That Home Loan Hub
Welcome to That Home Loan Hub, your ultimate guide to mastering the world of home loans and property. I'm Zebunisso Alimova, here to simplify the complexities of real estate and provide you with expert insights and the latest trends.
Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, an experienced investor, or simply curious about the property market, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we unlock the secrets to property success and help you make informed decisions. Let's dive into the world of property together!
That Home Loan Hub
Life Insurance: The Conversation No One Wants (But Everyone Needs)
Death isn't a comfortable topic, but financial protection for your loved ones is too important to ignore. We dive deep into why proper life insurance coverage matters and the potentially devastating consequences when families are left without it.
What struck us most during our conversation was the contradiction many people live with - they'll insure their phones, cars, and homes but not themselves. When you're the financial foundation for your family, this oversight can have heartbreaking consequences. We share personal stories that highlight why this protection isn't just paperwork - it's an act of love and responsibility.
We expose a critical issue with online insurance policies that many consumers don't realize: the absence of proper medical underwriting. When you purchase coverage online with just a few clicks, the insurer often doesn't examine your medical history until you make a claim - which can lead to devastating claim denials exactly when your family needs support most. Working with a professional advisor ensures your medical history is thoroughly reviewed upfront, giving you confidence your policy will actually pay out when needed.
Beyond life insurance, we explore trauma coverage, mortgage protection, and the benefits of health insurance - including access to international medical opinions that can sometimes mean the difference between standard care and life-changing treatment options. We're also excited to announce our team is expanding with a dedicated insurance specialist to better serve your protection needs.
If you're concerned about your family's financial security or want to ensure your existing policies will truly protect you, reach out for a review. And stay tuned for our upcoming webinars on wills and estate planning - because comprehensive protection is about more than just insurance.
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Hello and welcome back to the episode of that Home Loan Hub. Hi Kunj, hi, how are you? Oh, wonderful, but we're going to talk about something that people are not going to like.
Speaker 2:No, this is not really a popular topic, but I thought we'll cover off life insurance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really interesting because obviously we're in an industry where we make people's dreams come true. We help them to buy a house and set them up for the family, but then we sit them down and we're like, right, what's going to happen if you die? Yeah, and that's not pleasant.
Speaker 2:No, it's not a good topic thinking about you know your last days, or anything like that, but also I think it's quite important to protect you and your family to have something in place.
Speaker 1:And what hit home for you this week, I guess, is the passing of your friends. I'm very sorry about that yeah.
Speaker 2:So you know, like actually recently a lot of people were young people as well have been passing away and I think I always, you know, at the back of my mind, wonder, did they have protection? You know, obviously the family is now left behind with a mortgage or with no dad, no mum, sort of thing. So yeah, that kind of touches the heartstrings a lot, yeah no, totally.
Speaker 1:I mean, my dad was 43 when he passed away and I was seven and I'm now 37 and I'm about. You know, in five years time I'll be his age, and it's scary, it's terrifying, it's absolutely scary.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I'm always like, okay, have I got enough cover? Let's review my insurance. You know, let's review my husband's insurance sort of thing to make sure we've got that cover in place, should anything happen to any one of us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. And that brings me to an interesting point, because when I sit down with clients, we look at their whole situation right what is right now for them, what can they afford and help them get the best car possible if the unfortunate event happens. But the problem I'm facing at the moment is people don't take a professional advice and they just go online and they click some buttons and the system spits out that you know it's going to cost them $25 a week or whatever, and it makes it sound very cheap compared to what we can come up with. And unfortunately, a lot of the time people don't realize when they click those buttons online there is no human on the other side. There is no underwriting up front either.
Speaker 1:So when they buy something online, the reason I'm talking about underwriting and what's important here is it's basically, when we do an insurance for a client, we have to get all your medical information up front, yeah, and then we send it away and then in an insurance company, an underwriter will look at it and be like, yep, cool, you can have a cover or you can't have a cover. There'll be exclusions and often people that come to us they might have issues, they might have pre-existing conditions, or they might have had substance abuse issues in the past, they might have suicide, depression, cancer history, et cetera. So there might be all sorts of things. I mean, we're all humans, we all live life and things happen to us right? It's not like we're born and nothing ever happens.
Speaker 1:We all break bones and pull muscles and you know things happen right. So when we sit down with our clients, we ask all those questions up front and then we send it away to underwriting. Underwriters get medical notes and then they issue a cover based on what they know up front. Yes, it's basically like getting a pre-approval the bank knows everything about you, gives you an approval. However, when you buy those policies online, often you don't get underwritten medically, so nobody looks at your medical files.
