“Loads of doh” or “too much” maybe your first thought. How much is “too much”? Money is a representation and transfer of value. What is value in this instance? Is the job that is done by the insurance agent, sufficient to reduce the ‘pain’ for the client and therefore solves that client’s problem? Does the financial adviser meet all of the regulatory requirements while adhering to the insurer’s agency and contractual obligations?

Key Points:

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You get munted in a car crash. You’re on life support for 6 months. Your spouse can’t access your personal insurance because technically you are still alive, but you are in a coma and cannot sign the policy. You are a policy owner and the insurance company need all policy owners to sign before they release your insurance benefits. What happens?

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While the topic of Wills and Enduring Power of Attorneys can be very dry, boring and unsexy, it is another part of personal risk management.

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TPD, as it is sometimes known, is a work-dependent benefit. This means that it pays if you are never able to work again. That is the permanent part. But - there is a ‘but’, it may not be entirely that permanent. Confused? Good, now you can read on and I’ll explain.

Key Points:

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The Richest Man in Babylon is a small book that sets out a nice narrative showing people how to build and protect wealth. There are two overlapping themes in the book “Seven Cures for a Lean Purse” and “Five laws of gold’. It is an old classic by George S. Clason from 1926 that helps to cement that idea that wealth should be grown from the inside first. We need to develop ourselves so that we become ‘worthy’ of the wealth we ultimately receive. The two themes can be summarised as...

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Buying life insurance is not like buying a pair of sexy shoes. You can’t wear your life insurance policy like a fashion item. You can’t drive it like a new car from a dealer. You can’t eat it like fine food at a restaurant. No, life insurance is pretty boring.

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Some of the people I talk with wonder how quickly insurance companies pay claims. As with many things to do with personal insurance, that answer is ‘it depends’. Different insurance products have different claims requirements. Also, as we’ve seen recently in the news with Westpac, not all insurance providers are created equally.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

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In a recent article I mentioned ‘unlocked KiwiSaver’ products. It would be remiss of me to not explain what these are. For people outside of New Zealand, KiwiSaver is similar to Australia’s Superannuation or perhaps the 401K in the US. For KiwiSaver, members are not allowed to make a withdrawal on these funds until they are 65. There are exceptions of note here: first home buyers, and those under “extreme hardship” (with various conditions attached).

However, the idea of investing in a managed fund that is easily accessible and available to the public should be appealing to people who want to spread their eggs into different baskets. Remember that diversification is good basic risk management tool for long term investing.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

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Recently I put my nose into the debate around passive versus active investing. In my comment on the article pondered why the choice should be so binary, one or the other? In my observation of investments, the prudent path always seems to be one of diversification. The old euphemism of not having ‘all your eggs in one basket’ is well understood. So, diversification can be across asset classes, specialised investment products and geographical markets.

How does this affect your choice of KiwiSaver? We can only choose one fund. As far as KiwiSaver is concerned, we must put all our eggs in the one-fund-basket.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

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MaryJane is not everyone’s choice, but for those who partake, are they punished by the insurance companies? Not necessarily. What does the occasional toke mean for users and their personal protection plans? 

Listen to find out.

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The younger the better. Simple answer. You don’t need to listen to anything else.

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