Gambling on Life - The problem of underinsurance

1 min read
January 23, 2020

New research commissioned by the Financial Services Council (FSC) has revealed the high number of New Zealanders that are underinsured when it comes to their lives, their incomes or suffering a major illness.

The third and final part in the FSC’s research series on New Zealanders’ attitudes to financial risk; ‘Gambling on Life’ focuses on the life insurance gap to understand the reasons behind underinsurance and the potential risks that some kiwis expose themselves to.


“Gambling on Life found that while many New Zealanders are aware of the importance of types of life insurance, this isn’t reflected in adequate levels of cover for themselves”, said Richard Klipin, CEO of the Financial Services Council.

The study looked at the three main types of life insurance available in New Zealand; life insurance, income protection/mortgage repayment insurance and critical illness insurance.

Read the media release.

Read the research report.

For all media enquiries, please contact:

Financial Services Council of New Zealand
09 802 1532 or fsc@fsc.org.nz

About the research

The research was conducted via an online survey developed and hosted by CoreData. Data was collected between 12 March and 20 March 2020. A total of 2,000 valid complete responses were collected, which formed the basis of the analysis and the report.

The sample is representative of the New Zealand consumer population in terms of age, gender and income based on the latest Stats NZ data.

The purpose of this survey was to understand how financially prepared New Zealanders are.