How much could stepped premiums rise?
A stepped premium is a life insurance premium that is reset each year for your new age, so it starts lower and rises as you get older. This tool takes your current monthly premium and the yearly increase you expect, then projects what you would pay each year to age 75 and what that adds up to. Momentum Life’s Quick Life uses stepped premiums until 75 and fixes them from then. This is a compound-growth illustration using your own figures, not a quote.
Your premium and the rise you expect
You supply all three numbers. The tool has no insurer rate table inside it and never shows a premium of its own. Nothing you enter is stored, sent or tracked.
Whole years, from 18 to 74. Stepping stops at 75, so there is nothing to project after that.
From your policy schedule or a quote you hold, for the cover you want to look at.
One steady rate applied every year. Your insurer's illustration or an adviser can tell you what rises to expect.
Not sure? Try an example rate. These are round numbers for illustration only, not any insurer’s rates:
Add this to see where stepping would overtake it. Leave it blank to skip the comparison.
Enter your age, your current monthly premium and the yearly increase you expect to see the projection. Nothing is shown until all three are in, and the tool never fills in a number for you.
How stepped life insurance premiums increase over time in NZ
Life insurance in New Zealand is priced in one of two shapes. With a stepped premium the insurer reprices you each year for the age you have reached, so the premium follows the rising chance of a claim. With a level premium the price is set by your age when cover starts and is meant to stay at that level, which makes it higher in the first years and lower in the later ones than a stepped premium for the same cover.
The cost of a stepped premium compounds. A rise of 8% a year sounds modest, but a premium that rises 8% a year doubles in about nine years and is about twenty times larger after forty. How the increases fall in real life is up to the insurer’s rate table, which is not public in full, so this tool lets you test a steady rate of your own. Our stepped versus level premiums stepped versus level guide
How to use this stepped premium projection calculator
- Enter your age, from 18 to 74. The projection runs from your age to your 75th birthday.
- Enter the monthly premium you pay now, or the monthly premium on a quote you hold.
- Enter the yearly increase you expect, or press one of the example rates to see what 5%, 8% or 10% a year does. Those three are round numbers for illustration and are not any insurer’s rates.
- Optionally enter a level premium you have been quoted for the same cover to see where the two cross.
Each policy year uses one premium. Year one is the premium you enter, and the premium rises once a year after that, so the total is twelve times each year’s cost per month, added up to age 75.
Worked projection: stepped premiums from age 35 to 75
A made-up starting cost of $480 a year at age 35, rising by the same percentage every year for 40 years. Paying $480 every year with no increase would total $19,200.
| Yearly increase | Cost per month in the last year (age 74) | Total paid, age 35 to 75 |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | $268.19 | $57,984 |
| 8% | $804.61 | $124,347 |
| 10% | $1,645.79 | $212,444 |
Read this as a stress test, not a prediction. A steady 8% or 10% for forty years is a long stretch of compounding, and nobody can say what any insurer’s rates will do over that time. The point is the shape: most of the total comes from the last fifteen years, which is why a premium that looks easy at 35 deserves a second look at 55. Try your own figures above.
How Quick Life handles stepped premiums up to age 75
Momentum Life’s Quick Life is guaranteed acceptance life cover for ages 18 to 65, with cover of $50,000 to $300,000 per life insured. Its premiums are stepped: they rise each year until the policyholder turns 75 and are fixed from then ( Momentum Life: Quick Life and policy wording, November 2025). Two further things push the premium up, and both are in the wording:
- Indexation. The cover rises 3% at each policy anniversary until 75, or a $500,000 cap per life insured, and the premium rises with it. You can opt out of an increase in any year.
- Repricing. Momentum can change premiums for everyone on the plan, for tax law or claims experience, with 30 days’ notice.
So if you are looking at Quick Life, the yearly increase you test should include the effect of indexation, unless you plan to opt out. At 75, $20,000 of the benefit becomes free: the policyholder can elect a free $20,000 funeral benefit or continue Quick Life with the free component.
