Services – IT'S ALL SORTED…

services

what needs sorting?

insurance

Whether you’re looking to protect your overseas adventures, your home (and all your favourite things inside it), or the business you’ve worked so hard to build up – we can help.

You might think your biggest asset is your house. But in most cases it’s not. It’s your ability to earn an income. If you lose that, your finances can get very complicated, very fast.

FAQ

These are specific policies that may share some features with income protection—particularly total and permanent disability or trauma insurance. If you rely on other insurance policies to cover you, you may find that something like a severe illness that knocks you out of the workforce for six months isn’t covered. Similarly, trauma insurance generally only covers physical trauma. Considering how frequent mental health claims are, you could be left high and dry if your high-stress job proved to be too much and you had to drop out of the workforce.

The difference between agreed value and indemnity cover is the amount of certainty at claim time.
Agreed Value policies require you to prove your income when you apply (usually an average income over 2 or 3 years – helpful if you are self-employed and your income fluctuates).
Indemnity policies require you to prove your income at claim time (which isn’t always easy).
We recommend products that provide certainty at claim time – so you get what you are paying for. Where possible, we recommend Agreed Value policies.

No one plans to get sick, but if you do, you want access to the best help as quickly as possible. Medical cover get you straight to the very best medical care without sitting around waiting on a public system while your condition worsens.

FAQ

Ideally when you are young and healthy (in other words, before you need it!). That way you have less chance of having exclusions on your policy. Most insurance companies let you add your child to your policy before they’re three months old without any underwriting or an application form. We can handle all of this for you, so let us know when you have little people on the way and we can make a note to add them to your policy.

Some personal Medical/Health Insurance plans seem like good value for money because they’re cheaper. But low cost can be false economy come claim time, so make sure you’re across all the inclusions and exclusions.

At the other end of the scale some policies cover you for things you don’t really need, like GP visits and prescriptions. The cost of premiums for this type of cover is more expensive than a major medical policy. So unless you’re visiting the doctor frequently, the maths just doesn’t work. The same applies to cover for dental and optical as there are limits on the amount you can claim per annum.

For the most part, yes. Unlike the public health system, you are not assigned to a doctor; you can choose your own. You also have greater control over where (and when) you are treated. However, all providers require your chosen specialist to be a registered medical professional. Some providers, such as AIA, require policy takers to undergo treatment in one of their recognised private hospitals, while other providers such as Southern Cross require you to access treatment through an affiliated provider. To avoid any surprises, read the fine print of your preferred policy before you opt in.

Losing you would be tragedy for your loved ones. But there’s steps you can take to lessen the financial fallout on their lives. It’s not a subject people like thinking about, but preparing for all possible futures is an important part of protecting your family.

FAQ

Your mortgage is likely to be your biggest financial commitment, so it’s important to ensure repayments will always be covered. The prospect of losing your home is the last thing you need if you’re sick or injured and can’t work.

FAQ

Mortgage Protection Insurance can include Income Protection, Trauma, Total & Permanent Disablement or Life Insurance. Mortgage Repayment Insurance is very similar to Income Protection in that it pays you a monthly amount if you are unable to work due to sickness or injury. This lets you concentrate on getting better and getting back to work, rather than stressing about how you will meet your mortgage repayments.

Alternatively you can apply for Mortgage Repayment Insurance which specifically covers your regular mortgage repayments if you’re unable to work due to sickness or injury. Many people assume that ACC will take care of them if they can’t go to work, but ACC only provides cover for injuries that are the results of an accident. Unlike ACC, Mortgage Repayment Insurance covers non-accidental reasons for being off work, such as stress (the biggest cause of people needing time off).

Well that depends. There are lots of options to choose from. We recommend as long as you can… right through to retirement age. That way when a claim happens you keep receiving your money until your doctor says you can go back to work, or if you can’t go back to work you receive your money right through to age 65 or 70. By choosing the longest payment term, you have the most choice at claim time. If you were to claim in your 30’s and could never work again, a five year payment term would not be sufficient to provide for you family long term.

You’ve spent a lot of time and energy building up your business. So it makes sense to protect the things that make your business run smoothly every day.

FAQ

Some key areas that need to be considered when protecting your business…

Key People in the business and the impact on the business if you lose someone
What debts the Business has, and what secures that debt.
Who owns the business? And who would step in as a new owner if something went wrong?
What are the personal needs of the Directors/Shareholders of the business? Will the loss felt through the loss of a key person negatively affect the Shareholders personal incomes?
What responsibilities do the Directors and Shareholders of the business have to external and internal creditors?

You worked hard to buy your house, all the lovely things inside it and the car sitting in the driveway. Losing those things to damage or theft would be traumatic. But the right cover will have you back on your feet ASAP.

FAQ

House wise, you need to get cover when applying for finance to purchase your property. It is also a good idea to protect what is likely to be your biggest asset, so that if disaster strikes you can rebuild. With contents, you need to consider how you would replace everything in your house if it was destroyed or stolen. If you don’t have a good answer, you need to take out contents cover. If you own a vehicle you need to protect yourself from not only damage caused to your vehicle, but also if you cause an accident and damage someone else’s vehicle.

