How we write this

Last reviewed 2026-07-30

1. Every figure carries a dated source

Where we publish a premium range, a market share or a waiting period, there is a line under it saying where it came from and when it was compiled. Insurance detail changes constantly — premiums are reset annually, policy wordings get updated, insurers change their appetite for particular conditions. An undated number on an insurance site is close to worthless.

Our cost figures are compiled from published New Zealand comparison sources (including MoneyHub, Policywise, Quashed and QuoteHub) and from insurers' own published material, as at July 2026. We are not an insurer and we do not have access to underwriting tables.

2. Ranges, not fake precision

We will tell you that a healthy 30-year-old non-smoker can commonly get $500,000 of life cover for about $15–$22 a month. We will not tell you it costs $18.40, because we cannot know that and neither can anyone else without underwriting you. Precision you cannot support is a form of dishonesty.

Where a range would mislead more than it helps — health insurance premiums, which vary by insurer, plan, excess, region and module — we say so and explain the shape of the cost instead of publishing a table that would be wrong for most readers.

3. No invented people

No fabricated testimonials, no fictional case studies presented as real clients, no stock-photo advisers, no "as a father of three" byline attached to nobody. Where we illustrate a scenario it is described as a scenario.

The photography on this site is real New Zealand landscape and street photography under the Unsplash licence, and every photographer is credited on the credits page even though the licence does not require it.

4. General information, never advice

This is a legal line as well as an editorial one. In New Zealand, telling someone what they should do with their money — recommending a particular product, or a particular insurer, for their situation — is regulated financial advice and requires a Financial Advice Provider licence from the FMA. General information about how products work does not.

So we explain mechanisms, publish ranges, and describe trade-offs. What we never do is direct you to a particular product or name an insurer as the right one for your circumstances. Where a decision genuinely requires advice, we say that and point you to someone licensed to give it. Every page carries this note explicitly.

5. We say when we do not know

Several pages here contain sentences like "this is a genuine accountant question" or "individual claims turn on facts". Those are not hedges to avoid liability — they are the honest answer. Tax treatment of income protection, ownership structures, and ACC entitlement decisions all genuinely depend on circumstances a website cannot see.

Precision you cannot support is a form of dishonesty.

What we are not

• Not a comparison engine. We do not quote or rank insurers. We do not have live pricing.
• Not an insurer or a broker. We cannot sell you anything.
• Not independent of commercial interest. This site introduces people to one adviser and may benefit from it. Stated in full here.
• Not a substitute for the policy document. Where this site and an insurer's current wording disagree, the wording is right and we are wrong.

Corrections

If you find something wrong, tell us. We will correct it and update the review date on the page. Every page shows when it was last reviewed, so you can judge for yourself how stale it might be.

Pages touching health outcomes and financial decisions get reviewed on a shorter cycle than the rest, because that is where being out of date does the most harm.

This page is general information about how insurance works in New Zealand. It is not regulated financial advice and it does not take your situation into account. For advice about your own cover, talk to a licensed financial adviser.