Whole-of-life cover without medical exams: NZ options

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.

Lifelong cover with no medical exam in New Zealand comes mainly from guaranteed acceptance funeral insurance. Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance accepts ages 40 to 75 for $3,000 to $30,000. Premiums are fixed each year until the 89th birthday, then stop, and cover continues for life. In the first 24 months only accidental death is paid, and there is no cash value.

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

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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.

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.

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.

Whole-of-life cover, in general, is cover with no end date that pays whenever the person dies, provided it stays in force. In New Zealand the no-exam versions are narrow in two ways. The amounts are small: Funeral Insurance tops out at $30,000 and Quick Life starts at up to $300,000. And the early years are restricted: Momentum's Quick Life wording says its two-stage design is what lets it offer cover without health checks. This page covers both of Momentum Life's no-exam products that run for life, then deals with the claims that trip people up: the "$500,000" idea, the premium refund, cash value, and whether premiums can pass the payout. The detail on the wordings is from Momentum Life's own documents.

What lifelong cover without an exam looks like here

	Funeral Insurance	Quick Life
Ages	40 to 75	18 to 65
Amount	$3,000 to $30,000 per person across all Momentum funeral policies (accidental death pays 3 times that)	$50,000 to $300,000 at the start, rising 3% a year to age 75 or a $500,000 cap per person
How long it lasts	For life	For life, or until cancelled
Premiums	Level each year until the 89th birthday, then stop	Rise each year until 75, then fixed for life
First 2 years	24 months: accidental death only (within 90 days of the accident); other deaths refund all premiums	2 years: pre-existing conditions and suicide excluded; accident and new conditions covered
Cash value	None described; the wording says it is not a savings or investment plan	None; the wording says it builds no cash or surrender value

Other insurers also sell funeral policies that run for life, with their own premium-stop ages: NZ Seniors and OneChoice stop at 85, AA Life at the anniversary after the 90th birthday, and Chubb at 90, while Greenwich Life's premiums stop when the total paid equals the benefit. There is no single best of these; they differ on entry age, early window and rating. See our funeral insurance comparison for the full table, as at 20 October 2026.

Funeral Insurance: how premiums stop at 89

The wording says the premium rate of each person "will remain the same each year until the Life Insured reaches their 89th birthday, at which time premium payments will end." Cover continues. It is not fixed for ever: Momentum can change the rate for everyone on the same offer if tax or other law changes, or if claims experience is significantly different from expected, with at least 30 days' written notice, taking effect from the next policy anniversary (Momentum Life: Funeral Insurance Policy Wording). Card payments carry a processing fee.

The benefit is capped at $30,000 per person across all Momentum funeral policies. Momentum can change that maximum without notifying you. The benefit may not cover a whole funeral: FDANZ's 2026 report puts a full funeral for 50 attendees at $11,700 for a cremation and $14,300 for a burial (FDANZ).

Quick Life and the "$500,000 whole life" idea

Searches for "$500k whole life insurance no medical exam" can mislead, because Quick Life is not a $500,000 policy at the start. Its wording says the maximum for one person is $300,000, "plus any automatic increases to the sum insured, up to a total cap of $500,000" (Momentum Life: Quick Life Policy Wording). The $500,000 is a ceiling that indexation of 3% a year can reach over time, not an amount you can apply for. Indexation stops at 75. If you need $500,000 or more now, ask a licensed adviser about cover with health questions. Fidelity's and Chubb's published underwriting guides list only an application form or a personal statement as the minimum evidence for life cover up to $500,000, though that is still cover where you answer health questions (Fidelity guide; Chubb guide).

What the early-death premium refund really is

Both products refund premiums on an early death in one narrow case, and neither refund is a return on savings.

Funeral Insurance. If a person dies from any cause other than accidental death within the first 24 months, no benefit is paid and all premiums paid for that person since the cover start date are refunded.
Quick Life. If death is from a pre-existing condition within the first 24 months and no claim is payable, premiums are refunded. The wording gives no refund for suicide in that period.
Cancelling. Both give 30 days to cancel for a full refund if no claim has been made. After that, cancelling returns nothing. Quick Life says in terms that it builds no cash or surrender value.

So the refund is the insurer's way of saying the early period paid nothing. It is not interest, not a surrender value, and it does not apply on a later death or on cancellation.

Can premiums add up to more than the payout?

Yes, for both products, and both wordings say so. The table uses round example numbers to show the arithmetic. They are not Momentum premiums: Momentum publishes no funeral premium, and your own price depends on your age, gender and smoking status.

Example monthly amount	Paid over 10 years	Paid over 20 years	Paid over 24 years (for example 65 to 89)
$30	$3,600	$7,200	$8,640
$50	$6,000	$12,000	$14,400
$70	$8,400	$16,800	$20,160

Against a $10,000 benefit, the $50 example passes the payout after about 17 years and the $70 example after about 12, while the $30 example stays under it even over 24 years. Because Funeral Insurance premiums stop at 89, the total is bounded, but it can still exceed the benefit. Our funeral insurance break-even calculator lets you enter your own quote. A premium that is fixed can still suit someone who wants certainty about what the funeral money will be.

Other routes to consider

Cover with health questions. Fidelity Life's life cover has no expiry age (Fidelity Life) and Chubb's Assurance Extra Life Cover never expires (Chubb brochure). Both are underwritten, with stepped or level premium options. If you can answer health questions, price this first.
Saving or a prepaid plan. Now For Them (run by a charitable company set up by the funeral directors' association FDANZ's charitable trust) and Public Trust both take prepayments; each says the first $10,000 is excluded from the residential care asset test. Consumer NZ notes money in a trust may not be withdrawable unless you are in significant financial hardship (Consumer NZ).
The Work and Income Funeral Grant, up to $2,697.43 (page updated 24 June 2026), which is tested and which prepaid funeral cover can stop you getting (Work and Income).

Before you apply

The buttons on this page open Momentum Life's online application, one option among several. Momentum's A.M. Best rating is B (Fair), which Momentum's own table places in its "Vulnerable" range; see its financial strength page. 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. Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). Product detail is on Funeral Cover and Quick Life, the funeral insurance hub and the guaranteed acceptance hub.