Momentum Life NZ review: who it suits and what to weigh
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.
Momentum Life sells two guaranteed-acceptance products in New Zealand: Funeral Insurance (ages 40 to 75, $3,000 to $30,000) and Quick Life (ages 18 to 65, $50,000 to $300,000), neither with health questions. Momentum Life Limited holds a B (Fair) rating from A.M. Best, in that agency's "vulnerable" range. In the first two years each restricts what it pays (Funeral Insurance pays only for accidental death; Quick Life excludes pre-existing conditions and suicide), and total premiums can exceed the benefit.
This review is QuoteHub's reading of the Momentum Life documents, as at 20 October 2026. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner and may be paid a commission if you buy, so we say plainly where its products fall short as well as where they work. We do not score it. The wordings for Funeral Insurance and Quick Life are public, and every fact below comes from them, from Momentum's website, or from A.M. Best's published rating action.
What Momentum Life is
Momentum Life Limited (FSP472286) is a life insurer licensed by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. It underwrites its own policies and also administers them, from taking premiums to paying claims. It is owned by DCG Invest Limited; A.M. Best says the purchase closed in July 2025. Policies bought before 14 March 2018 were insured by Fidelity Life, not Momentum. See who owns Momentum Life for the ownership detail.
The rating, in plain words
A.M. Best rates Momentum's financial strength B (Fair), affirmed on 11 February 2026 with a stable outlook. A.M. Best defines Fair as "a fair ability to meet their ongoing insurance obligations. Financial strength is vulnerable to adverse changes in underwriting and economic conditions." Momentum's own financial strength page groups B in a "Vulnerable" band, and says the rating "should not be read as a recommendation". Momentum adds that the scale can be inspected at its offices in New Zealand.
Some context from A.M. Best's February 2026 release and Momentum's own page:
- A.M. Best put Momentum's balance sheet at "adequate" and its operating performance at "marginal", with pre-tax losses in fiscal years 2023 to 2025 and the first half of 2026.
- It described the business profile as "limited" and noted "a high level of execution risk".
- Momentum's solvency ratio was 107% at 30 June 2026, a margin of about $0.6 million over the requirement, down from 117% a year earlier. We have found no published reason for the fall, so we do not offer one.
- The rating was B++ (Good) in April 2024, before the downgrade.
The release names guaranteed-acceptance funeral insurance and fully underwritten term life, not Quick Life, so we do not read it as being about Quick Life specifically. A rating is an opinion on ability to pay claims, not on how Momentum handles them. Compare insurers' ratings and their different scales on our financial strength rating guide, and see what the rating means.
Funeral Insurance on the facts
- Who: New Zealanders aged 40 to 75, with no medicals or health questions. An adult child can own a policy on a parent.
- How much: $3,000 to $30,000 per person across all Momentum funeral policies. Accidental death pays three times the benefit ($9,000 to $90,000) at any time, where death happens within 90 days of the accident.
- Early limit: in the first 24 months, only death from an accident within 90 days is paid. Any other death pays no benefit and all premiums for that person are refunded.
- Premiums: level each year until the 89th birthday, then none, with cover continuing for life. The rate can change only for a tax or legal change, or claims experience well away from what Momentum expected, on 30 days' written notice.
- Limits: no terminal illness benefit. Total premiums could exceed the benefit, and the benefit may not cover the whole cost of a funeral. For scale, FDANZ's 2026 report gives average full-funeral costs of $11,700 (cremation) and $14,300 (burial) for 50 guests, so the smallest $3,000 benefit is about a quarter of the cremation figure (FDANZ).
Quick Life on the facts
- Who: ages 18 to 65, with no health questions. Momentum's site says it is not available to applicants diagnosed with a terminal illness or in palliative or hospice care.
- How much: $50,000 to $300,000 per person, rising 3% a year until age 75 or $500,000, whichever is first. You can opt out of an increase.
- Early limit: for the first 2 years, pre-existing conditions and suicide are excluded. The wording counts BMI over 40, cholesterol over 7.0, very high blood pressure and diabetes complications as pre-existing. If someone dies of a pre-existing condition in that time, premiums are refunded.
