Why life insurance premiums increase?
Life Insurance Premiums Increase every year.
That is what most NZ’s are used to.
Very rarely will a Bank or Insurance company clearly show you the lifetime costs you can expect to pay for a Life Insurance policy.
Why do life insurance premium increase with age
About 80% of Life Insurance policies sold in NZ are just not designed for the long term because life insurance premiums increase every year.
At your annual renewal, the Bank or Insurance company calculates that you are older now (it’s what happens with age) and therefore at a higher risk of something unforeseen happening to you.
Therefore Life Insurance Premiums Increase. A ‘Rate for Age’ premium is like taking out a new policy every year.
The problem is as you get closer to 40 and 50 and beyond the increases get horrendous.
Obviously, you’re older and the risk is higher.
And Banks and Insurance companies don’t take into account you being a loyal client for many years.
Instead, Life Insurance Premiums Increase every year.
Many people cancel, because of skyrocketing premiums.
What can you do about it?
You can lock in fixed premiums, that don’t increase with age for 30 or 40 years.
Premiums that don’t increase with age is unknown to most New Zealanders.
There’s a couple of reasons for that.
First, most frontline workers at the main banks wouldn’t know anything about them, nor do many of the banks have any of these options available.
Second, they are not as profitable for the banks and insurers.
Advisers and retailers are rarely rewarded the same for providing these fixed premiums to clients.
In general, someone with a fixed premium cover will keep their insurance in place for a much longer time, than someone with a ‘stepped’ – ‘increasing’ premium cover, because the fixed one, is so much more affordable.
See the graph showing the difference.
Level rates will normally save you tens of thousands over the lifetime of the policy.
Furthermore, you will know what the cover will cost you over the long term.