…this blog post re-run due to popular demand…

Ok, it’s travel insurance not life insurance.

But when insurance companies pull out the old ‘weasel clauses’ to get off paying what should be a legitimate claim, it gives all insurance companies (including life insurance) a bad name.

I’m doing a lot of travelling around the world lately and on a recent flight from South Aftrica to London, someone in “luggage handling” prised open my bag, went through my belongings and stole my camera.

Ok. No problem. Isn’t this the reason that I took out travel insurance with Travelsure??

But alas… my claim was rejected because I did not report the theft to the police in London within 24 hours as stated in the policy – I was referred to the small print on page 13 and also somewhere on page 17.

How stupid I was not to open my bag and check what was missing right there on the floor next to the luggage carousel. And never mind that I didn’t notice the camera was stolen… because the thieves left the camera bag… which I opened only 72 hours later.

You see, with Travelsure, ‘reasonable circumstances’ that mitigated against my notifying the authorities within 24 hours are irrelevant.

It seems that Travelsure couldn’t wait to dig out the weasel clauses and do away with my claim! Seriously efficient they are… my claim was rejected in 5 minutes.

“That’s insurance for you” – people will say. ‘No latitude’… ‘no discretion’… ‘no allowance for the circumstances of each case’… ‘quick to take your money’… but full of excuses when you have a claim…

So how about this tagline then?…

Travelsure…. taking the sure out of travel…

Hands up all those who believe the Rapture will happen tomorrow?

A lot of people are talking about the Rapture taking place on 21 May 2011… a prediction made by 89-year-old Harold Camping, a retired civil engineer from California who founded a religious movement called Family Radio Worldwide and has been broadcasting his prediction around the world.

The ‘Rapture’ is the belief that Christ will bring the faithful into paradise prior to a period of tribulation on earth that precedes the end of time. My limited understanding of this is that several million people will instantly ascend to heaven on 21 May 2011, leaving the rest of us (I’m assuming I’ll be in the overlooked group) to our own devices, to face this hell on earth.

But what I’m beginning to wonder is whether or not the life insurance industry has missed a major opportunity – insuring people and their families against the financial risk of the Rapture.

Welcome to “Rapture Insurance”!!

I mean, to all intents and purposes, if you are one of those people chosen for the Rapture, you’re possibly going to leave some or all of your family financially devastated. And that’s exactly what life insurance is for.

If we in the ‘life industry’ were thinking on our feet, we’d have designed Rapture Insurance; insurance that takes care of your family after you’re raptured away to heaven.

From the insurance industry’s perspective, rapture insurance would be the ultimate insurance gamble. (Dare I say it… it’s like earthquake insurance).

You see, if the Rapture doesn’t happen (unlikely because we all know it will) then all insurance companies would stand to make an untold fortune. On the other hand, if the Rapture does take place (as we all expect), then insurance companies would have a hell of a time paying all those claims… no pun intended

It’s not too late.

If you’re really worried you’ll be in heaven by sundown tomorrow, go to www.pinnaclelife.co.nz and get life cover in just 10 minutes. You never know.

When I saw the statistic that 632,920 New Zealanders were injured in their homes last year I thought there must be some mistake… maybe an extra zero. But nope, the number is correct.

With a total population of only 4.4mil people in New Zealand, this means around 1 in 7 people are injured at home each year. That’s like 5 to 10 people in every street in New Zealand ended up in a doctor’s waiting room or a hospital because of a home accident.

However, if we drill a little deeper into these numbers we notice that 621 people died in home accidents last year…  more than the total number of people killed in road accidents and workplace accidents combined!!

So what does this mean for life insurance?

Well… typically, if you engage in dangerous pastimes such as abseiling, rock climbing, sky diving or hunting, or if you are employed in a dangerous occupation such as working on an oil rig, you’ll be charged a higher price for your life insurance.

It sounds like we should be adding one more dangerous occupation/pastime to the list… staying at home!

Almost 3 years ago, Pinnacle Life launched a policy called ‘Funeral Cover’, an insurance policy that pays up to $20,000 to cover the cost of a funeral.

Whilst the product is designed essentially for people over 50 (some insurers call it ’50 Plus Insurance’) it’s available online to anyone aged 30 to 69.

What continues to surprise us is the proportion of people in their 30’s and 40’s that have purchased Funeral Cover - clearly the product’s hitting the mark with a younger audience than we had initially envisaged.

How does Funeral Cover work?

The entire application process takes around 5 minutes.

Unlike most life insurance products, the premiums for Funeral Cover remain the same every year, without increasing. And once you turn 85, you totally stop paying – and your cover continues free of charge until you, ahem, expire.

Best of all, being a ‘guaranteed issue’ product, Funeral Cover is offered with no health questions asked, and the policy will be emailed to you immediately online.

And the extra bonus?

Your family will say great things about you at your funeral… see this ad on YouTube and you’ll see what I mean!

Life insurance is a product that’s not easy to advertise…  if you’re looking to keep your audience awake, that is.

I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of those life insurance adverts with the happy idyllic family running along the beach with a kite and Rover the dog. Or the stock life insurance image of mummy, daddy and toddler all happy-smiley and holding hands.

Cheesy images like these are enough to either put you to sleep or make you want to throw up.

Not so with these adverts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EyUHscEi50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoNwRP-ZOlU

They are truly worthy of a look!