Understanding Personal Risk

Your ability to earn an income is your greatest asset.

On an income of $50,000 your lifetime earnings could easily exceed $2m while your major assets (house, contents and car) may only be a quarter of that.  And, of course, you can’t maintain your lifestyle if you lose your income for any reason.

While 98% of home owners and 95% of car owners are insured^{1 }, 4 in 5 New Zealanders have not insured their income against sickness or disability².
 
You and your dependents rely on your income to meet day-to-day living expenses, their lifetime expectations and to meet the major expenses (such as mortgage repayments) that are part of your standard of living.

If you are unable to work, you may also have to pay for the things you now do for your family.  You may also have greater day-to-day expenses because of any special help with a disability or illness.

ACC

If you suffer an accidental injury that stops you working or means that you can only work in a lower paying job, ACC will pay medical and rehabilitation costs as well as up to 80% of pre-injury income.

However ACC does not pay benefits if you cannot work because of illness or death from disease or degenerative conditions that weren’t caused by your work.  There are also government benefits but these are not related to your earnings (e.g. the current sickness benefit rate is $229.01 a week for a single adult and $381.68 for a couple – both taxable).

Some quick numbers on personal risks

• 1 in 8 30 year old men die before age 65 and 1 in 12 30 year-old woman die before that age³.
• Almost 1 in 5 30-year old men and more than 1 in 10 30 year-old women will suffer a critical illness before age 65⁴
• In 2011 58,650 New Zealanders were living on a sickness benefit⁵.
• 141,500 New Zealanders between the ages of 15 and 44 and 285,500 between the ages of 45 and 64 report having a disability from a long-term condition or health problem lasting, or expected to last six months or more⁶.
• The average period of claim for illness under New Zealand disability income insurance policies is 492 days⁷.
• 8,779 cases of cancer were registered in 2009 for people aged between ages 25 and 65⁸.
• 3.3% of men and 1.9% of women between ages 55 and 64 had been diagnosed with a stroke during their lifetime⁹.
• 10.3% of men and 6.0% of women between ages 55 and 64 had been diagnosed with angina or had a heart attack that resulted in hospitalisation during their lifetime¹⁰.

Calculate your insurance needs.

¹ Insurance Council of NZ Survey September 2006

^2 FSC Underinsurance Project 2011

^3 NZ Life Tables 2005-07, Statistics New Zealand

^4 Gen Re, New Zealand Critical Illness Survey, 2010

⁵ Ministry of Social Development 2011

⁶ 2006 Disability Survey, Statistics New Zealand

⁷ GenRe (2009) New Zealand Disability Claims Survey

⁸ 2009 cancer registrations, Ministry of Health

⁹ 2006/07 New Zealand Health Survey

¹⁰ 2006/07 New Zealand Health Survey