Seniors Funeral and Life Insurance NZ: The Verified Terms
New Zealand Seniors funeral insurance is issued by Pinnacle Life Limited and distributed by Greenstone Financial Services NZ Limited. It accepts New Zealand residents aged 18 to 79 with no health questions, premiums are level and stop at age 85, and for the first 12 months it covers accidental death only, refunding nothing if death inside that window comes from any other cause.
In short
- Pinnacle Life Limited also underwrites the OneChoice funeral brand, so weighing NZ Seniors against OneChoice weighs two distribution arms of one insurer (Pinnacle Life, retrieved 19 August 2026).
- Entry to guaranteed-acceptance funeral cover closes at 70 with Greenwich Life, 75 with Momentum Life, 79 with AA Life, OneChoice and New Zealand Seniors, and 80 with Chubb Life.
- A 65-year-old female non-smoker paying $737.80 a year for $10,000 of AA Life cover passes break-even after 13.6 years and has paid $18,445 by the age payments stop (MoneyHub NZ, updated 19 April 2026).
New Zealand Seniors funeral insurance is issued by Pinnacle Life Limited and distributed by Greenstone Financial Services NZ Limited, which trades under the New Zealand Seniors name. It is a guaranteed-acceptance policy for residents aged 18 to 79, with no medical screening, blood tests or health questions. Premiums are level and stop at age 85, after which cover continues at no further cost. For the first 12 months the policy covers accidental death only, and unlike its two main competitors it refunds nothing if death in that window is from any other cause.
That last term is the one most worth reading twice, and it is the provider's own published position rather than our reading of it. Neither New Zealand Seniors nor OneChoice publishes a price, so this guide sets out what the products contain, what the published prices across the wider market look like, how they sit beside underwritten life insurance at the same ages, which entry-age doors close at 70, 75 and 80, and what is left once they all shut.
Compare providers → For a head-to-head of every funeral product on the market, see our full funeral insurance comparison.
NZ Seniors Funeral Insurance: The Verified Terms
New Zealand Seniors publishes its no-refund position itself. Its own comparison table sets its product beside two rivals on the row "Premium refund if death due to any cause other than an accident in the first 12/24 months" and records No for New Zealand Seniors against Yes for both others (New Zealand Seniors, *Compare funeral insurance products*, retrieved 18 August 2026). A shorter accidental-death-only window is the trade-off for no refund inside it.
| What the policy document says | New Zealand Seniors Funeral Insurance |
|---|---|
| Insurer that issues the policy | Pinnacle Life Limited (NZBN 9429030397248) |
| Who sells and administers it | Greenstone Financial Services NZ Limited (NZBN 9429047013582), trading as New Zealand Seniors |
| Entry ages | 18 to 79 inclusive, the widest lower bound of the providers in its own comparison |
| Health assessment | None. Guaranteed acceptance, no medical screening or blood tests |
| Accidental-death-only period | First 12 months |
| Premium refund if death from another cause in that window | No |
| Accidental death during that window | Benefit amount tripled at no extra cost |
| Premiums payable until | Age 85, then cover continues at no further cost with 25% bonus cover added |
| Early Cash Out Option | From age 85 you may cancel and take 75% of your cover |
| Policy expiry | Age 100, at which point the full benefit is paid to you |
Source: New Zealand Seniors funeral insurance product page and Compare funeral insurance products, both retrieved 18 August 2026. Issuer and distributor per the legal disclosure in the footer of every page on nzseniors.co.nz. Terms change, so confirm against the current policy document before you apply.
New Zealand Seniors also states, in its own words, that "the total amount of premiums payable over the life of the policy has the potential to exceed the cover amount" (nzseniors.co.nz, retrieved 18 August 2026). That is not a criticism from us. It is the provider's own disclosure, and it is the single most important sentence on the page for anyone applying in their 70s.
Why the underwriter matters more than the brand
Pinnacle Life Limited stands behind both the New Zealand Seniors and OneChoice funeral brands, so anyone weighing "NZ Seniors versus OneChoice" is weighing two distribution arms of one insurer rather than two insurers. Pinnacle withdrew its own-brand funeral policy from sale in May 2021 and now points new customers to those two brands (Pinnacle Life, retrieved 19 August 2026). The financial strength rating that governs a claim is always the underwriter's, never the distributor's, and Pinnacle holds A.M. Best B+ as at 15 April 2026, recorded on the Reserve Bank's register of licensed insurers. Our Pinnacle Life review covers that insurer directly.
