At what age do you stop paying funeral insurance in NZ?

Written by Henry Smith · Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931) · Updated 2026-10-20 · Reviewed quarterly, when the underlying data is restated.

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.

With Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance, premiums stop on the insured person's 89th birthday and cover continues for life. Other New Zealand funeral insurers stop at other points: NZ Seniors and OneChoice at 85, Chubb Life at 90, AA Life at the anniversary after the 90th birthday, and Greenwich Life once the premiums paid equal the benefit.

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Funeral cover: Only accidental death is covered for the first 2 years. Total premiums can add up to more than the cover, and it may not meet the whole cost of a funeral.

Life cover: Conditions you already have aren't covered for the first 2 years (premiums refunded instead). Suicide isn't covered for the first 2 years, and a few conditions can be excluded permanently.

Insurer: Momentum Life Limited. Financial strength rating B (Fair) from AM Best, affirmed 11 February 2026; B ratings sit in AM Best's 'vulnerable' range. The rating scale is available for inspection at every Momentum Life office in New Zealand. What this means

Already have cover? Keep it. New cover won't pay for a condition you already have in its first 2 years.

Opens Momentum Life's online application; its guidance only covers eligibility. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner. Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy. General information, not advice.

A funeral insurance premium is the regular payment you make to keep the policy in force. On Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance, the premium rate for each person insured stays the same each year until that person reaches their 89th birthday, at which point payments end. The cover does not end with them: the wording describes the benefit expiry age as "Cover for life – No premiums from age 89". The stop age is set per person, so on a family policy each insured person's payments end on their own 89th birthday, not the owner's. There are two caveats. First, the rate can change for everyone on the same offer if tax or other law changes, or if claims experience is significantly different from expected, on at least 30 days' written notice, taking effect from the next policy anniversary. Second, a long stretch of payments is not free: total premiums can exceed the benefit, and the benefit may not cover the whole funeral.

When premiums stop, by provider

Details are from each provider's own pages and documents, retrieved 17 to 20 October 2026. Check current terms before you apply.

Provider	Premiums stop	Also worth knowing
Momentum Life	89th birthday of each person insured	Cover continues for life
NZ Seniors and OneChoice (Pinnacle Life)	Age 85	NZ Seniors' page adds a 25% Bonus Cover at 85
AA Life (Asteron Life)	The anniversary after the 90th birthday	Wording of 15 November 2024: one-year renewable term; any premium rise applies to all policies on the offer
Chubb Life	At claim, at age 90, or on entering long-term care	Rate can change for the product on 30 days' notice (policy wording)
Greenwich Life, The Funeral Plan	When total premiums paid equal the benefit	Maximum benefit $20,000 on its page; entry ages 30 to 70
Unity	Not stated on its page	The page does not state a stop age

Greenwich Life is the only plan in this table that states a cap tying total premiums to the benefit; the trade-off is its lower maximum and its 70-year entry limit.

How Momentum Life's rule works

The rate is fixed, not frozen. The premium does not rise with age, but Momentum can change it for everyone on the same offer on 30 days' notice, effective from your next policy anniversary.
Stopping is automatic. On the 89th birthday, "premium payments will end". You do not apply.
The policy ends on a claim. Cover for a person ends when Momentum pays the benefit. If someone dies before 89, premiums stop at that point.
An increase or an added person is priced at today's rates. If you raise the benefit or add a person later, the wording says the premium for that cover is based on Momentum's rates at the time.
Card payments carry a fee. Momentum's wording says an additional processing fee applies, with no percentage stated.

Paying to 89 is not the same as paying less than the benefit

Total premiums depend on the age you join, because the stop age is fixed and the number of years you pay is not. The table below uses a made-up yearly premium of $600 and a $10,000 benefit purely to show the arithmetic. It is not a Momentum Life premium or a quote, and Momentum publishes no funeral premium. A real premium is lower for a younger joiner and higher for an older one, so the same $600 in every row only isolates the effect of the number of years.

