NZ life insurance — topic comparisons
Side-by-side breakdowns of how every NZ life insurer handles the highest-stakes cover and definition questions — sourced verbatim from each insurer's published policy wording.
Stepped vs level premium
NZ life insurance premiums are either stepped (rise year-on-year as the insured ages) or level (flat within a tier). Stepped is cheaper early but compounds; level costs more upfront but flattens whole…
Compare across insurers →Future insurability
Future-insurability lets you increase cover after life events (marriage, mortgage, new baby) without fresh medical underwriting. Materially valuable if your health declines later. This page documents …
Compare across insurers →Inbuilt + optional benefits
What comes standard with each NZ life policy (inbuilt benefits) vs. what costs extra (optional benefits / riders). Inbuilt benefits commonly include terminal-illness advance, funeral-cost advance, gri…
Compare across insurers →Suicide exclusion
Almost every NZ life insurance policy excludes death by suicide for the first 13 months (sometimes 12) of cover. After this period, suicide is generally covered. This page documents each insurer's exc…
Compare across insurers →Entry age + cover tiers
Maximum entry age varies sharply across NZ life insurers (commonly 65-75). Some products are bundled multi-cover (life + trauma + TPD); some are standalone. This page documents each insurer's entry-ag…
Compare across insurers →Claim payment
How the policy pays on a claim — lump-sum vs. instalments, advance payment for terminal illness, funeral-cost advance. This page documents each insurer's claim-payment terms verbatim.
Compare across insurers →Common exclusions
Material non-disclosure, war, intoxication, criminal activity, hazardous occupations — exclusions vary across NZ life policies. This page surfaces the exclusion list verbatim from each insurer's wordi…
Compare across insurers →Waiting periods
Stand-down periods before specific benefits become claimable. Most life-cover waiting periods are short (or zero) for accidental death but longer for terminal-illness advance + child trauma riders. Th…
Compare across insurers →Data sources
Every fact extracted from the current published policy wording PDF for each insurer. Machine-readable equivalents at /api/topic/{slug}/summary.md and/api/topic/{slug}/facts.json.