AA Life works the same way. AA Life Insurance policies are distributed by the New Zealand Automobile Association (Incorporated) and underwritten by Asteron Life Limited (AA Life Insurance, retrieved 8 September 2026), so the company that would pay a claim on an AA-branded funeral policy is Asteron Life. Asteron holds A+ (Strong) from Fitch, and Fitch placed it on Rating Watch Positive on 5 August 2026, with the group intending to become Acenda Life New Zealand in 2027 (Asteron Life, Fitch places Asteron Life on Rating Watch Positive, retrieved 8 September 2026).
Both brands also disclose that they give no advice. The nzseniors.co.nz footer states plainly that "no advice on buying or disposing of insurance is given" and recommends you consider the policy document or contact a financial adviser who can consider your circumstances. That is an honest disclosure, and it means the comparison work is yours to do or an adviser's.
NZ Seniors Life Insurance: How It Differs From the Funeral Product
New Zealand Seniors life insurance is a separate product, and the difference that matters most is the waiting period. Seniors Life Insurance is open to applicants aged 45 to 79, asks eight medical questions by phone with no medicals, and covers death by any cause from the moment the policy is set up. There is no accidental-death-only window.
| Seniors Funeral Insurance | Seniors Life Insurance | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry ages | 18 to 79 | 45 to 79 |
| Health assessment | None at all | Eight medical questions by phone, no medicals |
| Cover for death by any cause | After the first 12 months | Immediately once the policy is set up |
| Terminal illness | Covered | Covered, excluding suicide for the first 13 months |
| Benefit amount | Set at application | $10,000 to $200,000 |
| Funeral money released early | The benefit is the funeral money | 20% of the benefit may be paid in advance for funeral costs |
| Accidental death | Benefit tripled | Benefit tripled |
| Cover runs until | Age 100 | Age 85 |
Source: New Zealand Seniors life insurance product page and funeral insurance product page, both retrieved 18 August 2026.
The practical reading is this. If you can answer eight health questions and are between 45 and 79, the life product covers you for any cause of death straight away and releases a fifth of the benefit early for the funeral, which removes the very risk the funeral product's first 12 months creates. If you cannot answer health questions, the funeral product is the one that will still accept you.
Which Doors Are Still Open at Your Age
Guaranteed-acceptance funeral cover is sold on an entry-age window. Once you pass a provider's upper limit that provider is closed to you permanently: there is no appeal and no medical you can pass to reopen it. The windows are not the same, and they do not shut together.
| Provider | Entry ages | Cover available | Payments stop |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand Seniors and OneChoice | 18 to 79 | $3,000 to $30,000 | After the 85th birthday |
| Greenwich Life, The Funeral Plan | 30 to 70 | $5,000 to $20,000 | When the total paid equals the benefit |
| Momentum Life | 40 to 75 | $3,000 to $30,000 | From the 89th birthday |
| AA Life | 50 to 79 | $5,000 to $30,000 | Policy anniversary after the 90th birthday |
| Chubb Life | 50 to 80 | Up to $30,000 | The 90th birthday |
Terms published by each provider on its own site, all retrieved 19 August 2026. Provider terms change: confirm the current wording before you apply.
At 65 every provider above is open to you, and this is the last decade in which you have the full set of choices. At 70 Greenwich Life's window closes, which matters more than it looks, because Greenwich is the only provider whose wording stops charging you once the total paid equals the benefit (Greenwich Life, *The Funeral Plan* policy wording, page 6, retrieved 19 August 2026). Turning 71 does not make cover unavailable; it removes the only structural protection in the market against paying in more than the policy pays out.
At 75 Momentum Life closes. At 79 AA Life, OneChoice and New Zealand Seniors all close. At 80 Chubb Life is the last of the group still accepting applications, and at 81 none of them is. The practical consequence is simple: if you are thinking about this at 68 or 69, the decision has a deadline attached to it.
What Seniors Cover Costs, on Published Figures
Neither New Zealand Seniors nor OneChoice publishes an indicative price for its funeral or life products; both require contact details for a quote (New Zealand Seniors, *Funeral Insurance* and *Life Insurance*, both retrieved 19 August 2026). That is normal for the direct-to-consumer seniors market and it is why cost queries are so poorly served. The figures below come from the providers and researchers who do publish.
