From Claims Experience to Client Protection: A New Insurance Expert Joins the Team

When life throws its worst at you, what financial safety net do you have? Rebecca Watts, our newly appointed risk insurance specialist, joins the podcast to share powerful insights gained from five years as an insurance advisor and her extensive experience handling claims.

The conversation explores the harsh reality many families face when serious illness or death strikes without proper financial protection. Rebecca shares a compelling story about a couple who both received trauma payouts while raising three young children—the wife's payout enabled them to purchase a home for stability during treatment, while the husband's covered critical medical treatments not funded by the public system. Without this insurance, they likely would have faced homelessness and devastating medical outcomes.

Beyond the typical life insurance discussion, Rebecca unpacks lesser-known but crucial protections like trauma coverage (critical conditions), total permanent disability insurance, and the vital difference between income and mortgage protection. A particularly valuable revelation: "mortgage protection" can actually cover rent payments too, despite its name suggesting otherwise.

The discussion tackles the deeply ingrained "she'll be right" attitude many Kiwis maintain toward financial protection, and why relying on crowdfunding platforms like Give a Little amounts to gambling with your family's future. Rebecca emphasizes that different insurers offer varying policy wording and coverage details—meaning the cheapest option isn't always best, particularly if the fine print excludes conditions you might need to claim for.

Rebecca brings a personal touch to her advisory role, motivated by seeing firsthand how proper insurance protection transforms outcomes during life's most challenging moments. Whether you're a homeowner, renter, parent, or self-employed, this episode delivers crucial knowledge about protecting what matters most. Reach out for a no-pressure chat about creating a safety net that fits your unique circumstances and budget.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:10

Hello and welcome back to that home loan hub. Today I am joined by a new person that just joined my team, so we've kept it a secret, we've kept it under wraps and now the secret is out Rebecca Watts. Hello, hi, welcome. Thank you.

Speaker 2 0:29

Your first time here in this chair.

Speaker 1 0:32

So cool to have you. It's great to be here. How are you feeling?

Speaker 2 0:36

A little nervous. Yeah, first time doing something like this, so we'll see how it goes, awesome.

Speaker 1 0:43

So what are we going to do today? Just to give our listeners some background about who you are, why you've joined this team and what your plans are. Really just keep it simple, you know, and, um, hopefully you know we can uncover a little bit about you and your passion, because you haven't really joined me in the mortgage space, have you no?

Speaker 2 1:06

risk insurance risk insurance.

Speaker 1 1:09

What is it?

Speaker 2 1:10

so that's the life, the trauma, the income protection, so that's protecting your personal the trauma, the income protection, so that's protecting your personal lives, your family, your income, yeah, awesome.

Speaker 1 1:18

So before we go forward, let's go back a little bit. Rebecca, what did you do in the last few years?

Understanding Risk Insurance Products

Speaker 2 1:25

So I've been an insurance advisor for about five years now. Before that I was still in the insurance field, but as an office manager and admin about 2020, just before COVID COVID hit I decided to get into the insurance field more. I've been helping a lot with claims and that side of thing when I was doing the admin and noticed how important it was at claim time for a lot of families to have those covers and I wanted to be one of those people that helped those families have that cover when they really needed it.

Speaker 1 1:57

Because people don't think about it, do they Not till they need it? No, naturally, as humans, we don't want to think about pain. We want to have a happy life. We think, you know, life is good. We'll grow up, get a job, get married, have kids, buy a house and not worry about anything else Absolutely, and I think the Kiwi thing is she'll be right as well.

Speaker 2 2:22

It's very much a case of it's not going to happen to me because you don't want to think about it happening to you, but it's becoming more and more predominant, like the amount of, in particular, like cancer is showing up in younger people especially. Yeah, it's just getting worse and worse and our health system, while better than some countries, still isn't the best for a lot of things. So you know, having that protection.

Speaker 1 2:44

So do you think your time in the claim site has really opened up your eyes?

Speaker 2 2:50

Oh, absolutely, because you see, I mean, I'll give an example of it. A husband and wife both got a trauma payout. They both had something. At the same time, three young kids didn't own a home, wouldn't have been able to keep paying their rent. One of the wife her trauma wasn't as severe, so they were able to actually use her payout to buy a house, so they didn't have to worry about as many expenses. The kids are in a stable position. She didn't have to use a lot of her payout for the treatment. Her husband, on the other hand, all of his trauma payout went to all of his treatment A lot of, in particular in New Zealand, with non-pharmac drugs, that type of thing. A lot of the payments have to go towards that. They're great now both fully recovered, they've got their own home. Kids are growing up happy, you know. So like that type of thing.

Speaker 1 3:46

That's what you aim for, you know, and if we reverse that situation just to give our listeners an example, and we don't want to scare anyone, but just to reverse that if they didn't have that insurance in place, how do you think it would have played out for them?

