Life insurance in NZ, worked out before anyone sells you anything
See roughly how much cover people in your situation look at, with every step of the working shown. Read what each kind of cover actually does. And when you want advice, talk to someone licensed — we will tell you what we are paid for the introduction before you decide.
Not financial advice. We are not financial advisers and we give no advice. Introductions are not open yet: we have no referral agreement in place, so we are not passing anybody's details to anyone. The page below tells you how to find and check a licensed adviser yourself. Read the disclosure.
What the calculator does
That is the entire model. No hidden weightings, no age multipliers, no invented per-child figure. Every box is empty until you fill it, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
Open the calculatorKinds of cover, in plain English
What each one pays, when it pays, and what it does not do. These pages describe kinds of cover in general. None of them tells you which to buy, and none of them names a policy as right for you.
Life cover
A single agreed lump sum, called the sum insured, fixed when the policy is taken out and adjusted afterwards only if you and the insurer agree to change it.
How it works →Income protection
A regular monthly benefit, calculated from your income when the policy was taken out or when you claim, depending on the policy. Policies cap the benefit as a proportion of income; the proportion, and how income is defined, are set by the policy.
How it works →Trauma cover
A lump sum, up to the sum insured. Some conditions pay the full amount and others pay a partial amount, which the policy sets out condition by condition.
How it works →Mortgage protection
Either a lump sum sized to the loan, or a regular amount covering the repayments for a period. The two behave very differently, and the policy document is the only reliable way to tell which you have.
How it works →Why people use this site
Four things that are true today, not four things we are aiming at.
The working is shown
Every figure in the calculator is a box you filled in, and the sum is printed under the result. There is no quiz that hides the maths behind a phone call.
Sources and dates
No number goes on a page without a source and the date we read it. Where we could not source something, it is not here — and we list what we dropped.
No hard sell
Use every page, every guide and the calculator without giving us anything. There is no gate, no email-for-the-result, and no marketing list.
One adviser firm, fee disclosed
If you ask for an introduction you will see who it goes to and what we are paid, on the same screen as the button, before you tick anything.
How an introduction works
Four steps, and you can stop after the first one.
Work out a rough number
Optional. The calculator is free, takes no details and sends nothing anywhere.
Ask for an introduction
Fill in the form and tick the consent box, which names who your details go to and why.
A licensed adviser contacts you
Any advice is between you and them. We do not sit in, and we do not see it.
They pay us a set fee
Only if they accept the introduction. It is not a share of any premium, and your price is unaffected.
The longer version: what an adviser actually does, and how everyone in this gets paid
Try the numbers now
The same calculator that lives on its own page, where you will also find what it assumes and what it ignores.
Your numbers
Every box starts empty on purpose. We do not pre-fill a “typical” figure, because we have no New Zealand source for one and a made-up default would quietly become your answer. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
We never ask your age, your health, whether you smoke or your date of birth. None of it would improve an estimate this simple, and it is not ours to hold.
General estimate, not a recommendation. This is a general estimate from a common rule of thumb, not a recommendation and not a quote. It does not consider your health, your existing policies, your tax position or what you are trying to achieve. It is arithmetic on the numbers you typed, and every step of it is shown below. A licensed financial adviser can advise you on your own situation; we cannot.
Type a number into any box and the ledger fills in.
The figure goes onto the form where you can see it and take it off again. Nothing is sent until you fill the form in and tick the consent box.
Debts line up with mortgage protection and life cover; the income line with income protection. Those pages explain what each kind of cover does, in general.
What moves the price
Age, whether you smoke, how much cover you buy, your health, and whether premiums are stepped or level. We publish no premium tables, because we could not find a New Zealand source that states its own inputs and its own date — and a premium figure without those is a guess.
Want someone licensed to look at your situation?
That is the part we cannot do. An introduction goes to one licensed adviser firm, with your consent, and you will see exactly what we are paid before you send anything.
Not financial advice. We are not financial advisers and we give no advice. Introductions are not open yet: we have no referral agreement in place, so we are not passing anybody's details to anyone. The page below tells you how to find and check a licensed adviser yourself. Read the disclosure.
Talk to a licensed adviserQuestions
Are you a financial adviser?
No. Life Insurance NZ is not a financial adviser, a financial advice provider, a broker or an insurer, and nothing on this site is financial advice. We publish general information about kinds of cover, and a calculator that does arithmetic on numbers you type in. When you want advice about your own situation, we introduce you to one licensed Financial Advice Provider. Here is the law that line is drawn from.
How do you make money?
One way only: a referral fee, paid by the adviser firm we introduce people to, for each introduction it accepts. We are not paid by insurers, we take no commission on any policy, we sell nothing on this site and there is no advertising. The whole arrangement is set out on the disclosure page.
Is the calculator advice?
No. It adds up the debts, income years and one-off costs you enter, subtracts what you say you already have, and shows the working. It suggests no policy, no insurer and no cover type, and it never says you need a particular amount. It is a rule of thumb with the arithmetic visible.
Who sees my details?
Nobody, unless you fill in the referral form and tick the consent box. Then they go to the one adviser firm named on that form and nowhere else. We do not sell leads, we do not pass details to several advisers, and we do not run a marketing list. The calculator sends nothing anywhere at all.
Do I pay more if I come through you?
No. The referral fee is paid by the adviser firm out of its own revenue, and it is a flat amount per introduction rather than a share of any premium. Nothing you buy costs more because you arrived here.
Do I need life insurance if I have ACC?
Whether you need cover is exactly the kind of question we are not allowed to answer, and honestly should not — it depends on your situation. What we can tell you in general is that ACC and insurance respond to different things. ACC and income protection sets out where each one starts and stops, sourced to ACC.
More questions · The full disclosure, with the legislation it comes from (read 2026-09-16)
Guides
Longer reads, each one sourced and dated.
How much cover do you need?
The rule of thumb people use to size life cover in New Zealand, shown line by line, with three clearly hypothetical households worked through. A general estimate, not a recommendation about your cover.
Read it →Income protection vs mortgage protection
How income protection and mortgage protection differ in New Zealand, where ACC starts and stops, and what to check on the document you were offered. General information about kinds of cover, sourced to ACC.
Read it →Term life vs whole of life
What term life and whole of life cover mean, what is actually sold in New Zealand today, and why the stepped-versus-level premium question matters more here than the term-versus-whole one.
Read it →ACC and income protection
What ACC covers and does not cover in New Zealand, what weekly compensation pays and when it starts, and how that interacts with income protection insurance. Sourced to acc.co.nz.
Read it →How to check an adviser
Step by step: how to look up a financial adviser or advice provider on the Financial Service Providers Register, what to ask them, and which dispute resolution schemes exist. Sourced to the FSPR.
Read it →