Life cover at senior ages
Canstar New Zealand publishes ranges reviewed across five providers for $500,000 of stepped life cover. At 55 a female non-smoker sits between $132 and $158 a month and a male non-smoker between $160 and $195. At 65 those ranges move to $397 to $489 for a woman and $600 to $726 for a man, with smokers roughly double at both ages (Canstar NZ, *How much does life insurance cost in NZ?*, retrieved 19 August 2026).
| Age | Female, non-smoker | Female, smoker | Male, non-smoker | Male, smoker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | $50 to $59 | $102 to $117 | $59 to $67 | $134 to $167 |
| 55 | $132 to $158 | $265 to $321 | $160 to $195 | $371 to $464 |
| 65 | $397 to $489 | $715 to $828 | $600 to $726 | $1,209 to $1,402 |
Cost for one month of $500,000 stepped life cover, reviewed across five providers and published by Canstar New Zealand, retrieved 19 August 2026. Canstar marks its two age-65 female ranges with an asterisk whose footnote is not reproduced on the page we retrieved, so treat those two cells with extra caution. A published third-party illustration, not a quote: stepped cover also rises every year after the age shown.
Two things follow. Life cover roughly triples in price between 55 and 65, which is why applying before you age out of the market matters more than shopping between insurers. And $500,000 is far more cover than most seniors need for a funeral, so read the figures as the shape of the market rather than the amount to buy.
Funeral cover at senior ages
Guaranteed-acceptance funeral cover is priced in a different world. MoneyHub publishes prices for a year of $10,000 of cover by provider, sex and smoking status (MoneyHub NZ, *Funeral Insurance NZ*, updated 19 April 2026, retrieved 19 August 2026). At 65 a female non-smoker is shown at $764.50 with Chubb Life and $737.80 with AA Life, and at 70 a male non-smoker at $1,175.90 and $1,107.42.
| Age and profile | Chubb Life Funeral Cover | AA Life Funeral Cover |
|---|---|---|
| 65, female, non-smoker | $764.50 | $737.80 |
| 65, male, non-smoker | $909.10 | $860.70 |
| 65, male, smoker | $1,222.20 | $1,211.00 |
| 70, female, non-smoker | $996.40 | $957.00 |
| 70, male, non-smoker | $1,175.90 | $1,107.42 |
| 70, male, smoker | $1,512.60 | $1,488.50 |
Cost for one year of cover on a $10,000 benefit, published by MoneyHub NZ, updated 19 April 2026 and retrieved 19 August 2026. A published third-party illustration, not a quote.
AA Life advertises $14.28 a week for $10,000 of cover for a 66-year-old female AA Member who is a non-smoker, which is $742.56 for a year and within a percentage point of MoneyHub's $737.80 for a 65-year-old with the same profile (AA Life Insurance, *Funeral Cover*, retrieved 19 August 2026).
Set the two products side by side and the cost per dollar of cover is the whole story. At 65 a female non-smoker pays about $737.80 for a year of $10,000 of guaranteed-acceptance funeral cover, which is 7.4 cents a year for every dollar of cover (MoneyHub NZ, updated 19 April 2026). The same woman pays $397 to $489 a month for $500,000 of underwritten life cover, or between 0.95 and 1.17 cents a year per dollar (Canstar NZ, retrieved 19 August 2026). Underwriting is the whole difference, and on those published figures it is worth six to eight times the price.
What that costs against a pension
New Zealand Superannuation pays a single person living alone $555.15 net a week on the "M" tax code, and $427.04 each for a couple who both qualify, at rates effective 1 April 2026 (Work and Income, *New Zealand Superannuation and Veterans Pension rates*, retrieved 19 August 2026). That is $28,867.80 for a year. On the published prices above, a year of $10,000 of funeral cover at 65 takes 2.6 per cent of that income for a female non-smoker with AA Life and 3.1 per cent for a male non-smoker with Chubb Life.
Three per cent of a pension is affordable in most weeks and painful in some. That is the real risk in this product for a pensioner. It is not that the cover is bad, it is that it must be paid every week for twenty-five years, and if it lapses there is no refund after the cooling-off period. A policy you cannot sustain to the end is worse than no policy, because the money already paid buys nothing. AA Life is the one provider here with a published relief valve, a premium holiday of up to six months for a policyholder under 65 who has held the policy two years and faces hardship (AA Life Insurance, retrieved 19 August 2026). Note the age limit: it is closed to pensioners.
