Areas of advice
Life Insurance
Usually a lump sum, payable to the policy owner (e.g. your partner). All life insurance policies have a built-in terminal illness benefit, which means your life insurance can be paid out early if you are terminally ill.
With Life Insurance the policy owner(s), (usually your loved ones), receive a lump sum. The money might be used to repay debts or to meet any outstanding obligations. Most life insurance policies have a built-in Terminal Illness benefit. This means that if you have a terminal illness with less than 12 months to live, your life insurance can be paid out early. It is very important to get the ownership of your life insurance right (to ensure the funds go where they are intended to go).
Critical Illness (Trauma Cover)
Trauma insurance pays you a lump sum should you suffer a specified critical illness or trauma, such as cancer, stroke or major heart conditions.
There are approximately 40 conditions covered by trauma insurance.
Did you know?
- Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women with more than 2,600 new cases expected each year. (Genre Life health “Australia critical illness survey 2008). Cancer is covered under trauma insurance
- NZ has the highest bowel cancer rate in the world (NZ Cancer Charitable Trust 2010). Bowel cancer is covered under trauma insurance
- Over 2,400 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year (Cancer Society 2007). Most insurance companies cover prostate cancer in their trauma insurance policy
- One in 20 adults has been diagnosed with coronary heart disease (Heart Foundation of NZ 2010). Trauma insurance covers several serious heart conditions.
Income Protection Insurance
Pays a monthly benefit if you are unable to work due to illness or accident. You can insure up to 75% of your income, and if your disability is permanent, you can receive the monthly benefit to age 65 or 70.
Income Protection enables you to continue supporting yourself and your family if you can't work because of illness or injury. With Income Protection you receive a monthly benefit to help replace lost income.
In New Zealand, if you are unable to work due to an accident, you may have limited protection from ACC. The Accident Compensation scheme generally does not provide cover against illness.
Mortgage Repayment Insurance
Mortgage Repayment Insurance pays similarly to Income Protection. It can be based on your actual mortgage repayments or a percentage of your income. It most often pays IN ADDITION to ACC which makes it a great option. Often you do not need to have a mortgage to have this cover in place.
Total and Permanent Disability Insurance (TPD)
Pays a lump sum if you are totally and permanently disabled and not likely to ever be able to return to work.
This provides a lump sum in the event of a total, permanent disability through accident or illness. It is designed to provide a cash payment if you can never return to work due to a disability. Funds can be used (for example) to clear debt, provide ongoing income, or pay for expensive medical treatment.
Waiver of Premium Benefit
Waiver of premium (WOP). Where WOP is not a built-in benefit* it can be added on to some products as an optional extra.
It removes the burden of paying premiums when you are unable to work due to total disability, saving you money when you need it most. Even though you may be disabled, you will still need to keep your life insurance and other covers going.
*WOP is built in to most Income Protection and Mortgage repayment benefits.
Health Insurance
Allows you to choose when and where you have your surgery. There are many other features and benefits in a health insurance policy, apart from covering surgery.
Health insurance pays for non-acute treatment in a Private Hospital. A non-acute condition is any condition that does not require immediate treatment. The public health system should always provide immediate treatment for urgent, critical treatment; however if your operation is non-urgent/non life threatening, you may wait up to 12 months or more for surgery in the public health system. With health insurance, you choose when and where you want your surgery.
ACC for the self-employed
If you are self employed or a non PAYE shareholder employee, you can alter the standard ACC cover with ACC CoverPlus Extra. This cover is especially important for those who are new to business.
This is an alternative product that lets you negotiate a pre-agreed level of lost earnings compensation. This way you know exactly how much you’ll receive each week if you are injured and can’t work – whether the injury is work-related or not.
Business Insurance (Income, Life, Trauma, Total & Permanent Disablement)
Can be a combination of any of the above benefits used to protect your business against the financial impact of the death or disability or illness of a key person.
Business people work too hard to throw away their money.
Yet knowing just where and how to get the best value can be difficult. That’s where the team at Horizon Insurance Advisors come in.
KiwiSaver + Coronavirus
Coronavirus effects on your KiwiSaver.
When the stock market reacts to global events.
The stock market isn’t immune to global concerns over the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. The key thing to do is not panic and jump into any rash decisions.
Instead, take the opportunity to review your investment fund choice to make sure you're still in the right fund for you.
Over the last few years, investors have seen their shares go mainly one way – up. Investors, media and the public have become used to seeing the value of shares grow very strongly, with very little downward movement.
But in the short term, markets go up, markets go down – sometimes both on the same day. Back in 2018, the markets reacted to a trade war threat with China, which was hyped up by the media. This time, it’s a similar situation with the media reports of the coronavirus outbreak.
Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will often help in the event of:
- Medical emergencies on your journey or cruise
- Natural disasters that impact your travel (or even prevent you from going)
- Disruptions (like delayed flights, changing hotel bookings, returning home in the event of an emergency)
- Damage or theft of your belongings on your trip.
These are just the basics. There’s a travel insurance policy to suit most holiday plans.
When considering the purchase of a policy, please note that many travel insurance policies will not cover claims or financial losses related to epidemics or pandemics. Additionally, the fear of traveling is not covered by any travel insurance policy. We mostly us Allianz for our Travel policies and they do include epidemic and pandemic cover.