Speaker 2 4:02

Don't want to go too dark, but the husband probably wouldn't have survived. They would have had to move in with family if they had family or completely downsize into a tiny house and be on a benefit, because while the wife, like I said I mean hers wasn't as severe she did have to have some time off as well. So her income was stopped for a while because she didn't have enough sick leave any of that stuff. So I mean their lives would have been destroyed.

Speaker 1 4:27

Yeah, and you still have to put food on the table, right?

Speaker 2 4:30

Exactly. And power, you know, heat everything like that there. And power you know, heat everything like that. There's all the little things, like the monthly expenses. People think about the big things, but there's all those things just to survive, yeah.

Speaker 1 4:43

It's interesting to me because, you know, when I used to work in a bank and I would talk to people about insurance as well, and I had this young person one time and I said, well, isn't it what Give a Little for the Give a Little page? And I was like, oh my gosh, people just have no idea, you know, they just think that someone will show up for them. Right, the government, they give a little page. The community, and, yes, they do show up for you in some way, but it's like drop in the ocean.

Speaker 2 5:08

And there's no guarantee. Give a little. I mean, there's so many out there now, why would someone pick yours over someone else's as well? You don't know what you're going to get Relying on. That is gambling, really.

Real-Life Claims Stories and Impact

Speaker 1 5:22

You don't know what's going to happen. Yeah, so our path have crossed. A few months ago, when I was to be honest, rebecca, I've been on a search for an insurance manager for a really long time. I've owned this franchise for over seven years now and the whole time I kept saying you know, I need an insurance advisor. I need an insurance advisor because I'm passionate about insurances, but it's just doing it properly is something that needs to be done properly. It's one of those things that you absolutely have to spend time with clients explaining the product and making sure the cover is fit for purpose. Yeah, it's got to suit their circumstances.

Speaker 1 5:59

Yeah, and because the mortgage side has been so busy since I've started and I've been trying to grow my team on that side as well, and it's sometimes it's easier to find people in mortgages versus insurances.

Speaker 2 6:11

People want a house, that's why they want a house and they know that's the step they have to take. Life insurance, trauma income protection, whichever it is, is not exciting for them, yeah yeah, exactly so.

Speaker 1 6:25

I've been trying to find someone to join my team and the stars have aligned where I asked the question and at the same time you asked the question and both of our questions were answered by meeting each other, and I know you had other options. So I'm very, very grateful that you've chosen our team. So no pressure now. How has your experience been so far with us? Great.

Speaker 2 6:50

Yeah, absolutely Everybody's lovely, which is always a big concern. No, really great, I'm already busy. It's only been a couple of weeks, so yeah, very happy.

Speaker 1 7:01

You've got your feet under the table.

Speaker 2 7:03

Exactly Ready to go. Everyone's very professional, everyone knows what they're doing, so, yeah, fabulous.

Speaker 1 7:09

Awesome. So let's now explain to our listeners exactly what you cover. Let's just go a little bit further into detail. I know in the beginning you've mentioned, but let's just go a little bit deeper into each product that you do and what options people may have by coming to see you. Okay, Cool.

Speaker 2 7:28

So I mean, obviously there's the life cover, which everybody knows about.

Speaker 1 7:31

What is life insurance?

Speaker 2 7:33

That is, on death or terminal illness, a lump sum payout. So people look at that for their mortgage or if they've got children and they need to think about if they die while they're young. So the terminal illness side, if you've got 12 months or less to live, you'll get a payout as well, so you can use it leading up to if you do pass.

Speaker 1 7:53

What if people leave? Like that's the question I always get asked. If they leave past 12 months, yeah, that's fine, they don't have to return the money.

Speaker 2 8:00

No Good, they probably already spent it. No, as long as the medical diagnosis has said that you've got 12 months or less to live, it's yours Okay, Obviously you've got to go through the claims process, but you might use that money to find something overseas that might work for you. This is a specialist here saying that you're not going to live based on what we can do for you.

Speaker 1 8:27

Okay, so that's life insurance and that's what we see a lot of our clients really aware about and they usually get that. What are the other covers that you do?

Speaker 2 8:37

so trauma insurance, which is starting to be called critical conditions, which is a better name for it, because trauma gives the connotation of if you go through a trauma, you get a payout. Critical conditions is the cancers, the heart attacks, the strokes, the big things. But it covers, depending on the insurer, 30, 40, 50 conditions. There's multiple throughout. There's another lump sum payout again, so you're diagnosed with a condition that's on the massive list, you'll get a payout. Sometimes it's a partial payout if it's like a low grade, like a partial for like stage one cancer, like you might have melanoma, something like that Obviously again got to fit criterias. But then there's so many little add-ons with trauma as well, like a buyback option, a reinstatement. So really if a client has it and adds this on, they get a payout.