The Total Premium Trap: When You Pay More Than You Get
The total premium trap is the point where the premiums you pay over the life of a policy exceed the benefit your family receives. It is not a claim we are making about the industry. It is a disclosure the providers make about themselves, and entry age is what decides how bad it gets.
Entry age works in two directions at once. The cost per year rises with every year you delay, while the number of years you will pay shrinks because payments stop at a fixed age. Those two forces produce a crossover point, and on published prices that point falls inside a normal life span at every senior entry age.
| Entry age | Published cost for one year | Years of payments to 90 | Total paid by 90 | Break-even against a $10,000 benefit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | $412.00 | 40 | $16,480 | 24.3 years, at age 74 |
| 65 | $737.80 | 25 | $18,445 | 13.6 years, at age 79 |
| 70 | $957.00 | 20 | $19,140 | 10.4 years, at age 80 |
QuoteHub arithmetic on published figures: cost for one year from MoneyHub NZ for AA Life Funeral Cover, female non-smoker, $10,000 benefit (updated 19 April 2026); stop age from AA Life Insurance (retrieved 19 August 2026). Break-even is $10,000 divided by the yearly cost. Male and smoker prices are higher at every age, so every break-even above arrives sooner for them. An illustration on published figures, not a quote.
Stats NZ puts female life expectancy at birth at 83.5 years, and a woman who has already reached 65 has longer than that ahead of her (Stats NZ, *National and subnational period life tables: 2022–2024*, retrieved 19 August 2026). Paying more in than the family gets out is therefore the expected outcome, not the unlucky one.
Independent research reaches the same place. Consumer NZ priced $10,000 of funeral cover for a 64-year-old and found you "could pay anything from 10% to 100% more than the policy was worth by age 84", noting that if you cannot keep up the payments or want to cancel, "there's generally no refund" (Consumer NZ, *5 ways to pay for your funeral*, published 22 May 2024, retrieved 19 August 2026).
That does not mean the product has no value. It pays in full if death comes early, several providers triple the benefit for accidental death, and for someone who cannot be underwritten at all the real comparison is against having nothing. But it is a known trade, and it should be made with the numbers in front of you. Before you sign, work out the total premiums to the policy end age, set that beside the benefit amount, and ask a licensed financial adviser to run it for your own situation.
Guaranteed Acceptance: What You Need to Know
Guaranteed acceptance means the insurer issues the policy without asking about your health, and manages the risk it has not assessed by restricting what it pays in the early years instead. Every guaranteed-acceptance funeral product in New Zealand works this way. The differences sit entirely in how long that restricted window lasts and what, if anything, your family receives if you die inside it.
- No health questions asked. You are accepted regardless of pre-existing conditions.
- Accidental-death-only period. Momentum Life, Greenwich Life and Chubb Life apply 24 months; New Zealand Seniors, OneChoice and nib apply 12. Accidental death is covered from day one, and several products pay a multiple of the benefit for it during that window.
- Whether premiums come back varies. Chubb Life refunds 100% of premiums paid if death inside its 24 months is from a non-accidental cause (Chubb Life NZ, *Funeral Cover*, captured 14 August 2026). New Zealand Seniors publishes No against that same row in its own comparison table.
- Higher premiums. Because the insurer cannot assess your health risk, it prices for the worst case.
- Lower cover limits. Most guaranteed-acceptance products cap cover at $30,000, and most people buy $10,000 to $20,000.
Guaranteed acceptance makes sense when health underwriting is closed to you or would be unreasonably difficult: you have been declined for a standard or simplified product, you hold a condition that makes any health assessment problematic, or you need the certainty that a policy will be issued and accept the cost of that certainty.
It does not make sense when you could have been underwritten. Paying the no-questions loading while in reasonable health means buying protection against a risk you do not carry, and it also buys you an accidental-death-only window you would not otherwise face. The same is true if the total premiums to the policy end age would clearly exceed the benefit, or if you already hold accessible savings that would cover the funeral.