You might think your biggest asset is your house. But in most cases it’s not. It’s your ability to earn an income. If you lose that, your finances can get very complicated, very fast.

FAQ

You’ve spent a lot of time and energy building up your business. So it makes sense to protect the things that make your business run smoothly every day.

FAQ

Depending on the location of your business premises, there is also the option to take out Natural Disaster cover to protect against loss or damage caused by earthquakes and other natural disasters. And for a full comprehensive protection plan, Business Interruption cover will ensure you still have a business when the odds are stacked against you by covering your lost income if you need to temporarily close your doors due to an event covered under your policy.

FAQ

Along with a passport and bankcard, personal travel insurance is an essential part of any overseas holiday.

It covers things like needing medical treatment, lost or stolen bags, missing a connecting flight and rental car excesses. Whether you’re off on a quick mini-break across the Tasman, or on a round-the-world trip, better safe than sorry. We’ve seen how quickly someone can go from a happy traveller to needing life-saving medical attention in a heartbeat

mortgages

Our homes are our castles. And while mortgages, build contracts and taxation structures aren’t the exciting end of home ownership, the right advice can save you tens of thousands of dollars (which you can spend on interior decorating).

First home buyer? Kiwi Saver? Home Start Grants? It all gets a little confusing but we’re here to help you from initial assessment right through to picking up the keys. There’s no better feeling than walking into your own home and we love helping it happen.

legacy

Tomorrow is promised to no one. So today is a good day to make sure the people you love will still be OK, even if you’re not.

Life never stands still. We may go from single to married, married to divorced, or footloose-and-fancy-free to in charge of a little family. Our responsibilities change at every stage, so the right legal structures can help simplify things, making it easier for your wishes to be carried out as requested

FAQ

If you die without a will, the law is very precise as to how your estate will be divided.

You will have no control over how your assets will be distributed when you die. In addition those left behind will be subjected to timely and costly delays while the Courts appoint an Administrator to distribute your assets.

PARTNER, NO CHILDREN OR PARENTS If your partner is alive, but you have no children or living parents, everything goes to your partner
CHILDREN – NO PARTNER If your children are alive when you die but you have no partner your children receive everything in equal shares at age 20
PARTNER AND CHILDREN If your partner and children are living when your die, your partner receives all chattels, $155,000 and one-third of the residue. Your children will split the remaining two-thirds amongst them.
PARTNER & PARENTS – if your partner and parents are living but you have no children, your partners receives all personal chattels, $155k and two-thirds of the residue. Your parents receive one third of the remainder (split equally)

If you have a young children, a will gives you a chance to name a guardian. Or if you are nearing old age, your will can ensure that all your assets are fairly divided between your children. You can even choose to bequeath your assets to a friend or charity.

Life Insurance helps fund your intentions…

A trust is designed to protect the ownership of assets beyond our lifetime. So if our family home is in a trust, we no longer personally own the house – but we can still live in it, if that’s what the trust deed states and the trustees agree.

FAQ

Trusts are useful to protect selected assets against claims and creditors – for example, to protect a family home from the potential failure of a business venture.
To set aside money for special reasons, such as a child or grandchild’s education.
To insure our children, not their partners, keep their inheritances.
To manage the risk of unwanted claims on our estate when we die – such as from a former partner.

A settlor: The person or company who creates the trust.
Trustees: The people who manage the trust. The settlor can also be a trustee. It’s also a good idea to appoint an independent trustee who is not a relative. Professionals like lawyers and accountants (or companies they have set up) often act as independent trustees.
Beneficiaries: The people who benefit from the trust, for example members of our family.

Often there is more than one trustee. There may also be more than one settlor of a trust.

The trust deed will state who has the power to appoint and remove trustees. The settlor – or anyone else who is named in the trust deed – can have this power. This is an important power that the person can also transfer to someone else in their will or during their lifetime.

Note that a trust doesn’t usually end with the settlor’s death – it can last for a maximum of 80 years from inception but this is likely to be extended in the future.

Without an EPA, no-one else can legally make decisions for another person without going to court. This can cause unnecessary stress and expense to family and loved ones.

FAQ

A Property EPA – Anything to do with managing your financial affairs and assets. For example, managing property, collecting rents, paying bills, handling investments, managing your business etc.
A Personal care and welfare EPA – Anything to do with your personal health and wellbeing. For example they can help decide whether you stay in your own home or move into an assisted living home, give consent to minor medical procedures and other health related matters.

As part of our holistic service we offer a special one-of-a-kind compendium containing the history of you.

Ever have those moments when you wake up in the middle of the night and worry about what would happen if you died or became unable to communicate? It’s not necessarily just the big questions, like who would look after the kids or pay the mortgage. Often it’s the small stuff that only you know about, everything from the name of your accountant to your bank and computer passwords. Sometimes it’s stuff you haven’t even thought of yet, but will become important in your absence. Things like the music you want played at your funeral, to what you’d like done with your social media accounts.

FAQ