Speaker 2 9:30

Say, they have cancer. I use that as the example because it is, like I said earlier, so predominant, yeah. And then obviously treatment for cancer is very harsh on the body and can cause other issues. So, say, 12 months down the track, your trauma actually gets reinstated because you've got that option and you have a heart attack or a stroke because your body's been weakened so much from the treatment, you get another payout. Wow, so a lot of insurers are looking at that and there are some other options where you can have multiple, more than two, but obviously there's the cost factor.

Speaker 1 10:07

Yeah.

Beyond Online Insurance: Professional Advice

Speaker 2 10:08

But at a minimum, having that reinstatement, knowing that you've had the one and there is a chance of a second thing, especially if you have something young as well, like I think. Last year, I think it was, I had a 28-year-old who had a stroke. Whoa, 28 and had a stroke 28, the youngest one I've ever had, is all my claims experience 28 with a stroke. So I think you know another 30 years down the track something else could easily happen.

Speaker 1 10:35

Yeah, so having that reinstatement is massive on the trauma cover yeah, and those are the little things that people don't understand when they go and buy a cover online. Yes, yeah, because you know if you haven't ticked a certain box when you're buying that cover online because it's so much cheaper. That could be the difference between getting a massive payout down the track or no payout.

Speaker 2 10:59

Yes, exactly. And then there's the fact that some insurers have better wording. So you go online, you do a quote, you're like, oh, that's the cheapest, I'll go with that, because at least it's something. You come to claim time and they don't pay out, whereas a different insurer maybe a couple of dollars more would have. And that's where well, in this stage, I come in.

Speaker 1 11:18

Yeah, that's why we got you in our room To educate, to educate and show them the difference. Yeah, exactly, yeah, okay, so we've covered life, we've covered trauma, critical conditions. What are the other insurances?

Speaker 2 11:33

So there's TPDd total and permanent disability. Now that is one that not a lot of people have heard of. That's probably the least heard of of all of them. It's also the least claimed upon, and that's why? Because it is things like blindness and loss of limb, like bizarre things, we'll say yeah again, it's a lump sum.

Speaker 2 11:54

So, like the life, like the trauma, but it's a very specific criteria. You've got to not be able to do three of the five like what they class as like daily living things, like being able to, like, feed yourself, all of those types of things to be able to even be looked at for a claim. So it's a very interesting one, that one there sort of links up like a stroke, for example. You're likely not to be able to do all those things.

Speaker 1 12:20

Yeah.

Speaker 2 12:21

But again, if you've got the trauma, you've got the payout, if you've got the TPD, a lot of people that would suit more is people more in the manual industry as well as self-employed. Okay, Because if it's something like a stroke and part of their body doesn't work, if they're a builder or something they can't do it, but they can still type one-handed and they still can do other things if they're working at a desk, so they can sometimes still do a little bit of work.

Speaker 1 12:48

Yeah.

Speaker 2 12:49

And then self-employed. Obviously, you need full cover if you're self-employed. Yeah, if something major happens, and especially if you're self-employed and it's just you, you're the only one you're relying on for an income.

Speaker 1 13:03

Yeah, if you've got a staff and they can keep it going, that's all well and good, but if it's just you- and it blows my mind that we live in a country where probably I don't know the statistics, but probably 80 people are in some sort of self-employment right, I mean New Zealand really champions the self-employment. We've got all the hairdressers and beauticians and builders and a lot of those people are self-employed yeah.

Speaker 2 13:29

And even if it's not like the normal self-employed, there's people that contract to other people, yeah, contractors, all of that stuff as well. It's a massive part and in Wellington especially, a lot of contractors are government. Yeah, it's mind-boggling. So if something serious happens, what do you do?

Speaker 1 13:44

Yeah, yeah, what do you do yeah?

Speaker 2 13:48

But that actually leads into the next cover, which is the income protection, mortgage protection side of things, which is mortgage protection is income protection. But mortgage protection is well, obviously covers your mortgage, but up to a value is not offset with ACC. So it's going to be the first choice for a lot of people, because you'll get your ACC if you're off for an injury and you'll get your mortgage protection cover. Yeah, Income protection is offset, so you'd get, yeah, acc and then, if there's anything left in the calculation, you might get a little bit of your income protection.

Speaker 1 14:29

And not many people realise that you can actually get mortgage protection cover even if you don't have a mortgage.

Speaker 2 14:36

So rent, it's technically mortgage and rent protection yeah.

Speaker 1 14:40

Yeah, but I think the word mortgage just automatically makes people assume that it only applies to mortgages. Absolutely yeah, because a lot of them aregages?