Insurance After 70: What Else Changes
After 70 in New Zealand, most standard term life products close to new applicants, income protection and trauma cover are almost entirely unavailable, and funeral cover becomes the main route to new cover. Existing policies can usually continue while premiums are paid, though stepped premiums will have risen substantially. The reason is straightforward: the probability of a claim rises steeply with age, so the cost of providing cover approaches the benefit amount over a short period.
| Provider | Product type | Maximum entry age | Cover continues until |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand Seniors | Life and funeral cover | 79 | Age 85 (life), age 100 (funeral) |
| Chubb Life | Guaranteed-acceptance funeral cover | 80 | The 90th birthday |
| Fidelity Life, Partners Life, AIA NZ | Standard term life | 65 | Varies by product |
| Southern Cross Health, nib NZ | Health insurance | 65 to 70 for new members | Lifetime for existing members |
Entry ages for New Zealand Seniors and Chubb Life per each provider's own product page (NZ Seniors, retrieved 18 August 2026; Chubb Life, captured 14 August 2026). Standard term life and health insurance entry ages vary by product and change without notice: confirm with the provider or a licensed adviser.
Health insurance after 70
Health insurance behaves differently from life insurance at this age. New applications are difficult once providers cap entry between 65 and 70, but an existing policy can generally be renewed for life and cannot be cancelled because of your age or claims history, as long as you keep paying. Two levers remain: your plan level and your excess. Dropping from comprehensive to a surgical-only plan, or raising an excess from $250 to $1,000 or $2,000, lowers the cost of keeping the cover. This is the strongest argument for holding health insurance through your 60s even when premiums feel high, because once you let it lapse, new cover becomes very hard to obtain.
Keeping or letting go of an existing life policy
Whether to keep life cover taken out decades ago is one of the sharper decisions after 70. Keeping it makes sense if you still have a mortgage or significant debt, if your partner depends on your income, or if you want proceeds paid directly to beneficiaries rather than held up in estate administration. Letting it lapse becomes reasonable once the obligations have cleared and stepped premiums have climbed past what the cover is worth.
There is a simple check. Divide your sum insured by your annual premium and you get the number of years of payments before you have paid more than the benefit. Run it on your own renewal notice, then read that break-even year against your realistic life expectancy in the four cases below, which run from a break-even well beyond your life expectancy to a figure shrinking noticeably each year on stepped premiums.
| If your break-even point is | What that tells you |
|---|---|
| Well beyond your realistic life expectancy | The policy is still doing its job |
| Roughly in line with your life expectancy | Marginal: weigh a guaranteed payout against the flexibility of holding the money yourself |
| Well short of your life expectancy | The economics have turned against the policy |
| Shrinking noticeably each year | You are on stepped premiums, so rerun the calculation at every renewal |
Buying Cover for a Parent
Buying funeral cover for a parent is allowed, with conditions. AA Life states plainly that you can purchase Funeral Cover for family members or friends (AA Life Insurance, retrieved 19 August 2026). Greenwich Life allows ownership to be assigned to another person after the policy is issued, with the owner required to be an individual aged 16 or over rather than a trust or company (Greenwich Life, *The Funeral Plan* policy wording, page 4, retrieved 19 August 2026). Chubb Life notes that if you purchase Funeral Cover you become the policy owner and can nominate a beneficiary for each life assured (Chubb Life, retrieved 19 August 2026).
Four things to settle before you do it.
- The price follows your parent's age, not yours. Insuring an 80-year-old costs what an 80-year-old costs. Nothing about being the payer changes that.
- Whoever owns the policy must keep paying it. If you stop, the cover ends and the money paid is gone. Talk to your siblings before you start.
- Nominate a beneficiary. Paying to a nominated person rather than the estate gets the money out faster, because estate funds are usually frozen until probate.
- The stand-down runs from the start date. A policy taken out on an 82-year-old would be accident-only for its first 12 or 24 months, and no provider in the table above accepts an 82-year-old anyway.
Alternatives to Funeral Insurance for Seniors
Five alternatives exist for New Zealand seniors: a dedicated savings account or term deposit, a pre-paid funeral plan bought at today's prices, a small term life policy if you can still pass underwriting, converting part of an existing life policy into funeral cover, and a family arrangement. The conversion route is the one almost nobody knows about, and it is the only one that turns cover you already hold into funeral cover without new health questions.
