Best Value Funeral Insurance in NZ: Ranked on the Numbers
The best value funeral policy in New Zealand is not the one with the lowest weekly figure. Take $10,000 of cover at 65 as a male non-smoker and Greenwich Life's rate is the highest of the three insurers whose prices are published, at $1,111.56 a year, yet its wording stops charging once the total paid reaches $10,000, so it takes in $10,000, against $21,518 for AA Life and $22,728 for Chubb Life (MoneyHub NZ, 19 April 2026, and each insurer's own terms).
Price and value point in opposite directions in this market. Here is the working.
Looking for the product terms rather than the ranking? Our funeral insurance comparison sets out every provider's features side by side.
The Measure That Decides It: What You Pay In Per Dollar Paid Out
Every funeral policy pays a fixed sum. So the only honest measure of value is how much you hand over to get it. That is the yearly cost multiplied by the number of years the provider charges, divided by the benefit.
$10,000 of cover taken at age 65, male non-smoker, held to the age payments stop. QuoteHub arithmetic on prices published by MoneyHub NZ (19 April 2026) and each insurer's own premium-cessation term. Published illustration only, not a quote.
| Insurer at entry age 65 | Cost for one year | Charges until | Total paid in | Paid in per $1 paid out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenwich Life | $1,111.56 | The total paid equals the benefit | $10,000 | $1.00 |
| AA Life | $860.70 | Policy anniversary after the 90th birthday | $21,518 | $2.15 |
| Chubb Life | $909.10 | The 90th birthday | $22,728 | $2.27 |
Prices from MoneyHub NZ, updated 19 April 2026 and retrieved 19 August 2026; charging terms from each provider's own wording, retrieved the same day. Assumes the policy is held to the stop age and the rate is not repriced. Published illustration only, not a quote.
The gap is $12,728 on a $10,000 product. Nothing else in this comparison, no bonus, no discount, no multiple, is worth anything like that.
The clause doing the work is short. Greenwich Life's policy wording, under the heading Premium Cessation, reads: "Once your total premium paid equals the funeral benefit amount further premium payments will cease. Your policy will remain in force until your funeral benefit amount becomes payable" (Greenwich Life, The Funeral Plan policy wording, page 6, retrieved 19 August 2026). No other provider in this comparison publishes an equivalent term.
The contrast is set out in the competitors' own documents. Chubb Life's wording states that "depending on how long you have this policy with us, the total premiums you pay may exceed the benefit we pay under this policy" (Chubb Life NZ, Funeral Cover policy document, retrieved 19 August 2026). New Zealand Seniors and OneChoice both carry a footnote saying the same (New Zealand Seniors and OneChoice, retrieved 19 August 2026). AA Life goes furthest, telling readers on its product page that "over your lifetime, it's possible to pay more in premiums than your total cover amount" and naming saving or investing as alternatives (AA Life Insurance, retrieved 19 August 2026).
Note the word "capped"
Chubb Life's funeral policy document is titled Capped Premium Funeral Cover (Chubb Life NZ, retrieved 19 August 2026). Read the payment clause in the same document and the cap turns out to be on the rate, not the total: payments run to the 90th birthday and may exceed the benefit. Both things are true and both are disclosed, but a reader who sees "capped premium" on a cover page and stops there will draw the wrong conclusion about what the policy costs.
How Long Each Provider Charges You
The stop age is half the lifetime figure, and it varies by five years across the market for reasons no provider explains.
Years of payments on $10,000 of cover for someone who takes the policy at 65, from each provider's own premium-cessation term, retrieved 19 August 2026. The Greenwich figure is derived from MoneyHub's 19 April 2026 price for a male non-smoker.
| Provider | Payments stop | Years of payments from age 65 |
|---|---|---|
| Greenwich Life | Once the total paid equals the benefit | About 9 |
| OneChoice and New Zealand Seniors | After the 85th birthday | 20 |
| Momentum Life | From the 89th birthday | 24 |
| AA Life | Policy anniversary after the 90th birthday | 25 |
| Chubb Life | The 90th birthday | 25 |
Each provider's own published term, retrieved 19 August 2026.
Stopping at 85 rather than 90 removes five years of payments. On AA Life's published rate for a 65-year-old male non-smoker that would be worth $4,303.50, or 43 per cent of the benefit (MoneyHub NZ, updated 19 April 2026). It is the second most valuable term in this market after the Greenwich cap, and neither OneChoice nor New Zealand Seniors publishes a price against which to test it.