Speaker 2 14:48

Absolutely yeah, because a lot of them are just called mortgage protection. Yeah, they don't mention the rent. I think a couple of insurance companies have cottoned on to that and they've started adding rent into the title. Yeah, but in general people think they hear mortgage and they're like, well, I can't get it.

Family Protection and Life Changes

Speaker 1 15:01

Yeah. So if you're out here listening to this podcast right now and you're still renting, you don't have a mortgage and you were wondering about the difference in insurances between income protection and mortgage protection and why you can't get a mortgage protection when it sounds so much better than income protection. Look, worry no further. We can get you covered in most cases under the mortgage protection and get you way better cover, even if you're renting Absolutely.

Speaker 2 15:26

Yeah.

Speaker 1 15:27

And especially these days when the rent is horrendous. Right, it's more than a mortgage a lot of the time, right? Yeah, so you definitely need to look into it if you don't have anything. Okay so we've covered life insurance. We've covered critical condition. We've covered total permanent disability, which is TPZ. We've covered mortgage protection, income protection what else can we do? Health Health.

Speaker 2 15:50

So health insurance is a massive one. Again, I said earlier, new Zealand system is better than others, but it's still not fabulous a lot of the time, and we know especially the wait times are pretty bad for some things we can do. I mean, there's so many different varieties of health insurance in New Zealand now as well. There's so many different companies. There's so many different varieties of health insurance in New Zealand now as well. There's so many different companies doing it. So many different options.

Speaker 2 16:12

Obviously, budgets always a concern for people and health insurance can get up there, but with excess levels and different options there there's usually a way to make it work.

Speaker 1 16:24

Yeah, yeah, no, I pay over, I think, $600 in health insurance for myself and the kids, but then saying that I have a lot of kids.

Speaker 2 16:33

If you divide that out, it's not so bad. It's actually not that bad, no.

Speaker 1 16:38

And what it's given me as well over the years is that ability to go and see the specialists Pick things up early as well.

Speaker 2 16:45

That's the thing. Like you've got it, you can go see someone without having to wait or not going at all because you don't want to pay private. And you're like, oh, it's probably nothing, you've got this cover, you're paying for this cover. Why not use this cover? Yeah.

Speaker 1 16:59

I was very lucky over the last few years. I had to use specialists here and I was very surprised of how quickly I could go and get them. You know, get myself to be seen within weeks, really like one or two weeks and that was mainly because of my calendar, I think, rather than the specialist calendar. Yeah, so no, definitely, having health insurance has really shown me that there are options when you have it, especially the younger you are, the better.

Speaker 2 17:25

Pre-existing conditions is a massive thing. So you know, obviously if you're applying later in life. Things have happened, life's happened. You're likely to have some exclusions.

Speaker 1 17:35

And tell me. It's an interesting point as well, where parents would have set up some sort of insurance for their kids right, and then the kids reach a certain age. We can help them convert that cover. Absolutely yep To their own name and, as you just mentioned, with the pre-existing conditions Fully covered.

Speaker 2 17:52

Yeah, exactly so. It's amazing the fact that, yeah, you can have it all through childhood you hit. Some insurers are 18, some are 21, depending. It's very straightforward to take it into your own name. Obviously, your parents probably won't pay the premiums anymore.

Speaker 1 18:06

Yeah, and I think that's where it gets tricky right, because parents going oh well, you know you're adult enough, pay for your own cover.

Speaker 2 18:13

And the kids go.

Speaker 1 18:13

I'm too broke, I don't want to do this. But what they don't realize is that if they don't take over that cover and they let it lapse, and then when they need to get a new cover in place, we have to get all of the medical information in and then, if they did have any issues when they were little or a bit older, those conditions may not be covered Exactly.

Speaker 2 18:33

And then the other thing is as well if they let it lapse, like you said, a lot of the time people go looking when there's something wrong with them, so they've got to say oh, you know my knee's feeling, whatever, I should look at health insurance.

Speaker 1 18:51

Yeah.

Speaker 2 18:52

But you've got to disclose that then, right, so the thing you're actually looking at the time for isn't going to be covered. It's too late, yeah.

Speaker 1 18:59

You should really have it in place for when your knee hurts Exactly. Not when it actually hurts? Okay, awesome. So life insurance, critical condition, tpd income and mortgage protection and health and when you sit down with clients, explain to me what would a typical appointment look like for someone that will come to see you? Are we talking first appointment? Yeah, let's go with first appointment. Let's take our clients for the journey that is getting to know you. Obviously, I can't go. Let's go with first appointment. Let's take our clients for the journey.

Speaker 2 19:29

That is a getting to know you. That's a you know. Obviously I can't go, I don't know your situation, I don't know your circumstances, so it's just really a getting to know you session. Obviously, there's always paperwork and compliance, but it's just figuring out what's important to them and, end of day, that is what we need to cover, explaining it so they're fully educated, so they do know what's important to them when it comes to the insurance side and how it relates to what's important to them in their personal lives. So it's very much just a getting to know you.

