Life Insurance

Life Insurance provides for those you leave behind.

It can help them pay the rent or mortgage, put food on the table and pay the bills or it can be used to invest in your children’s education or other things you want for your family by paying a lump sum to the policy owner in the event of your death.

Pinnacle Life Cover costs from $15.60 per month including a 10% online discount for the first year, and 10% healthy lifestyle discount.
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If you have Life Insurance with us we will pay a tax-free, lump sum to the owner of your policy if you die (or their estate if they have died too), or earlier if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness.

The Basics

Getting a policy

  • By applying online, you’ll get a 10% discount for your first year, and you might also be eligible for further discounts.
  • Choose the amount that’s right for you, from $50,000 to $2 million ($100,000 to $1.5 million online). Our advice calculator may help you decide what you need and see how much it might cost.
  • You have to be aged 18 to 74 to get a policy. You can apply online if you are aged 20 to 69 and living in NZ, Australia, USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Hong Kong or Singapore. If you are outside the online age range, please contact us.
  • You can choose to add critical illness cover, income protection cover, or total and permanent disability cover to your life policy. These covers will help you to go on living in the event you are unable to work or are diagnosed with specific conditions.
  • If you’re accepted online, you’ll be covered by the end of the application process, that’s straight away, no waiting.
  • All of our policies have a 30 day free look period so that you can buy with confidence. That means if you change your mind within 30 days of starting your Pinnacle Life Insurance policy we’ll refund your money, no questions asked.
  • There is no one size fits all for life cover. The best life insurance for you will be what suits you and your family in terms of the protection it provides and your budget.

Once your policy is in place

  • You may be able to increase your Life Insurance by up to 50%, with no further questions asked if you apply during a special event such as a new or increased mortgage, becoming a parent, getting married or divorced.
  • Your cover and therefore your payments, will increase with inflation, but you can turn this off at any time.
  • You can decrease your cover or cancel your policy at any time without penalty.
  • You can choose how you pay – monthly, half yearly or annually and by direct debit or credit card.
  • Your payments will increase each year as you get older.

When you need to claim on your policy

  • If you die you will get paid the lump-sum amount you chose when you took out your policy. This is tax-free if the owner of the policy is a person (rather than a trust or company).
  • If you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness and expect to live less than 6 -12 months (depending on your policy) you can have your lump-sum amount paid early.
  • Your Life Insurance doesn’t expire. As long as your payments are up-to date, your cover will continue until you die and we pay your claim.
  • The owner of your policy will receive the lump sum from your claim. It will be paid in NZ dollars, anywhere in the world.
  • Your policy will be reinsured by Hannover Life Re, one of the largest re-insurers of life insurance in the world.

What cover might I need?

Working out what life insurance is right for you and your family can be confusing and challenging. We know not everyone wants to talk to an adviser but that you do want to make the right choices.

You don’t have to talk to an adviser to get advice about life insurance, because we’ve developed a tool that does the same job.

FAQs

Does life insurance pay for suicidal death?

Life insurance pays for any cause of death, including terminal illnesses and accidents and yes, life insurance policies do cover suicide, It is however typical for policies to not provide cover for suicide for at least the first 13 months. The main reason for this is to make sure that people who may be thinking about suicide aren't influenced by thinking that their family will be financially looked after immediately – when really the most important thing to the family is having that person around in the future.

How does life insurance work?

Life insurance is usually paid out upon your death. However, you can also get it paid out early if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness leaving you with only 6- 12 months (depending on your policy) or less to live.

How much is life insurance?

There are a number of factors that affect the premiums you can expect to pay on your life insurance. These are tailored according to your age, gender and smoking status and can also be affected by your health and lifestyle.

How much Life Insurance cover do I need?

We have a range of tools to help you work out the right amount of cover for your needs. Go through our no-obligation online advice process to find out what we recommend for you. Or find out what level of cover others of your age and gender have asked for.

To find out more about our products, and what needs they meet, please contact us on 0800 22 22 23 or by email and we’d be happy to advise you based on your current needs and circumstances.

How to choose life insurance

When choosing your Life Insurance start by choosing a provider that you trust. Then compare prices and any extra cover that you want, for example, Critical Illness or Disability cover. Life insurance premiums increase over time as you age and to keep up with inflation (you can turn this off at any time). It’s up to you to choose the lump-sum amount of your life insurance when you first take it out. If you get stuck our customer service team at Pinnacle Life are able to help you make the best decision for you or try our free advice tool.

How to get life insurance

At Pinnacle Life, our priority is to help you provide for those you leave behind. We believe Life Insurance should be accessible to everyone and that you should be able to sort it yourself if you want to. You can get Pinnacle life Insurance all online in under 10 minutes or if you get stuck our customer service team can help you work out the right life insurance cover for you.

What does life insurance cover?

The purpose of Life Insurance is to relieve your loved ones of any financial burden when you die. When you take out your policy and are deciding how much cover you need, consider how much debt you have and what you don't want your family to have to deal with. That might include things like a mortgage, funeral expenses, rent, schools fees and more.

What is life insurance?

Life insurance takes care of the ones you leave behind. It is there to ensure that when you pass away, your loved ones will receive a tax-free, lump-sum payment of money.

Why do I need life insurance?

Life Insurance provides for those you leave behind and helps them after you are gone. Having life insurance means that those you care about can have some peace of mind around making sure the mortgage and the bills are paid at a time when everything else can seem tough. A life insurance policy helps your family maintain their lifestyle if you become terminally ill or if you die unexpectedly.

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