Stand-Downs and Refunds: Where the First Two Years Go
Guaranteed acceptance is paid for with a stand-down. Every provider limits the first period to accidental death, and the terms differ in a way that matters more than most buyers realise.
| Provider | Accidental-death-only period | Non-accidental death inside that window | Accidental-death multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenwich Life | 24 months | All premiums refunded | Full benefit, no multiple |
| AA Life | 24 months | All premiums refunded | Double, where death is within 90 days of the accident |
| Chubb Life | 24 months | Premiums refunded | Sum insured, no multiple published |
| Momentum Life | 24 months | Refunded, per the comparison published by New Zealand Seniors | Triple |
| OneChoice and New Zealand Seniors | 12 months | No refund | Triple |
Terms published by each provider, retrieved 19 August 2026. The Momentum refund position is taken from the feature comparison published on New Zealand Seniors' own site, which describes it as accurate at 21 August 2025, a competitor's summary, not Momentum's wording.
The Pinnacle-issued brands make an explicit trade: full cover a year earlier, in exchange for nothing at all if you die of illness in the first twelve months. Everyone else takes two years but hands the money back. For a healthy 65-year-old the second year of full cover is probably worth more than the refund. For anyone with a health concern they have not disclosed, and guaranteed acceptance asks nothing, so plenty have, the refund is the term that stops a total loss.
The accidental-death multiple is the one place the ranking flips. Momentum Life, OneChoice and New Zealand Seniors all pay three times the cover amount for accidental death; AA Life pays double within 90 days of the accident; Greenwich Life and Chubb Life pay the benefit and no more (Momentum Life, OneChoice, AA Life and Chubb Life, all retrieved 19 August 2026). It is a genuine benefit. It is also a benefit on a low-probability event, and it is not worth $12,728.
Who Actually Stands Behind the Policy
A funeral policy is a promise to pay decades from now, so the financial strength of the underwriter is part of the value, not a footnote. Every licensed New Zealand insurer must hold a current rating from an approved agency.
| Brand | Underwriter | Financial strength rating |
|---|---|---|
| AA Life | Asteron Life Limited | Fitch A+ (Strong) |
| Chubb Life | Chubb Life Insurance New Zealand Limited | A.M. Best A (Excellent) |
| Greenwich Life | Autosure Insurance Limited | A.M. Best B++ (Good), stable, affirmed 11 September 2025 |
| OneChoice, New Zealand Seniors | Pinnacle Life Limited | A.M. Best B+ (Good) at 15 April 2026 |
| Momentum Life | Momentum Life Limited | A.M. Best B (Fair) |
Ratings published by each insurer on its own site, retrieved 19 August 2026. Ratings are reissued and can move; check the current rating before you apply.
This is the uncomfortable part of the ranking. The policy with the premium cap is underwritten by the third-strongest balance sheet in the table, not the first. The two strongest insurers, Asteron Life and Chubb Life, are the two that will take in more than twice the payout. There is no option here that is both the cheapest over a lifetime and the strongest on paper, and anyone telling you otherwise has not looked.
It is also worth knowing that Pinnacle Life withdrew its own-brand Funeral Insurance from sale in May 2021 and now points new customers to OneChoice and New Zealand Seniors, both of which it issues itself (Pinnacle Life, Funeral & Mortgage Insurance Policy Holders, retrieved 19 August 2026). Two brands, one insurer.
The Scorecard
Five criteria, scored 0 to 3, with lifetime cost counted twice because it is worth more than the other four combined. The rules are stated so you can disagree with them and re-run the numbers yourself.
- Lifetime cost (double weight). 3 = total paid capped at the benefit; 2 = up to 1.5 times the benefit; 1 = 1.5 to 2.5 times; 0 = above 2.5 times, or no price published anywhere.
- Stand-down terms. 3 = full cover within 12 months and a refund inside the window; 2 = 24 months with a refund; 1 = 12 months with no refund; 0 = neither.
- Premium cessation. 3 = payments stop at the benefit amount; 2 = payments stop at 85; 1 = payments stop at 89 or 90.
- Accidental-death multiple. 3 = triple; 2 = double; 1 = the benefit only.
- Underwriter strength. 3 = A- or better; 2 = B++; 1 = B+; 0 = B.
| Provider | Lifetime cost (x2) | Stand-down | Cessation | Accidental | Strength | Total of 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenwich Life | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 |
| AA Life | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| Chubb Life | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Momentum Life | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| OneChoice and New Zealand Seniors | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
QuoteHub scoring against the published terms and prices linked throughout this article, all retrieved 19 August 2026. Momentum Life's lifetime cost uses its own published example of $11.41 a week for a 50-year-old female non-smoker held to the 89th birthday, which totals $23,139 (Momentum Life). OneChoice and New Zealand Seniors score zero on lifetime cost because neither publishes a price, not because their price is known to be poor.
