Everyday Money

Many of us have life insurance and in well over 90% of cases we have term insurance. Term insurance premiums increase each year to meet the rate for the insured’s age. To date most of us have just rolled our eyes and paid the extra however 2009 could see our eyes watering.

It has been suggested that life insurances are under taxed and legislation is planned to correct this. As always this will reflect on the consumer with premiums looking to increase between 20-30%.

I strongly urge you to talk to your advisor and examine the possibility of a level premium policy – it looks as if this will be the only way to avoid the potential increase in premiums.

And a note on KiwiSaver; on a salary of $70,000, you could have received $2193 in government contributions, and $274 in employer contributions – makes sense.

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Who's Counting?

The government is counting. It appears that we have embraced KiwiSaver in numbers which have far exceeded Cullen’s expectations. Initial projections were for 270,000 people to sign up in the first year but to date over 600,000 people have joined.

It’s not surprising because we can count – we count $1000 kick-start from the Government, up to $20 a week, and $40 a year towards fees. What’s not to like? And the funding is coming from the taxes we pay.

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