Speaker 2 19:59

Yeah and it's not scary. No, it seems like a lot and it is. I mean, you know there are some of the documents and the compliance side of it do seem like a lot. I mean, you know there are some of the documents and the compliance side of it do seem like a lot, but it's just a chat. The very first one.

Speaker 1 20:11

You know, part of me was always conflicted when I was doing insurances and sometimes, when I still have to do insurances, I get very conflicted in terms of emotional levels, because when I help people to buy a house, it's a happy time, right? You talk about the goals, the paint on the wall, you know the kitchen plans, the bathroom plans, the renovations, the gardens, et cetera. So you get people to dream about you know what could they do with the house when they get it, and it's all exciting and it's all fun. And then I had to sit down with them and go right, but if you die, yeah, the depressing side of it, the depressing side of it.

Speaker 1 20:48

So I always felt like I was walking on this bipolar journey when I was taking people into the highs, and then into the lows, and then back into the highs. So it's awesome to have someone like you on the team. Well, I could do the depressing part. Well, I hope it's not depressing, but you get what I mean right, yeah, absolutely Because you've got to show the people what if yeah, what if things go wrong.

Personal Experiences Driving Professional Passion

Speaker 2 21:12

And especially, you've just got them a house, right? Yeah, If something massive goes wrong, high chance they'll lose that house. Yeah, you know People, a lot of people. You say to them what's your biggest asset? They'll say their house. It's their income. Right, they need that income to look after that house. But having that conversation, like you said, after that high of, especially first-time buyers, you know, woo-hoo, we're finally being able to buy a house. They've saved all this time, all this time for this deposit. You know, thinking about the fact that they could lose it in this deposit that they've saved and saved for a year. They can sell it, but it's a whole thing. You've lost your first home after working so hard to get it.

Speaker 1 21:51

And look, selling is not guaranteed. No, look what happened in the last few years, right Like people have bought at the peak of the market three years ago and now, if something happens to them now and they have to sell the house now, they'll be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Speaker 2 22:06

Yeah, so let alone they've lost a house they also walk away with nothing in their pocket, they'll lose the deposit that they saved so hard for plus extra.

Speaker 1 22:15

Yeah, and what I often say to people is that, look, we've based your application to get this loan on two incomes. If one income was to go, even temporarily, you're going to suffer. And, yes, there are things we can help you with, like putting your loan on interest only or getting your mortgage holiday, but it's a very temporary measure.

Speaker 2 22:35

And then there's the life expenses on top of that. Yeah, you've got that, but you've still got the interest you've set. And also, end of day, putting it on interest only is going to take them longer to pay it off, right, like if they're not paying on the principal. So, having that mortgage protection to help pay, all of it, you know.

Speaker 2 22:54

And the thing with I know I'm harping on about mortgage protection, but mortgages is it's 115% of your mortgage repayments. So it is a top up on top of that, you know. So it gives you that extra bit of a wiggle room as well.

Speaker 1 23:12

So, for instance, if someone's mortgage repayments are $3,000 per month, they can get $4,500, I think, per month instead of just $3,000.

Speaker 2 23:16

15%, so that was 15%.

Speaker 1 23:21

It's too.

Speaker 2 23:22

I have not had enough coffee to do math at the moment. I think I rely on calculators too much now. But look, end of day, whatever your repayments are, are 15% on top of that is what you can get right and that's just to allow for things like rates and insurances and living costs and end of day.

Speaker 2 23:38

Yes, if you've got a second income, that's all well and good, but that you still need that for power, internet, traveling, whatever it is, food, childcare. You know there's so many other factors that another income still has to cover and that mortgage protection isn't that person's full income, right, so there could still be a massive cut in income for that person. Yeah, we can top it up with normal income protection up to a higher level, but there's still going to be less coming in than they used to.

Speaker 1 24:08

Yeah, and I think this is where you know people need to understand that sitting down with an insurance advisor, just like with a mortgage advisor, it gives you options and it gives you that proper information than just clicking buttons online and just going for whatever seems like a good deal at the time and actually understanding what the cover entails. Because it's not just us meeting them for the first time, getting insurance in place and then not seeing us ever again. No, right, the idea is we do those reviews, we do them yearly. We do them, you know, every couple of years to make sure that if things change in their lives, we know about that and we can adjust the cover accordingly, yeah, and also catch out those claims that people didn't know they could claim on, exactly because there's some little things in there that are actually claimable that people have no idea right, especially in the trauma side of it.

Speaker 2 25:00

you know, when I talked about partial payouts, there's so many little things that can lead to worse things that are actually a payout.

Speaker 1 25:07

Yeah.

