Most New Zealanders are finding 2022 financially challenging. Interest rates, inflation and basic living costs have shot up – and there’s talk of a recession. Lots of us are looking for ways to spend less.
This is when insurance premiums can come in for some serious scrutiny. You’ve been paying them regularly for some time and hardly ever made a claim, right? But before you make the call to cancel any form of insurance cover, we strongly recommend you think about why you got insurance in the first place.
For most people, insurance is about peace of mind. It’s there to take care of shocks that could seriously affect your financial future – or the future of your family. When you cancel your cover, that peace of mind vanishes and the ‘what if’ worries creep back in. These worries become even bigger when money is short. So instead of cancelling cover, think about ways to manage your premiums.
Strategies for managing insurance premiums
One of the easiest things to do is ask Apex Advice for an insurance review, even if you had one recently. Life is full of changes and our advisers are used to helping people make sure their financial arrangements are optimised for their current situation.
Here are a few examples of what might be possible.
- Instead of paying your premium once a year, you could look at monthly premiums that make budgeting easier.
- You could look at increasing the excess (the amount you contribute to a claim) on certain types of insurance cover. Life changes might allow you to adjust your premiums. For example, your mortgage balance may be lower than it was, so a policy designed to cover your debts could be amended to a lower level of cover.
- If you’ve started a new job it may come with lower health and financial risks, which could affect some insurance premiums.
- If you’ve quit smoking or given up alcohol, you may now be considered a lower risk and qualify for a lower premium with some types of insurance.
- With certain types of insurance, such as income protection, you can extend the agreed wait period before a pay-out begins.
- With life cover, you could look at moving to level premiums, which is a bit like having a fixed interest rate home loan. The cost stays the same for a fixed period of time, making money management easier.
Reviewing your mortgage structure and KiwiSaver
Sometimes there are adjustments to be made in other areas of your finances, such as the way your mortgage is structured or how your KiwiSaver contributions are set up. Our financial advisers can include things like this in your review, so you can feel confident you’ve explored all the options rather than simply cancelling important insurance in haste.
To learn more
To take the stress out of reviewing and managing insurance premiums, it helps to have an experienced specialist on your team. Call an Apex Adviser today.
