a year in interest on personal credit card debt. New Zealanders collectively owed $5.542 billion on plastic cards at the end of July 2012. Of this $5.264 billion was on personal credit cards. Nearly two-thirds of personal credit card debt is incurring interest. Despite credit card rates of just 12% being available, the average interest rate on outstanding balances is 17.8 per cent. That equates to $638 million in payments going into the pockets of financial institutions over the past year. Credit card debt is dangerous Now, I know most people will say, "But I pay off my card every month before it incurs any interest." The reality is, most people don't! Much of the debt loaded onto credit cards occurs in the period leading up to Christmas. Last December, we collectively loaded over 5 billion dollars onto our credit cards. Did we pay it all off within the month? No. In January this year we still owed over 3.5 billion dollars of that, plus the interest it was accruing. Credit card debt is dangerous because of the high interest rate it incurs. For many people, going into debt on their credit card puts them into debt for a long, long time. It makes sense to limit the use of your credit card leading up to Christmas, but just in case it's too late, here are a plan to help you clean up after Christmas if you find yourself in debt when January 2014 arrives. View next post At Futurisk, we work for you, not the insurer. So when it’s time to make a claim, we’ve got your back. We’ve got your back Enquire Now Freephone 0800 17 18 19

Six Tips to Help You Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster Six Tips to Help You Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster Contact Us 3. Make repayments fortnightly, not monthly Most banks will set up your mortgage with monthly repayments; request fortnightly repayments. What that means is that, over a year, you’ll make 26 half-monthly repayments rather than 12 monthly payments – that’s two extra repayments per year. Over the course of a 30 year mortgage that can save you thousands of dollars. 4. Make lump sum repayments If you have a tax refund or some other windfall, put it on your mortgage. It will go straight towards paying off principal owed and save money on interest repayments. 5. Track your finances Many people could radically improve their personal finances if only they kept track of their income and expenditure – that means, keeping to a budget. Remember, even small amounts of money saved and put on your mortgage can save thousands over the period of your mortgage. 6. Set your mortgage up with part revolving credit Of all the tips to save money on your mortgage, this is the most effective. It can be tricky to set up properly and you may need some financial advice to do it. Once set-up, however, it can save you tens of thousands of dollars and many years of mortgage repayments. The team at Futurisk would love to talk to you about all aspects of your personal finances. Click here to contact Futurisk. I remember when I was about Intermediate School age (a long time ago), my mother would give me $20 each fortnight and I’d take it to the local building society. It was the mortgage money. Having taken out a mortgage, my parents faithfully paid back the required sum every fortnight until every dollar of the interest and principal were paid off. No thought was given to ways of saving on those mortgage repayments. These are, however, simple things you can do to speed up your mortgage repayments saving you both money and time. Here are Futurisk’s six tips to help pay off your mortgage faster: 1. Start early Whatever strategy you decide on, start as early on in your mortgage as you can. In fact, think about how you will repay your home loan before you even sign up for it. Perhaps get some advice from a financial solutions company like Futurisk or from your accountant. This is because, with a table mortgage, which most mortgage-holders will have, the early payments are mostly interest with little principal being repaid. Then, as time goes on, the proportion of interest per payment decreases, and the proportion of principal per payment increases. So, the sooner you begin on a plan to speed up the paying off of your mortgage, the more you save. 2. Each fortnight, pay a little more than the bank asks for If you pay any amount over what the bank asks you to pay on your mortgage, that amount will go straight into lowering the principal owed and therefore lower the interest you are paying. Over the life of your mortgage even a small amount of extra money paid per payment can save tens of thousands of dollars. Here’s another little trick: over time, most mortgage repayments will decrease. Many home owners look forward to this and see it as extra money in their wallet. However, by keeping your repayments the same throughout the life of your mortgage, a lot of money can be saved. View next post At Futurisk, we work for you, not the insurer. So when it’s time to make a claim, we’ve got your back. We’ve got your back Enquire Now Freephone 0800 17 18 19

Recent News News > Helpful news and advice on your insurance, finance or mortgage needs. Advice All news Financial Insurance Mortgages How to know if a reverse mortgage is for you You've probably heard of a Reverse Mortgage, sometimes called a Home Equity Mortgage. With our aging population, they are becoming more common. Reverse Mortgages can be a good way to free-up money to spend on things you want - provided you're aware of the many pitfalls. Read More Top tips for keeping your house warm this winter Keeping your house warm over winter can be hard. It can cost a small fortune to generate enough heat to get your house warm, and then there are so many ways for cold air to take its place. Luckily there are some affordable and simple ways to keep your house warm this winter that don't require a big budget or a degree in rocket science. Read More Six Things Your Bank Will Never Tell You This information is adapted from Consumer Magazine (January/February 2006, Issue 455, Page 23). There’s something every person who uses a bank needs to understand—a bank is a business. It exists to make a profit and it does that by maximising the use of your hard-earned cash. Knowing how they do that could save you money. Here are six things your bank will never tell you: Read More Six Credit Card Traps to avoid Credit card can be dangerous! Many people in New Zealand today find themselves buried by inescapable debt that can be traced back to being overzealous in the use of their credit card. Sure, credit cards are handy. They provide an easy way to purchase things online or if you don't want to carry cash around with you, but it's so easy to forget when you buy something with your card, you are incurring a debt. And, once you get into credit card debt, it can be very difficult to get out of. Read More Nine Things to do to get Your Personal Finances in Order The team at Futurisk have three rules regarding personal finance: Spend less than you earn, Pay off debt, Don't go into debt This article expands on those rules - do these nine things and you need never worry about your finances again. Read More How to know you have the right insurance cover - Life Insurances 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? Read More Show more news At Futurisk, we work for you, not the insurer. So when it’s time to make a claim, we’ve got your back. We’ve got your back Enquire Now Freephone 0800 17 18 19