Speaker 2 25:07

And it's massive. I've had quite a few over the what 11 years, I think I've been in the financial ageing myself. Yeah, 11 years.

Speaker 1 25:18

You started when you were seven, right?

Speaker 2 25:20

Absolutely yeah. So I've had a few like that. I'll be chatting to someone. I had someone a couple of years ago call to cancel their cover and we got to talking, because every time someone's cancelled you talk to them about their health You've got to make sure they're not currently looking at something or whatever and she mentioned that she'd had some heart issues. Next thing we know, three months later, she got a $150,000 payout Wow, you know, so it's amazing and that's powerful.

Speaker 1 25:47

That's something that the online bot will not be able to pick on and uncover for you, absolutely, if you just bought your insurance online, yeah.

Speaker 2 25:56

And then the other thing is people get their insurance and they cover their debt A couple of years down the track. If you're, you know you're not looking at advancing your house or whatever. Your mortgage is going down, right, you might not need those levels of cover anymore for life, but you could top up your trauma if you couldn't afford that at the time. You know there's so many things that need to be looked at every couple of years.

Speaker 1 26:19

Yeah, and also something that people don't know, and this is something for us to uncover in episodes, as you know, as we progress, because I would love to have you as our common guest, like I have with Skunch and James, where we just get a topic and we concentrate on a certain topic and on certain case studies. And one of the things that I don't think people realise is special events yes, when they have a baby, when they sell a house, when they buy a house.

Speaker 2 26:46

Absolutely, and they can top up without underwriting, without all that extra paperwork, for sure it's a massive thing and they need that extra cover because that massive thing has happened.

Speaker 2 26:55

Yeah, and they think, well, I've got this cover already. From when, say, they bought a house? So I mean that'll be plenty. They have a kid. How much does a kid cost to raise these days? I mean a lot, exactly. If something happens to one of you and you're down to one income, yeah, you might not have a mortgage, but there's still those added expenses that you've not thought about exactly.

Speaker 1 27:22

You know, it's uh, it's really interesting when people come to me and they've separated because we do a lot of separations as well right, and they don't realize that they actually had some joint covers together and how they all play out as well. So there'll be another podcast theme for us to have a look. You know, when you separate, what happens with your insurances? Yeah, absolutely, and what you should be looking at yeah, because I mean that's a massive change.

Speaker 2 27:47

Right, circumstances are completely different. So even splitting those covers out, they still might not work for you anymore. So yeah, you've got this cover, we split it away from your ex-partner whatever the situation is, but that cover was when you were with someone. It's completely different.

Speaker 1 28:04

Yeah, and do you still want to pay for that cover Can? You still afford that cover with one income.

Speaker 2 28:09

Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 28:10

Yeah. So all those things that people really need to be looking, and I'm so excited to have you on the team now because I feel more supported now by you that we can do that good job and I don't have to lay awake at night worrying about my clients that here I am. You know we give out millions and millions every month of mortgages. You know, last year my firm has done over $70 million in mortgages and when I look back at it I'm like, okay, we've given out so many millions of debt, but do we have the same level of cover for people?

Speaker 1 28:45

For that debt, for that debt If something goes wrong, did I insure my clients for more than 70 million of life insurance, trauma, et cetera, et cetera? And I do worry about it because, for me, we get personally involved with our clients. You know we get involved in their goals and dreams. It's a whole journey for sure. Yeah, you know, it's not just a transactional for us where they just come in, buy a house and see you later. It's a relationship, and some of my clients that you've already spoken to you know I've been dealing with them for the last seven, eight years and we need to make sure we're looking after them because if we don't, who will and will they provide them the same level of care that we pride ourselves in?

Speaker 2 29:28

Absolutely, and the fact is, like you've said, you've already built that relationship, so you've got that extra. Like you care that much more about them.

Speaker 1 29:34

Yeah.

Speaker 2 29:34

Because you've gotten to know them so well and you know their situations.

Speaker 1 29:38

Yeah, yeah. And there were cases where you know my clients needed that help and luckily they had those covers. But there were also cases where clients didn't have the right covers in place and they rang me afterwards and they said I wish I listened to you.

Speaker 2 29:53

Yeah.

Speaker 2 29:53

That's the hard one, because insurance, obviously I mean everything costs right and you can do the best of your ability. You know we advise them on. This is what you need. But, end of day, if they can't afford it, it's always going to be a problem and they come to claim time that, yeah, like you said, I should have listened to you. We never know what's going to happen.

Speaker 2 30:17

Um, but that's when we go back and even a small amount of bits of the cover combined is better than not having it at all. So, yeah, you might not be able to afford the full amount you do need, but having something is way better than nothing. You've got options then. So you can't afford the full amount of your life cover for your whole mortgage, half your mortgage. Your partner's still working yeah, it can help cover it. Yeah, or it gives you that time to figure out what is going to happen next. Right, you've lost your partner, you've, but you can't afford to keep it. Even having some protection will help you Months down the track. You could still be in this house while you figure out what you can do.