- Always excluded: deaths from alcohol or drug effects, war, terrorism and criminal activity, and certain dangerous jobs or pastimes listed in the wording.
- Premiums: stepped, so they rise each year with age until 75, and are fixed from then. The wording says total premiums might be more than the benefit paid out.
What customers say
Momentum publishes no claims statistics, and we will not estimate one. On Google, its business profile showed 4.5 stars from 67 ratings when we looked on 17 October 2026, with the newest review dated 25 October 2025. None of the written reviews we read describes a claim. The complaints that recur are Quick Life premiums rising with age, the two-year wait, and the financial strength rating. Momentum also publishes its own review scores, which are self-published, so we do not repeat them. A small number of reviews is a thin sample, and reviews are not a measure of claims-paying.
If something goes wrong, Momentum's complaints process ends at the Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme (IFSO), whose assessment Momentum's wordings say is binding on it. See Momentum Life complaints and contact details.
Trade-offs
| What you get | What it costs you |
|---|---|
| Acceptance without health questions | A restricted first two years: Funeral Insurance pays nothing for illness, and Quick Life excludes pre-existing conditions and suicide |
| Cover in place quickly through an online application | A premium set by age (and for Quick Life, gender and smoking status), not by your health |
| Quick Life up to $300,000 with 3% indexation | Premiums that rise each year to 75; indexation raises them further |
| Funeral cover that continues for life | Premiums that can add up to more than the benefit, over a long life |
| Funeral premiums refunded if death in the first 24 months is not accidental | No benefit at all in that case |
| A free, binding ombudsman route | An insurer rated B (Fair) by A.M. Best, in its vulnerable range |
Who it suits, and who should look elsewhere
It can suit someone who would be declined or loaded elsewhere because of health, and who accepts the early limit. It can also suit someone who wants Funeral Insurance in place without paperwork, and who understands the benefit is a fixed contribution.
Look elsewhere first if you are in good health. A healthy person can usually get more cover for less with fully underwritten cover through a licensed adviser, so test that route before you pay for acceptance that needs no questions. Also look elsewhere if you are over 75, because Momentum takes no new applicants above that age (see age limits), or if you have a condition now and need cover that pays within two years. If you already have cover, keep it until any new policy is in place, because a new policy restarts the early limits.
For a side-by-side with other funeral providers, see how funeral insurance options differ in NZ, and use our funeral insurance and guaranteed acceptance hubs to compare the wider field. Compared: Momentum, as at 20 October 2026, from its wordings, its website and A.M. Best. Not every insurer is covered, and this is one adviser team's reading, not a score.
Where to go next
The buttons on this page open Momentum Life's online application, which is Momentum's own. Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner, and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy; see how we are paid. This is general information, not advice. Written by the QuoteHub Editorial Team and reviewed by the QuoteHub Adviser Team on 20 October 2026.
Adviser's view
Momentum offers acceptance without health questions, and that is its real value for people who would be declined or loaded elsewhere. The price of that is a restricted first two years, premiums that can add up to more than the benefit, and an insurer whose financial strength rating sits in the vulnerable range of its published scale. If you can get underwritten cover, compare it first.
Compare life cover with a licensed NZ adviser · free, no obligation.
Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Momentum Life Review NZ: Cover, Rating and Trade-Offs. www.quotehub.co.nz/life-insurance/momentum-life/review. Updated 2026-10-20.
References
- Momentum Life: Financial strength
- A.M. Best: Removes From Under Review With Negative Implications and Affirms Credit Ratings of Momentum Life Limited (11 February 2026)
- A.M. Best: Guide to Best's Financial Strength Ratings (PDF)
- Momentum Life: Quick Life
- Momentum Life: FAQs
- Momentum Life: Funeral Insurance Policy Wording (17 August 2023)
- Momentum Life: Quick Life Insurance Policy Wording (November 2025)
- FDANZ: 2026 New Zealand Funeral Industry Trends Report (PDF)
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