Convert part of a life policy you already hold. Asteron Life publishes a Funeral conversion benefit that lets you convert up to $30,000 of your Life Cover to a level-premium Funeral benefit, available once you have held the Life Cover for more than ten years and are 65 or older (Asteron Life, *Life Insurance* and its life cover brochure, both retrieved 18 August 2026). This matters at exactly the age the standard market closes. It converts cover you were already underwritten for years ago into funeral cover with no new health questions, no guaranteed-acceptance loading and no accidental-death-only period. Not every insurer offers it and the terms differ, so ask your adviser to read your own policy wording. It is the first thing worth checking before you buy a new standalone product in your 60s.
A dedicated savings account. Setting aside the equivalent of what you would pay in premiums gives you full control, and if you do not need it for the funeral the money remains yours. Consumer NZ recommends this route over a policy: "rather than take out an insurance plan for your funeral, open a savings account and put some money aside every week, or when you can" (Consumer NZ, published 22 May 2024). The downside is that if you die early the account may not have enough in it.
A pre-paid funeral plan. Arranged directly with a funeral director at today's prices, with the money held in trust. There is no age limit and no health question, which makes it the practical option past 80. Consumer NZ notes that pre-paid funerals up to $10,000 are excluded from asset testing for the residential care subsidy where they are held in a recognised funeral plan (Consumer NZ, published 22 May 2024). The trade-off is that the plan is tied to one funeral provider.
A small term life policy. If you are in your 50s or early 60s and in reasonable health, $25,000 to $50,000 of underwritten cover handles funeral costs and more, usually for less than a dedicated funeral product. You have to qualify through medical underwriting.
A family arrangement. A shared fund, a family member covering costs and being reimbursed from the estate, or simply structuring the estate so funds are accessible quickly. Uncomfortable conversations often provide more certainty than a policy with complex terms.
Two government grants worth knowing about
Work and Income pays a Funeral Grant of up to $2,697.43, income tested where the person who died is your partner or child, and with the deceased's assets deducted from reasonable funeral expenses first (Work and Income, retrieved 19 August 2026). A pensioner with a house and savings will generally produce no grant at all, and Work and Income also says you may not be able to get it where costs are covered by ACC, Veterans' Affairs or pre-paid funeral cover.
Where the death resulted from an injury ACC covers, ACC pays up to $8,236.40 towards funeral and memorial costs, tax free, with a top-up to $10,000 in total for families of murder or manslaughter victims, plus a survivor's grant of $8,830.47 for a partner and $4,415.25 for each child or dependant (ACC, *Financial support after a fatal injury*, retrieved 19 August 2026). That is far larger but far narrower, because most deaths are not accidental. Families frequently do not claim it when it does apply. Both grants are set out alongside the other options in our funeral insurance comparison.
How to Choose the Right Option
Funeral insurance suits New Zealand seniors who have no savings or assets to cover funeral costs, want certainty that funds will be available whenever death occurs, or have been declined for standard life insurance. Self-insurance is usually better if you already hold $15,000 or more in accessible savings, or if total premiums would clearly exceed the benefit at your age.
Whichever path you choose, do three things first. Talk to a licensed financial adviser who can compare products across providers and run the numbers for your age, health and financial situation. Read the policy document, especially the stand-down period and the refund line inside it. And check whether premiums are level or stepped, and what happens if you stop paying.
If you are not sure which option suits your situation, our advisory team can compare funeral insurance products and alternatives for seniors across multiple providers. Request a free seniors insurance review.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who underwrites NZ Seniors funeral insurance?
New Zealand Seniors funeral insurance is issued by Pinnacle Life Limited (NZBN 9429030397248) and distributed and promoted by Greenstone Financial Services NZ Limited (NZBN 9429047013582), which trades under the New Zealand Seniors name. That disclosure appears in the footer of every page on nzseniors.co.nz. Pinnacle Life also underwrites the OneChoice funeral brand, so the two are distribution arms of one insurer, and Pinnacle's rating is the one that governs your claim.
Does NZ Seniors refund my premiums if I die in the first year?
Not on the funeral product. New Zealand Seniors publishes its own comparison table with a row for "Premium refund if death due to any cause other than an accident in the first 12/24 months" and records No against its own product, where the two rivals in that table record Yes (nzseniors.co.nz, *Compare funeral insurance products*, retrieved 18 August 2026). The trade-off it offers instead is a shorter window, 12 months rather than 24, and a tripled benefit for accidental death inside it.
What is the difference between NZ Seniors funeral insurance and NZ Seniors life insurance?