Speaker 1 31:00

And you know, for me the driving force was always my own experience in life, Like I've lost my dad. When I was seven, my mum was two to seven. She was my age when my dad just passed away overnight, had a stroke, had a heart attack, gone. He was 43. And to me, when I look back at it, we didn't have insurance back home. Nobody really had insurance back in the day and there was no government support. So my mom was left as a widow at the age of 37 with three young kids. I think my eldest brother was 16 at the time.

Speaker 1 31:37

Yeah, he was 16, and then my next brother was 10 and I was 7. And she had to figure it out. We've lost our family home. We couldn't stay there, you know. We had to go back and live with my grandmother on my mom's side and to me, I don't want another family to go through such experience. When you have options in New.

Speaker 2 31:58

Zealand.

Speaker 1 31:58

When you live in a country that gives you options, you should be able to exercise those options Absolutely.

Speaker 2 32:05

And the thing is like what if you hadn't had your grandmother? Yeah Right, what would have happened then?

Speaker 1 32:11

And my mum had to work three jobs. And imagine, as a kid I've just lost one parent and your mum's out.

Speaker 1 32:19

And then my mum is working 24-7 to keep food on the table and to keep the power going. So I don't even see my mum. So at the age of seven I was left, basically, you know, raising myself in a way, and lucky my grandma was there to raise me, but I hope my mum's not listening to this one because she will cry. I know her, but like she had to do that to give us the life that you know we had, and this is why I'm in New Zealand today and not stuck back home married to some man being, you know, a third wife probably was like 10 children. You know, because third wife probably was like 10 children. You know, because my mom believed in education. But in order to provide us with a good education and a roof over our heads and food on the table, she had to work three jobs. There was no blanket to fall back on financially. So this is why I'm so passionate about those things. But it's just, how do you translate that passion to clients to make them understand, without lifting that veil into my own soul, you know, and uncovering that wound for myself every time? Because I've lived that, I know what it's like as a child in the family where, yes, you've lost one parent and then, unfortunately, seven years later, my uncle passed away as well. He was 46 when he died, I know. So I've lost like two father figures, so my real dad and then the father figure and my grandma was devastated and he also left behind two young girls. My cousin was 16 and his daughter. Ironically, his other daughter was seven, so they sort of like had a mirror life to us. And his wife never worked.

Speaker 1 34:01

So I was seeing firsthand what my life could have been if my mom didn't work. So this woman she relied heavily on the support and, like my mom, had to provide for his family as well. So my poor mom had to, like work super hard to look after my grandma, to look after my uncle's family, to look after our family, and then my auntie separated from her husband, so then my mom had to look after my auntie. Oh my gosh. So my poor mom, like the last you know 30 years of her life. She really really had to work super, super hard to make sure she provides for everyone financially. And when I look to New Zealand families and I see these families working hard and I see my own family in their eyes, you know like what they're going through and I'm thinking how can I make their life easier so they don't go through what my mom and my family had to go through? So that's my drive.

Speaker 1 34:52

This is why I do what I do, and this is why I was looking for someone like you, because I can't do it all. No, like you said, you stay awake and not worrying about it because you can't do it all yeah, and I think it comes with a natural you know, being a female, being an empath, you know you can't not care yeah, you care, yeah, absolutely, I think as well, like you said, that extra level of your experience, on top of being a female being in a bath yeah, which I do a really good job of covering up those wounds.

Speaker 1 35:23

I don't think, like people realise a lot of people that meet me first hand they don't know about well, I didn't realise, there you go, this is the first time. Yeah, I think I do a really good job, walking around with all my traumas, you know, hidden. But this is my why. Yeah, this is how I converted something that happened to me in a negative way into how can I change it to the positive? Absolutely For people.

Speaker 2 35:47

Yeah, yeah, and it's getting people to understand that, like you, but without going to yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly.

Speaker 1 35:55

So hopefully this podcast will serve as a as a you know, as as a purpose for them to understand why we do what we do?

Speaker 2 36:02

yeah, absolutely, and I think that's where that first chat is is the big thing, because I have certain family things that I could use as well. But again, I'll probably end up breaking down in tears if I talked about too much of it and I don't want to go down that in a first appointment. Especially. They don't know me If I'm sitting there, I'm super professional just bursting into tears. But getting them to put themselves into like a situation, like asking the questions of them for them to actually really think about if this did actually happen, what the heck am I going to do?

Speaker 1 36:38

Yeah.

Speaker 2 36:40

Yeah, without becoming too emotional.

Speaker 1 36:43

What will life look like? Yeah, exactly, absolutely.