Reading the scorecard honestly
Greenwich Life leads on one clause. Strip out the premium cap and it drops to the bottom half, because it has no accidental-death multiple and the mid-table balance sheet. It also has the lowest upper age limit in this comparison, 70, so it is unavailable to exactly the people who search for this product most (Greenwich Life, retrieved 19 August 2026), and its maximum cover is $20,000 rather than $30,000.
AA Life and Chubb Life are the safe, expensive middle. Strongest underwriters, clearest documents, longest charging periods. If your priority is that the money is definitely there in 2050, this is what you pay for it.
Momentum Life is the value play with the balance-sheet question. A triple accidental-death benefit, payments ending a year earlier than AA Life and Chubb Life, 10 per cent of the first year's payments returned after twelve months of continuous cover, and the lowest financial strength rating in the table (Momentum Life and Momentum Life, Financial strength, retrieved 19 August 2026).
The two Pinnacle brands cannot be ranked on price. They score well on the terms they publish, payments stopping at 85, 25 per cent bonus cover at 85, a triple accidental-death benefit, an early cash-out of 75 per cent of the benefit from 85 and a guaranteed payment of 125 per cent at age 100 (New Zealand Seniors and OneChoice, retrieved 19 August 2026). Without a published price none of that can be turned into a value figure, and a comparison table produced by a market participant is not independent evidence.
What Would Change This Ranking
Three things, and it is worth saying so.
A published rate card from OneChoice, New Zealand Seniors or Momentum Life at 65 and 70 would let all five be scored on the same basis. A repricing by Chubb Life, which its wording permits on 30 days' notice, would move the lifetime figures (Chubb Life NZ, retrieved 19 August 2026). And a rating change at any of the five underwriters would move the last column.
The ranking also assumes you hold the policy to the end. Cancel a funeral policy at 78 and you get nothing back after the cooling-off period, whichever provider you chose. On that measure every product here scores the same, and it is zero.
Honest Limits
This ranking uses one entry age, one sex and one smoking status for the cost measure, because that is where three insurers' prices overlap in a single published survey. Two of the five providers publish no price at all, so their cost score reflects the absence of evidence rather than a finding about their pricing. The weighting is our judgement, stated openly so you can change it. And none of this is a substitute for personalised advice: the right answer depends on whether you can be underwritten at all, which no ranking of guaranteed-acceptance products can tell you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best value funeral insurance in New Zealand?
On the published evidence, the policy whose payments stop once the total paid equals the benefit, Greenwich Life's The Funeral Plan, which takes in $10,000 for a $10,000 payout against $21,518 to $22,728 for policies that charge to age 90 (MoneyHub NZ, 19 April 2026, and each insurer's terms). It is available only to applicants aged 30 to 70 and its underwriter carries the third-strongest rating in this comparison.
Is the cheapest funeral insurance the best value?
No, and in this market it is usually the opposite. At entry age 70 the cheapest yearly figure of the three published insurers costs $22,148 over a lifetime and the dearest costs $10,000, because the dearest stops charging at the benefit amount (MoneyHub NZ, updated 19 April 2026).
How do I compare funeral insurance in NZ?
Compare four things in this order: the total paid by the age payments stop, the stand-down period and whether premiums are refunded inside it, the accidental-death multiple, and the underwriter's financial strength rating. The weekly figure on the advertisement is the least informative number available.
Which funeral insurance pays triple for accidental death?
Momentum Life, OneChoice and New Zealand Seniors all pay three times the cover amount for accidental death; AA Life pays double where death occurs within 90 days of the accident (Momentum Life, OneChoice, New Zealand Seniors and AA Life, all retrieved 19 August 2026).
Do any funeral policies refund your premiums?
Inside the stand-down, yes. Greenwich Life, AA Life and Chubb Life all refund premiums paid if the life insured dies of a non-accidental cause within the first 24 months (Greenwich Life, AA Life and Chubb Life, all retrieved 19 August 2026). New Zealand Seniors and OneChoice do not. After the stand-down, no provider here refunds anything.
Which funeral insurer is financially strongest?
