Always one to shirk the hard yards, I tend to look for secret potions and mystical remedies for longevity. Something one can buy off a shelf in the local supermarket is a real win!. 

So a YouTube search on longevity that suggested a cup of oil a day can bring you 120 years, sounded like booty from heaven. So I clicked on the hyperlink http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngu7oq6-WUE and after a long download time (probably routed via the CIA) I learned her secret through the English version of Al Jazeera. It seems a cup of olive oil a day and staying away from alcohol is the magical potion for this Isreali woman who by all accounts is 120 years old.

A cup of oil I can contemplate, but no alcohol… herein lies the problem. 

So now that I know I’m never going to make it to 120, lets be positive. For one, I calculated that Ms 120 has over 400 family birthdays to attend including her children (9), grand children (120), great grand children (250) and great-great grandchildren (30). Add in the sons and daughter in-laws and you’ve got yourself a birthday bash to remember. It’s not all bad, if she visits each relative less than once per year, she would never have to cook a meal or wash up. She would need to bring only her own olive oil though … I mean, a bottle of virgin olive oil is like $9.00 suggesting she’s spent maybe $56,000 in a lifetime of being on the olive bottle.  

Sounds like she needs a life insurance policy to pay for that.

Pinnacle Life has won an international IMA Award for the design and implementation of its online life insurance website www.pinnaclelife.co.nz.

The IMA recognise the highest standards of excellence in website design and development by companies and individuals for outstanding achievement. Sponsored by New York-based IMA Inc., an organisation comprising leading international web designers, marketers and other web-related professionals, the competition seeks to elevate the standards of excellence on the Internet. Visit http://www.interactivemediaawards.com.

Pinnacle Life’s world-first website was launched in May last year offering qualified consumers the ability to get a life insurance policy entirely online – using ‘electronic underwriting’ with no human involvement in the process. Pinnacle Life partner Steve de Jong says “It’s an honour to have our hard work recognised by the IMA. We feel strongly that we have a world-class website and this award helps validate that.”

The IMA honour received by Pinnacle Life recognises that the website surpassed the standards of excellence that comprise the web’s most professional work. The judging consisted of various criteria including design, usability, innovation, features and content. In order to win this award, the site had to meet strict guidelines in each area – an achievement only a fraction of sites in the IMA competition earn each year. Read the story in Scoop

Pinnacle Life receives a lot of feedback from consumers - some great and some querying the benefits of buying life insurance online. 

Any business breaking new ground is likely to encounter consumers that are cautious and conservative – and reasonably so.

Q

“It is interesting to see an online option for Pinnacle Life. However, a few life insurance company I’ve contacted have provided me with reasons not to go with this sort of arrangement instead highlighting their plus points of:

* Point of presents = established support

* Payability in the event of an incidental = supported by past records, etc.

* Pinnacle Life being relatively new and may have issues/supporting the client since it’s be reinsured with Hanover Re and not directly and any issues cannot be decided on Pinnacle (Pinnacle being sort of the middle man in the process) but instead would have to go back to Hannover Re. 

What are you thoughts on this? And why is choosing Pinnacle Life better than the traditional providers?” 

A

·       Try testing the ‘actual’ support you get from a ‘traditional’ insurance company and compare your experience by calling Pinnacle Life on 0800-22-22-23. The result may surprise you. 

·       Pinnacle Life are proud to have paid every valid claim it has ever received. 

·       Pinnacle Life is a registered insurance company – not a ‘middle man’ – and its been around for 10 years. Your policy is insured directly with Pinnacle Life. Pinnacle Life in turn reinsures each policy with Hannover Re… no different from any other NZ insurance company. 

·       People buy life insurance from Pinnacle Life to get a policy they can understand, to get it online within minutes and to save around 20% on the price.  

Our advice is to make up your own mind.  

This interesting life insurance story broke in the Herald a week ago about a New Zealand man who faked his own death and whose wife subsequently cashed in on his $1.2million life insurance policy.  Now there’s a raging debate about whether or not his wife can keep the windfall.

According to the Herald story, the man (whose identity is suppressed) went missing in late 2002 after his car was found abandoned at a disused quarry at Port Waikato. Last year, his wife had the High Court declare him legally dead and collected on his life insurance. But the man was found alive in Christchurch after he applied for a passport under his own name (duh). Police initially accused his wife of two counts of fraud, but reportedly now believe she was innocent and legitimately believed her husband was dead.

Ok, so now we have the Herald quoting insurance experts saying his wife may be able to keep the money “because she appears to have made the claim in good faith thinking that he had genuinely died”.   

Whilst I’m no legal expert, I have a different view.

This is a case in which a life insurance company has been defrauded. The insurance policy in question was supposed to pay out on the death of the insured person, and in this case, the insured person is still alive. It’s true the court declared him dead, but that ruling will, I’m sure, be overturned because he is clearly not dead.  I can’t see any life insurance company sitting back and taking this $1.2million smack on the chin without a real fight. And whilst I feel sorry for his wife, I’m far from convinced that she has any legal right to keep the money just because she wasn’t complicit in the fraud. I think the out-of-pocket insurance company will be knocking on her door quite soon.  Whether she has $1.2million to repay is another question entirely. They may even have grounds to sue him! 

For anyone thinking about getting rich on life insurance by faking their death… here’s some cold water for your idea…  

This weekend there was an article in the Sunday Star Times entitled “Thousands dying of work-related cancers”.

This raises the obvious question… does your occupation affect what you pay for life insurance?  Surely if life insurers know that some occupations increase your probability of an earlier-than-normal death, then you’d expect a life insurance policy to cost more for those occupations… wouldn’t you?

Well, the answer to this question is “yes and no”.  Let me explain.

Yes for ‘accidental’ risks associated with your occupation

Insurance companies always ask if you work in a ‘risky’ occupation. Most insurers will have a definitive list of what’s risky and their lists are very similar. In fact, most dangerous occupations are pretty obvious… a bomb disposal expert… a professional hunter… a professional mountaineer… an off-shore oil rig worker… etc.  If your occupation is one of these, expect that your life insurance premiums will be loaded (offered at a higher price) or excluded from cover.  This is normal practice.  The basis of the loading or exclusion is that you are at much higher risk, statistically, than the average of the population, to die in a work related accident.

No for ‘health’ risks associated with your occupation

Insurers don’t ask questions regarding the health-risks associated with your occupation. According to the Sunday Star Times article, hairdressers, textile workers, painters and cleaners (amongst others) are at higher risk of contracting a cancer-related illness than the general population.  So in theory, life insurers should ask questions that identify these occupations and they should charge higher premiums for them.  But, they don’t.

So… when it comes to identifying how risky your occupation is, insurers only focus on accident-related risks and not health-related risks.  Hmm…

Pinnacle Life has increased its electronic underwriting limits by 60%, enabling it to now offer life cover up to $800,000 instantly online.

See full story on Good Returns…