Quick Life asks no health questions, and the first two years are restricted: pre-existing conditions and suicide are excluded for the first 2 years, with premiums refunded if death from a pre-existing condition happens in that window and no claim is payable. After that, pre-existing conditions are covered, except any listed in the policy schedule. The buttons on this page go to Momentum’s online quote, which shows its own price. This tool does not.
Momentum Life’s Funeral Insurance is different in shape: the premium is level, fixed each year until the 89th birthday and then stops, with cover continuing for life. It accepts New Zealanders aged 40 to 75 and pays a fixed benefit of $3,000 to $30,000 towards costs. In its first 24 months it pays only for accidental death, and otherwise refunds the premiums paid. Total premiums can end up larger than the benefit, and the benefit may not cover the whole funeral. See the funeral insurance hub.
When does a level premium start to make sense?
Add a level premium above and the tool finds two crossing points. The first is the age at which the yearly stepped premium overtakes the level one. The second, later, is the age at which everything you have paid on the stepped premium overtakes everything you would have paid on the level one. Between the two you are paying more each year but still ahead in total.
What the crossing points do not show is who the policies suit. A stepped premium can be the right choice if you need cover for a short period or cannot afford more today. A level premium can suit someone who wants to keep cover for decades, if they can afford the higher starting price. And a guaranteed acceptance product like Quick Life may be the only route for someone who would be declined or heavily loaded elsewhere. A healthy person can usually get more cover for less through fully underwritten cover with an adviser. Our guaranteed acceptance hub guide to what guaranteed acceptance is
What happens if stepped premiums become unaffordable?
- Opt out of indexation. On Quick Life you can decline the yearly 3% cover increase, which avoids the extra rise in premium that comes with it, and you stay eligible for later increases. The step for your age still applies.
- Reduce the cover. A smaller sum insured means a smaller premium. Ask your insurer whether and how the cover can be reduced.
- Think twice before cancelling and rejoining. On Quick Life, if you cancel and rejoin, the two-year restriction starts again.
- Talk to an adviser. A licensed adviser can look at the cover you hold, what replacing it would involve, and what you would give up.
Assumptions and limits
- One steady yearly percentage increase, applied at the start of each policy year after the first.
- The projection stops at age 75 because that is where Quick Life premiums stop stepping.
- Premiums are treated as whole-dollar-and-cents amounts paid for the full year. Fees, card surcharges and discounts are left out.
- The cover amount is assumed constant apart from whatever is already in your premium and yearly increase.
- The accepted ranges (ages 18 to 74, a starting cost of up to $60,000 a year, increases to 30% a year) only keep the arithmetic sensible. They are not limits set by any insurer.
- No insurer rate is used anywhere. The example rates of 5%, 8% and 10% are round numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Is this a quote?
No. It multiplies the figures you enter. It shows no insurer’s price.
Why 75?
Quick Life’s premiums are stepped until the policyholder turns 75 and fixed after that, so 75 is the end of the stepped stretch for that product.
What rate should I enter?
Ask your insurer or adviser for an illustration of future premiums and work back from it. If you only want to see how sensitive the total is, use the three example rates.
Does the total include the cost of indexation?
Only if you put it in the yearly increase. Quick Life’s 3% yearly cover increase raises the premium too.
Is my information kept?
No. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing is stored, sent or tracked.
Sources
- Momentum Life: Quick Life insurance, with its policy wording (November 2025 edition) (retrieved 17 October 2026).
- Momentum Life: Funeral Insurance Policy Wording (PDF, retrieved 17 October 2026).
- Momentum Life: financial strength (retrieved 20 October 2026).
Disclosure
Want the cover looked at properly? A licensed adviser can compare it with underwritten options at no cost. Book a free cover review, or try the life insurance calculator
Momentum Life’s A.M. Best financial strength rating is B (Fair), in A.M. Best’s “vulnerable” range (Momentum Life: financial strength). QuoteHub may earn a commission on cover taken out through the buttons on this page.
This page is general information, not personalised financial advice. Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). Last reviewed 20 October 2026.
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