They are two separate products with different acceptance rules and, critically, different waiting periods. Seniors Funeral Insurance takes applicants from 18 to 79 with no health questions at all, but covers accidental death only for the first 12 months. Seniors Life Insurance takes applicants from 45 to 79, asks eight health questions by phone, and covers death by any cause immediately, releasing 20% of the benefit early for funeral costs (nzseniors.co.nz product pages, retrieved 18 August 2026).
Can I get funeral cover as a pensioner in New Zealand?
Yes. Guaranteed-acceptance cover is available with no medical questions up to age 79 from AA Life, OneChoice and New Zealand Seniors, and up to 80 from Chubb Life. Above 80 none of those five will issue a new policy, and the remaining routes are a pre-paid funeral plan, dedicated savings or a family arrangement.
Can I get life insurance or funeral cover at 70 or over?
New cover after 70 is limited but not closed. New Zealand Seniors accepts life and funeral applications to 79 and Chubb Life accepts funeral applications to 80. Standard term life is generally shut to new applicants from about 65, and income protection and trauma cover are effectively unavailable. An existing policy of any type can usually continue while you keep paying it.
Will I pay more in premiums than my family receives?
On published prices, usually yes if you live a normal life span. A 65-year-old female non-smoker paying MoneyHub's $737.80 a year for $10,000 of AA Life cover passes break-even after 13.6 years, at 79, and will have paid $18,445 by the age payments stop (MoneyHub NZ and AA Life Insurance, retrieved 19 August 2026). New Zealand Seniors discloses the same possibility about its own product.
What happens to my cover after 85 or 90?
It continues. OneChoice and New Zealand Seniors stop charging after the 85th birthday and add 25 per cent bonus cover; Momentum Life stops from the 89th; AA Life at the policy anniversary after 90; Chubb Life at 90 (OneChoice, New Zealand Seniors, Momentum Life, AA Life and Chubb Life, all retrieved 19 August 2026).
Can my family use the payout for anything?
Despite the name, funeral insurance pays an unrestricted lump sum to your nominated beneficiary. There is no requirement that the money be spent on the funeral. Your family can use it however they see fit.
Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name. Henry Smith is a Financial Adviser (FSP1010699). The information in this article is general in nature and does not constitute personalised financial advice. New Zealand Seniors, OneChoice, Greenwich Life and Pinnacle Life are not on QuoteHub's advice panel, which is listed on our disclosure page. Every product detail and every price on this page is taken from the provider's own published documents or from named third-party research, on the dates shown. No figure here is a quote and none of it is QuoteHub's own pricing: your price is fixed only once an insurer underwrites you. Product terms change, so confirm the current policy wording with the provider or your adviser before you apply. Our comparison method is set out on our methodology page.
References
- New Zealand Seniors, Funeral Insurance, Compare funeral insurance products and Life Insurance (all retrieved 18 August 2026)
- Canstar New Zealand, How much does life insurance cost in NZ?: monthly ranges for $500,000 stepped cover across five providers (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- MoneyHub NZ, Funeral Insurance NZ: annual prices for a $10,000 funeral benefit at ages 50, 65 and 70 (updated 19 April 2026, retrieved 19 August 2026)
- AA Life Insurance, Funeral Cover, Momentum Life, Funeral Insurance, OneChoice, Funeral Insurance and Chubb Life NZ, Funeral Cover (retrieved 19 August 2026; Chubb captured 14 August 2026)
- Greenwich Life, The Funeral Plan policy wording, pages 4 and 6, and its product page (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Consumer NZ, 5 ways to pay for your funeral (published 22 May 2024, retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Stats NZ, National and subnational period life tables: 2022–2024 (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Work and Income, New Zealand Superannuation and Veterans Pension rates and Funeral Grant (both retrieved 19 August 2026)
- ACC, Financial support after a fatal injury (retrieved 19 August 2026)
- Asteron Life, Life Insurance and its life cover brochure (both retrieved 18 August 2026)
- AA Life Insurance (distributed by the New Zealand Automobile Association (Incorporated), underwritten by Asteron Life Limited) and Asteron Life, Fitch places Asteron Life on Rating Watch Positive (5 August 2026, both retrieved 8 September 2026)
- Pinnacle Life, funeral and mortgage policy holders and the RBNZ Register of licensed insurers (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, For Brokers.