Client Education and Future Goals

Speaker 2 36:46

And, like I said earlier, we do have that it's not going to happen to me mentality and, like you mentioned, give a little as people's first thought when it comes to that sort of thing. Or a family will look after me, and that's all well and good with family, and of course they'll look after you if they can. But what if something has happened to them and they can't? I mean your list of your, all of your family, things like if they hadn't had your mum, yeah, what would have happened? Exactly like you can't, I mean, you can rely on family, but you can't rely on them being in a position to be able to help you to the level you need if something happens it's interesting, you know, I used to throw that question back to my young clients, um, when they would say, oh, my family will look after me.

Speaker 1 37:30

Yeah, my parents will look after my mum. Do your parents know about that? And they're're like no, but I'm sure they will.

Speaker 2 37:35

They looked after me for years. They'll still look after me.

Speaker 1 37:37

Yeah, I'm like, okay, exercise for you today is go home and tell your parents they're going to look after you and your 500K mortgage and see their reaction and they're like, oh, and I'm like uh-huh, and usually, and usually in that point they realize that you know, maybe now I need to be an adult and look after myself. So this is good. Rebecca, it's been awesome to chat to you about this really, really deep and important things. What are your goals now? Let's talk about the future. We talked about the past. We talked about the prison.

Speaker 2 38:10

Let's talk about the future. My current goal is to get all of your clients covered as soon as possible. Yeah, no, like I mean it really is Like that's the most important thing. It's the education of what insurance actually means to people. Getting that out there and getting people understanding If they've already got cover, that's great, but do they know what that cover is? Do they understand what it actually will pay out on? You know, it's my massive thing always has been and going forward is educating everybody on insurance so they understand exactly what they've got yeah it's just mind-boggling.

Speaker 2 38:50

I'll talk to someone. They don't even know what they've got, you know. They don't know the types of cover they have or anything, let alone what it actually covers, because it's to them, it's set and forget and it's all well. I mean that's great, you've got something and that's the whole point. But does it suit you still? Does it suit your circumstances? Did you just get that cover at the time because that's what you thought you should have and, like banks used used to always push life cover right all the way through Mortgage protection.

Speaker 2 39:18

All of that wasn't a massive discussion a lot of the time years ago. And these days a lot of the new covers that are out there are very different to what people had, say, even 20 years ago, 10 years ago, in completely different stages of life as well. Because here we've talked about mortgage protection and everything but say you don't have a mortgage. There's still certain covers trauma cover, health cover. You know all the expenses of not having a mortgage. There's still income protection, whatever it is. There's still other things you do need. Educating everybody is my massive goal, my main goal.

Speaker 1 39:51

I love it and hopefully through this channel we can do that.

Speaker 2 39:54

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1 39:55

Because we are seeing an increase in our listeners. We are getting questions now through the podcast channel, so obviously people are listening and they want to hear from us, so let's be that expert voice for them, so they don't listen to someone at the barbecue that has no experience whatsoever and they're just giving them anecdotal you know?

Speaker 2 40:14

Yeah, exactly or an ad on TV right funeral cover.

Speaker 1 40:18

Yeah, I see I hope you've captured rolling eyes at this one, Rebecca. What I really want to find out is for you personally why did you choose this team to work with when you had options of bigger companies?

Speaker 2 40:39

I liked the personal touch. It was the small team and that you actually seemed to care about. You know your clients and your people. Bigger companies I mean, I'm not saying they don't care, but it can become a numbers game for a lot of big companies and the personal touch is lost and I like I've worked for big companies, I've worked for smaller companies. I like the personal being in front of someone you know, having that proper chat and just seem the perfect fit.

Speaker 2 41:09

You know, like you care about your people, I care about my clients. Win-win.

Speaker 1 41:15

Exactly Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming along today.

Speaker 2 41:20

Thank you, it was not as bad as I thought.

The Value of Personal Touch

Speaker 1 41:23

You'll get better at it, I promise You're saying it was bad, no, you were awesome. I think what we've really tapped into today is important. I think we've given them the full overview and, going forward, we'll just give an episode each week, you know. So, listeners, if you're listening to this, please keep tuning in. So each week, you know, you and I can drop them some smaller, bite-sized covers, because we deal with more than one company.

Speaker 2 41:52

Yeah, and the thing is like yeah, this was an overview. There's so much detail and so many different things within all the products and within each product, within different companies. It's different for everyone.

Speaker 1 42:01

Yeah, yeah. So we'll try to, you know, go in deep. Yes, sounds good Each week, and yeah, and just because knowledge is power, absolutely, and that's the educating right, that's the goal. That's why I'm doing this week in, week out, day in, day out. Awesome, rebecca. Thank you so so much. You have a lovely week ahead, you too, and I'll see you next week. Peace.