Asteron Life, which underwrites AA Life, holds a Fitch A+ (Strong) rating, and Chubb Life holds A.M. Best A (Excellent) (Asteron Life and Chubb Life, retrieved 19 August 2026). Those are the two strongest in this comparison, and they are also the two most expensive to hold to age 90.
Have the Value Question Answered for Your Situation
QuoteHub is a licensed Financial Advice Provider. The scorecard above ranks guaranteed-acceptance products against each other; an adviser's first job is to tell you whether you should be in that category at all, because underwritten life cover with a funeral advance costs a fraction as much per dollar of cover for anyone who can pass health questions. There is no charge and no obligation, get your free comparison.
QuoteHub connects New Zealanders with licensed financial advisers. QuoteHub operates under Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP 712931). The information in this article is general in nature and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Greenwich Life, Autosure, New Zealand Seniors, OneChoice, Momentum Life and Pinnacle Life are not on QuoteHub's advice panel, which is listed on our disclosure page. The scoring is our own and the weights are stated so you can apply your own. Our comparison method is set out on our methodology page.
References
- MoneyHub NZ, Funeral Insurance: annual prices for a $10,000 funeral benefit at ages 50, 65 and 70 for Greenwich Life, Chubb Life and AA Life (updated 19 April 2026, retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Greenwich Life, The Funeral Plan policy wording (112023v3): "Premium Cessation, once your total premium paid equals the funeral benefit amount further premium payments will cease. Your policy will remain in force until your funeral benefit amount becomes payable"; underwritten by Autosure Insurance Limited; entry ages 30 to 70; maximum cover $20,000 (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Greenwich Life, The Funeral Plan: cover $5,000 to $20,000; level rates; 24-month accident-only period with 100% of premiums refunded on non-accidental death (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Chubb Life NZ, Funeral Cover policy document (cig0421 v1): titled Capped Premium Funeral Cover; payments to the earliest of a claim, the 90th birthday or the Long-Term Care Premium Waiver; "the total premiums you pay may exceed the benefit we pay under this policy"; rates may be changed on 30 days' notice (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Chubb Life NZ, Funeral Cover: guaranteed acceptance 50 to 80; cover up to $30,000; A.M. Best A (Excellent) financial strength rating disclosed on the page (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- AA Life Insurance, Funeral Cover: entry ages 50 to 79; payments to the policy anniversary after the 90th birthday; double payout where accidental death occurs within 90 days of the accident; premiums refunded on non-accidental death inside 24 months; "over your lifetime, it's possible to pay more in premiums than your total cover amount" (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Momentum Life, Funeral Insurance: $10,000 cover from $11.41 per week for a female non-smoker aged 50; guaranteed acceptance 40 to 75; triple benefit for accidental death; no premiums from the 89th birthday; 10% of premiums returned after the first 12 months of continuous cover (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Momentum Life, Financial strength: Momentum Life Limited holds a B (Fair) financial strength rating from A.M. Best (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Asteron Life, Financial Strength: Asteron Life Limited holds an A+ (Strong) financial strength rating from Fitch Australia Pty Ltd (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Autosure, Financial Strength: Autosure Insurance Limited holds A.M. Best B++ (Good) with a stable outlook and a bbb+ issuer credit rating, affirmed 11 September 2025; underwrites Greenwich Life and Funeral Insurance policies (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Pinnacle Life, Our financial strength: A.M. Best rates Pinnacle Life Limited B+ (Good) with a bbb- issuer credit rating, stable outlook, at 15 April 2026 (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Pinnacle Life, Funeral & Mortgage Insurance Policy Holders: "We withdrew our Funeral Insurance from sale in May 2021"; directs new customers to OneChoice Funeral Insurance and Seniors Funeral Insurance, "also issued by Pinnacle Life" (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- New Zealand Seniors, Funeral Insurance: guaranteed acceptance 18 to 79; 12-month accidental-death-only period with no premium refund; triple benefit for accidental death; no premiums after 85; 25% bonus cover at 85; early cash-out of 75% from 85; 125% of the benefit paid at 100; feature comparison table stated accurate at 21 August 2025 (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- OneChoice, Funeral Insurance: guaranteed acceptance 18 to 79; cover $3,000 to $30,000; triple benefit for accidental death; no premiums after 85; "the total amount of premiums payable over the life of the policy has the potential to exceed the cover amount" (retrieved 19 August 2026)
Read the full insurance guides
Compare your cover with a licensed NZ adviser · free, no obligation.
Explore related pages: Life Insurance, Income Protection, Health Insurance, Trauma Insurance, Compare Insurance NZ.