NZ Level 5 Life, Disability and Health Insurance study plan

Map the New Zealand regulatory architecture that governs life, disability and health insurance: the Financial Markets Conduct Act framework, the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services and its standards, the licensing regime, and the role of the Financial Markets Authority, so you can state which obligation sits with the adviser, the insurer and the licensee.

Explain the difference between an insurance contract's core elements (offer, acceptance, consideration, insurable interest, utmost good faith) and the statutory overlay that modifies them, using at least two worked examples of how a statutory duty changes what an adviser must do at point of sale.

Identify the six life insurance product structures commonly sold in New Zealand (term life, whole-of-life, endowment-style savings, mortgage repayment, key person and business continuation cover) and write a one-paragraph description of each covering who it suits, how the premium behaves over time and where the payout goes.

Distinguish the policy ownership options (own life, joint life, cross-ownership, business ownership, trust ownership) and explain for each how the proceeds are treated on death and what tax or estate consequence follows.

Build a personal glossary of 40 regulatory and product terms with a one-line definition each, marking any term you could not define from memory for review.

Analyse how policy wording converts a product into a set of promises: define and contrast death benefit, terminal illness benefit, trauma or critical condition benefit, funeral benefit and accidental death benefit, and note which are standard inclusions and which are optional riders.

Trace the full underwriting pathway from application to policy issue, listing each stage (fact-finding, application completion, medical and non-medical evidence, financial underwriting, offer, acceptance or postponement, policy document issue) and the adviser's responsibility at each stage.

Explain the duty of disclosure as it applies in New Zealand, including what a client must disclose, the consequences of non-disclosure or misrepresentation (avoidance, variation, or the insurer's discretion), and how the adviser documents the disclosure conversation.

Compare the premium structures available (level, stepped or age-related, and indexed) and calculate the effect of each on total cost over a 20-year horizon using a simple worked example with stated assumptions.

Describe the standard policy administration events a client will face (premium frequency change, beneficiary nomination, assignment, reinstatement after lapse, policy variation, surrender) and what documentation each requires.

Deconstruct disability and income protection cover into its component definitions (own occupation, any occupation, loss of earnings, agreed value versus indemnity value, waiting period, benefit period) and explain how changing any one definition changes the premium and the claim outcome.

Compare income protection, mortgage or household protection, total and permanent disability, and trauma cover on what triggers a claim, what the benefit pays, and where the covers overlap or leave a gap.

Calculate a client's income protection need from gross income, deductible expenses and existing cover, then test the result against typical insurer maximums expressed as a percentage of pre-disability income.

Explain the interaction between ACC cover and private disability insurance in New Zealand, including how ACC entitlements are typically offset against an indemnity benefit and why this matters in the recommendation.

Analyse a sample income protection policy wording and identify three clauses that could reduce or defeat a claim, describing how you would explain each to a client.

Distinguish the main health and medical insurance structures available in New Zealand (major medical or hospital cover, specialist and diagnostic cover, day-to-day or extras cover, and combined packages) and explain what each typically does and does not pay for.

Explain the mechanics that drive health insurance cost and access: pre-existing condition exclusions, stand-down periods, excess levels, co-payment, non-disclosed conditions, annual limits and the distinction between treatment and diagnosis cover.

Describe the New Zealand public health system context sufficiently to explain to a client why private health cover exists alongside it, including waiting times and the boundary between publicly funded and privately funded treatment.

Build a structured fact-find template covering personal details, dependants, income and expenses, assets and liabilities, existing cover, health history, occupation, risk attitudes and goals, and justify each section by the recommendation it enables.

Practise a fact-finding interview with a study partner or recorded role-play, then review the notes for missing information and leading questions.

Convert a completed fact-find into a quantified needs analysis, calculating the insurance need for death cover, disability and income protection, and health cover using at least two methods (needs or capital retention approach and income replacement approach) and reconciling the difference.

Apply a structured product comparison method to three candidate products for the same client, scoring them on definitions, exclusions, premium, flexibility, insurer strength and claims reputation, and record the evidence source for each score.

Write a statement of advice for a hypothetical client that states the recommendation, the reasoning, the alternatives considered and rejected with reasons, the costs, and the consequences of taking no action.

Identify the suitability failures that most often arise in advice (recommending cover the client cannot sustain, ignoring existing cover, mismatching definitions to occupation, failing to address affordability) and describe the control that prevents each.

Explain how commission structures and conflicts of interest must be disclosed and managed under the Code of Professional Conduct, and apply this to your own draft statement of advice.

Revisit your week 5 statement of advice and redraft the weakest section after critiquing it against the Code's suitability and client-interest standards.

Work through five short disclosure scenarios (non-disclosure of a medical condition, a changed occupation, a hazardous hobby taken up after issue, a missed premium, an incorrect age at application) and state the likely insurer response and the adviser's correct action in each.

Explain the adviser's record-keeping and file-note obligations, and produce a model file note for a client meeting that would withstand later scrutiny.

Describe the complaints and dispute resolution pathway available to a New Zealand policyholder, including the internal process, the external dispute resolution scheme and the role of the FMA, and state the timeframes a client should expect.

Analyse how policy replacement and switching should be handled, including the risks of losing favourable terms or restarting a stand-down, and the disclosure required.

Map the life cycle of a claim from notification to settlement, listing the evidence an insurer typically requires for death, trauma, disability and health claims and the adviser's role at each stage.

Explain the claim assessment concepts a client will encounter (causation, pre-existing condition, waiting period, offset, medical evidence and independent assessment) and describe how to prepare a client so the process holds no surprises.

Identify the situations in which an insurer may decline or reduce a claim and describe how good disclosure at application reduces this risk.

Describe the adviser's ongoing service obligations after the sale (policy reviews, changes in circumstances, premium reviews, renewal conversations) and how these connect to the Code's client-care standard.

Draft a client communication for a declined claim that is accurate, empathetic and explains the review and complaint options without giving legal advice.

Complete a timed full-length practice paper under exam conditions and mark it against the model answers, recording your score by domain.

Re-study only the two domains with the lowest scores, using your week 1-7 deliverables as the source material rather than starting fresh.

Recite from memory the core regulatory obligations, the product and definition distinctions, and the needs-analysis steps, testing yourself with flashcards until each is recalled without prompts.

Rehearse two written scenario answers (one advice scenario, one claims or disclosure scenario) to time, then compare against the marking criteria for structure, technical accuracy and client focus.

Compile a one-page pre-exam summary sheet of the facts you most often got wrong across the eight weeks.