If in doubt, it pays to ask the question
Our story below highlights one of the most important reasons our Advisers like to talk to you regularly. Your life journey can change for so many reasons over the years, some fantastic great experiences and some experiences you would prefer to hit the delete button on - especially those that involve ill health.
Your Adviser can be that person who can be there to reassure you especially if you hold insurance policies; they often cover more situations than you think.
At Lifetime we understand the impact that these health situations can have on you both emotionally and financially. Your Adviser can be that person who can be there to reassure you especially if you hold insurance policies; they often cover more situations than you think.
We recently had one of our Advisers move from Auckland to our Blenheim office. He was contacting clients in the area for the first time to introduce himself. During one telephone conversation with a client, the lady disclosed that she sadly had cancer, so it wasn’t worth them having a review, she knew she had life cover in place but that would be for her family when she was gone. Fortunately, we asked a few more questions and quickly realised that the life cover the lady had in place also had a terminal illness benefit attached. This meant the life policy could be paid out if signed off by a medical practitioner as to life expectancy.
Documentation was prepared and submitted, to the delight of the family who were already suffering greatly with the realisation that next year was going to be a completely different picture.
They received $200,000 from the life insurance policy and now can now achieve things together on the bucket list that they hadn’t previously thought possible. The life policy also had a financial planning provision included so her family can have a full financial plan prepared to be able to map out their financial journey ahead.
Please remember if you have any doubts as to what your policies would provide for, just ask one of the team at Lifetime - we are here to help.
Market & Portfolio Update - April 2022
Global share markets continued their choppy start to 2022 during April.For New Zealand based investors, a fall in the NZ dollar played an important role in helping offset the volatility global share markets experienced. The NZ dollar fell against most major currencies supporting the returns of unhedged overseas assets (assets that are free to move with exchange rates). As a result, ‘unhedged’ overseas investments fell by only 1.8% for NZ based investors.
The KiwiSaver Gender Divide – Why are women saving less and what can be done to combat this?
Recent data shows that, on average, women have 20% less in their KiwiSavers than men. The gap being at its largest between men and women in their 40s and 50s. There are a few factors that come into play causing this divide and although it will take years to achieve equality, there are ways in which we can be proactive to help close the gap. As of August 2021, the gender pay gap is at 9.1% in New Zealand, a decrease of about 0.4% from 2020’s stats.