Speaker 1:No, and the only time they will look at it when you go to make a claim, a claim. Yeah, and this is where majority of claims don't get paid, because suddenly the insurance company will open up your file and they will see that you had a family history of cancer. You know, your mom had cancer, your grandma had cancer, your auntie had cancer and now you have cancer. So they might say, oh, there was a family you know. No, if we knew that, we would never give you cover and you can't fight them. Yeah, and it's easier for them and cheaper to pay you back your premiums and close the case, and you'll be missing out on thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars if you had a proper insurance cover.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, a professional and advisor who specializes in insurance to review your policy or just to have a chat with them. For example, I actually recently got my husband's policy reviewed I wonder who and we actually managed to save us on premiums as well as increasing his cover as well. And my husband does have, you know, pre-existing medical conditions as well, so it did have to go to an underwriting team to get it approved, which we were, you know, we were told we were aware of and, yeah, thankfully enough, we were aware of and, yeah, thankfully enough, we were able to change his policy from one provider to our new provider and able to save us on the premiums as well. Yeah, so always get it reviewed and have a chat to your advisor as well. I mean, like, your house is your biggest asset as well, but you're also the biggest asset to us.
Speaker 1:Still, keep that house it's funny, you know, when people come to me and I see they've got a car insurance, contents insurance, they've got a phone insurance, they will insure their iphone, but they're not going to insure themselves.
Speaker 2:I know, right, blows my mind it doesn't make sense to me either it's like don't you see your value, don't you see what you? Have. You're literally the most important person exactly you know they say it on.
Speaker 1:You're literally the most important person. Exactly, you know they say it on the airplanes put the breathing mask on yourself first and then on others.
Speaker 1:So I think it's irresponsible if you're an adult, if you have children especially if you have children to have a mortgage or to even not have a mortgage, but if you have children and you have no cover at all, I think that's irresponsible to rely on someone else to bring up your kids financially. Yeah, that's not cool. Not cool, guys. Come on, get yourself insured today. And guess what? Koenj? We've got exciting news we're actually going to have a new member joining us soon.
Speaker 1:Yes, we are, that's right, and she is dedicated insurance advisor. Yes, because I can't do 100 million things that I want to achieve in one day. No, and it will be awesome to have someone that lives and breathes in insurances.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so she'll be joining us very, very soon. We're expanding our team, yeah, exciting, exciting times, yeah. So if you do want those covers reviewed, please reach out to us and we will have it looked at. So don't trust those online applications and there's actually a review into that now at the moment because it's not fair for clients to be buying insurances online and not having that cover when they most all their advice as well and yeah, they're missing the whole element of advice. Like is that cover even relevant to you? You know an interesting point about redundancy covers a lot of people just buy redundancy insurance thinking it's going to cover them. In my experience, redundancy cover is one of those covers that a bit of a mythical creature. You know you can claim on it, but there are so many hooks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so many clauses like you got to stand down for this many days or months.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have to be out of work. So let's say you got redundant and then you, you, you can't find job for at least six months before you can claim on it. So it's like come on, guys, like normally a normal human will go and get a new job, right it's you can't go on for six months without work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you'll find a job within that stand-down period most of the time.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. Most of the time, you can't even claim on the redundancy cover, so that's one cover I don't fully believe in. I fully believe in life insurance because I've seen many cases where it paid out quite significantly. I believe in trauma insurance because I've seen that paid out a lot. Mortgage insurance, you know, when people get sick, unwell, they can't work for a period of time. That pays out.
Speaker 1:Health insurance is a big one. I mean, between my kids and myself, we've claimed many times. Yeah, and just recently you know I was just thinking about it last night how fortunate I was to have health insurance when I needed, when I needed to get an urgent scan, I just managed to get myself in with a private provider. Within a week I was seen and got the test done and stuff. So, hey guys, I'm fine, I'll be fine, the test come back. Fine, I'll live, I'll live. This episode will go on. But the key takeaway is, if you have private medical insurance in New Zealand definitely opens up more doors and gives you that access. And did you know with one of my health insurance providers that I have? You actually have access to online GPs and online second opinion as well.
Speaker 1:So, if you went to a doctor and they said you've got XYZ condition, you can actually go online and find a specialist and there is specialists across the world and they can look up at your scans, look up at your test results and they can tell you what they think, which is absolutely amazing. That's pretty cool, yeah, Because see, in New Zealand we only have so many specialists and we only have so many conditions that they're dealing with. So they don't see the volumes that people, that doctors in America or Europe will see yeah, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:So there are options like this where you know if you need access to that. You actually have that as well, and I'll tell you all about it. I didn't even know. I'll tell you all about it. But, yeah, there are options for that as well, and that saved I know that saved many, many people from wrong diagnosis or wrong way of treatment, you know. Then they can find better way of treatment as well, maybe non-invasive, or, you know, a different type of medicine, et cetera. So insurance unlocks the doors to you being here longer and healthier for those that you love. Yeah, absolutely, that's the ultimate goal, right? So thank you, let's wrap it up.
Speaker 2:And our voice just went.
Speaker 1:It's been a fun episode, like, how do you talk about it in a way that encourages people and inspires them to go and look at your stuff? So, apart from the wheels, when we talk about the wheels, so in the next few months, I'm running some webinars and we are going to talk about the wills, so stay tuned. If you are not on my mailing list, reach out. There will be a webinar with the lawyer about the will as well and what you can do to protect yourself from that angle as well. Awesome. Thank you, kunj, for coming along. Thank you for having me See ya. Bye.
