[Weekly Wrap] Insurance paying off

The latest statistics from the Financial Services Council show the importance of personal insurance to New Zealanders.

Friday, February 7th 2014, 1:12PM

by Susan Edmunds

In 2013, more than $1 billion was paid out in claims, down 6.5% from 2012 but up by more than 17% compared to 2009.

Payouts for income protection insurance have doubled over the past five years.

That should help New Zealanders to see the value in having protection, but, as Fidelity Life chief executive Milton Jennings told Niko, there are a number of challenges - including a lack of advisers.

In other news, advisers in Britain have come under fire for not being upfront about their fees.

A group called Which? which is similar to Consumer in New Zealand, rang advisers asking how much they would charge to offer investment advice. Few were willing to give out that information over the phone.

We asked whether the situation was the same in New Zealand and were told that it very likely was. But the industry experts we spoke to questioned how much value there was in disclosing something like an hourly rate in a brief phone call, if there was no way of knowing how many hours a particular case would take.

And I talked to Fred Dodds, the new chief executive of the IFA. He's still settling into the job and has only been behind the desk about three weeks. But he says he's keen to improve advisers' perceptions of what industry bodies can offer them.

On the insurance front, the number of people with health insurance has increased for the first time in a long time, nib has launched a new product for advisers, and Sovereign is facing a big bill in its battle with the IRD.

If you've been thinking that 2014 might be the time to investigate a new job, check out our job listings.

« Poor planning slows retirement

IFA working on pro-bono offering »

Special Offers