Age when you join	Years of payments to 89	Total paid if you reach 89 (yearly premium of $600)	Against a $10,000 benefit
40	49	$29,400	About three times the benefit
50	39	$23,400	More than twice
60	29	$17,400	Well above
70	19	$11,400	Just above
75	14	$8,400	Below

The way to use this is a simple method. Divide the benefit by your yearly premium to find the number of years until you have paid in as much as the benefit (a $10,000 benefit and a $600 premium give about 17 years). If you are likely to keep the policy longer than that, you will pay in more than it pays out. That is not a reason to avoid funeral insurance, since the cover starts working from the first accident and from month 25 for any cause, but it is the figure to hold against the alternative of saving the same amount. The premium stops if you die, so the total paid only reaches these numbers if you live to 89. Ask for a written premium at your age and amount, and do the sum with that. Our cost guide explains what drives the price, and do funeral insurance premiums rise covers the fixed-versus-changeable question in more depth.

How this differs from stepped life cover

Momentum's Quick Life, a guaranteed acceptance life product for ages 18 to 65, works differently. Its premiums are recalculated each year for age, gender and smoking status and "generally increase each year" until 75, and then are fixed from 75 for life. At 75, $20,000 of the benefit becomes free, and the policyholder can elect a free $20,000 funeral benefit or continue Quick Life with the free component. The wording describes premiums as fixed for the remaining life of the policy from 75. See Momentum Life Quick Life. Underwritten stepped policies behave similarly: Asteron describes stepped premiums as starting lower but increasing "each year based on your age at that time", while level premiums "lock your premium payments in, so they don't increase with age" (Asteron Life brochure). Our guide to stepped versus level premiums explains the trade.

Quick Life also has a 2-year exclusion for pre-existing conditions and suicide, which Funeral Insurance does not. The two products solve different problems, and the stop age is only one difference.

What if you stop paying before the stop age

Missed payments. If a premium is unpaid for more than one month, Momentum can cancel the policy after writing to you. You can apply to reinstate it, but reinstatement is not guaranteed and outstanding premiums must be paid first. See funeral insurance lapse rules.
Cancelling yourself. You can cancel at any time on 30 days' notice. After the 30-day free look, you lose the benefit of the premiums already paid and would need to reapply for cover if you changed your mind. A new policy starts a new 24-month window.
Claims. Momentum will not pay a claim unless all premiums due have been paid and the policy has not been cancelled.

Checklist: confirm your stop date

Find the Policy Schedule. It shows the premium and the people insured.
Work out each person's 89th birthday from their date of birth.
Note the payment method and frequency, including any card fee.
Check for a change notice. Rate changes need at least 30 days' written notice.
Plan for the years to the stop date. Decide whether you can keep paying through the years ahead, and what a missed payment would do.

Where to get advice

The buttons on this page open Momentum Life's online application, one option among several. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy a Momentum policy; see how we are paid. Momentum Life's A.M. Best rating is B (Fair), affirmed on 11 February 2026, which Momentum's own table places in its "Vulnerable" range (Momentum Life: Financial strength). Details on the product are on the Momentum Life Funeral Cover page. A licensed adviser can compare funeral cover with other options on your own details. Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). Back to the funeral insurance hub.

Get a quote and apply online today

See your price in about a minute, then apply online with Momentum Life. Guaranteed acceptance, no health questions, no medical exams.

Funeral cover See your price Ages 40–75 · $3k–$30k Life cover See your price Ages 18–65 · $50k–$300k

Want more cover or have questions? Talk to an adviser

Funeral cover: Only accidental death is covered for the first 2 years. Total premiums can add up to more than the cover, and it may not meet the whole cost of a funeral.

Already have cover? Keep it. New cover won't pay for a condition you already have in its first 2 years.

Adviser's view

Stopping payments at 89 sounds like a clean finish, but it does not mean you pay less than the benefit. A person who joins at 50 and lives to 89 pays for nearly four decades. Whether the policy is good value depends on how long you keep it, so work out the total you would pay by the stop age before you buy.

Henry Smith, Financial Adviser (FSP1010699). General information, not personalised financial advice.

Talk to a licensed adviser about funeral cover · free, no obligation.

Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). At What Age Do You Stop Paying Funeral Insurance NZ?. www.quotehub.co.nz/funeral-insurance/when-do-funeral-insurance-premiums-stop-nz. Updated 2026-10-20.

References

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