We’d like to comment on a story on Good returns in which Asteron’s Sean Carroll reportedly had this to say;

“The commission war over the past few months had done nothing for the industry, and as an actuary, he said he knew “exactly” how it is costing his competitors. Change needs to be customer-driven, and Carroll said he does not think the commission rates being offered are sustainable.”

We entirely agree with this comment, particularly about change needing to be customer driven.

Our view is this…

Selling more life insurance is not about hiking up commissions to levels well over 200% to incentivise brokers to sell more and more of your products. In fact, it’s not about ‘sales-push’ at all.

Selling more life insurance is about making products more relevant, more accessible (read internet) and more affordable.  

It’s about designing policies that people want to buy, not incentivising sales people to do the hard sell.

November 17 to 23 is Diabetes NZ Awareness & Appeal Week. 

Diabetes is the result of the body not creating enough insulin to keep blood glucose levels in the normal range. It cannot presently be cured but it can be controlled and you can lead a full and active life.  

So what’s the link between diabetes and life insurance you may well ask? Well… plenty!  

Anyone who is unfortunate enough to have diabetes that’s tried to get life cover would know that it’s neigh on impossible to get. It is not just that the risks are high for insuring someone with diabetes, but it is almost impossible to calculate the mortality risk of someone who has diabetes.  

Translating this into plain English… insurers can’t offer a price for life cover because they can’t predict how the disease is likely to affect the sufferer’s lifespan. All they know is that in all probability, a person suffering diabetes is likely to die earlier than the average of the population… not necessarily from the disease itself, but from a range of complications and side effects that can be fatal… such as heart problems and neuromuscular problems.  

There are three types of diabetes which you can read more about on Diabetes NZ website.

According to Mike Smith, president of Diabetes NZ;

“There are now over 157,000 people diagnosed with diabetes in New Zealand. Of these, 142,000 have Type 2 diabetes and it is estimated there are 80,000 who also have Type 2 diabetes and have not yet been diagnosed and a further 400,000, with elevated blood glucose levels, who are at risk.”

“The figures for Type 1 diabetes are also rising at an alarming rate. Currently there are 15,000 diagnosed and around 10,000 of these are young people. Some research states this is increasing by at least 5% a year.”  

Following up on Steve’s post a few days ago regarding high commissions, thought a quick comparison of life insurance premiums across the NZ market would indicate just how much more efficient it is to buy your life insurance online.

Take a look at this simple comparison table for two 40-year-olds buying $300,000 life insurance cover… 

 (All prices have been sourced from quotes on NZ website available to the public)

On average you can save over 20% if you buy on-line… go figure J

More reason’s why men need to be aware of ‘men’s health’ during Movember – click here to see what men get up to… and why life insurance is more expensive for men…

…and to balance the books… see here… J

As we think about men’s health during Movember month, this Youtube life insurance ad reminds us why some insurance companies prefer to insure only women… J

In June last year insurance commissions were in the news and we wrote this story on our blog. This month, commissions are in the news again. See this article posted yesterday on Good Returns.

We don’t really want to get into the debate all over again (yes, really…) but we think it is important for NZ consumers to be aware of what is going on in their life insurance industry.

In the story we are referring to, insurance companies are now paying commissions of 230% to get brokers to sell their products. Of course, these brokers are absolutely independent and are entitled to sell any insurance products they wish.

Now if you were a broker I’m sure you’d be happy to offer the product for which you’re paid say 150% commission rather than the product paying 230%. You’d always choose the product that’s best for the consumer. It makes perfect sense… wink, wink.

Anyway, as long as NZ consumers realise that buying through a broker chews up the equivalent of the first 2 years and 3 months of your premiums, plus a little more each year thereafter for the life of your policy, then that’s ok.

But it’s also worth knowing that this is one of the key reasons it’s around 20% cheaper to buy life insurance online.  

So, if you know how much life insurance you want, why not go online and save yourself a bundle?    

While we’re on the subject of Movember and men’s health (including men’s ‘mental‘ health), we thought this life insurance advert from Youtube was appropriate… J

Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.

So who can we blame for this initiative?

Who’s behind the appearance of those hairy caterpillars crawling under the noses of thousands of men’s faces across NZ, and indeed, around the world. Well, look no further than the Movember Foundation – a global not-for-profit, charitable organisation which runs this Movember celebration of men’s health.

The idea for Movember came about in 2003 when a few mates having a beer in a Melbourne pub recognised that men were lacking a way to adequately promote men’s health and came up with the idea to bring the moustache back for one month, and in doing so, have some fun, raise money and hopefully encourage men to talk about their health.

Since 2006, the first year in NZ, more than 50,000 people have participated and $4mil has been raised. Who’d have thought… ? 

So why are we talking about this?

Because we in the life insurance business are impacted by the very health issues highlighted by this initiative – particularly prostate cancer.

Did you know?…

·         Prostate cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death in men (3.8%) behind lung cancer (6.1%) and bowel cancer (4%)

·         In NZ, around 2000 to 3000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year.

·         There are generally no early warning symptoms for prostate cancer

·         All men over the age of 50 are at risk of prostate cancer and should be tested annually

·         If you have a history of prostate cancer in your family you should have tests from age 40

·         Prostate cancer is curable if detected and treated early

·         Men are not bullet proof. (Yep, it’s true… men get cancer too)

·         You can get a Serious Illness Cover policy online that pays you a lump sum up to $250,000 if you’re diagnosed with Cancer.