Welcome to our August 2011 newsletter
In this issue we wish to bring you up to date on changes to Financial Regulations, KiwiSaver and the “are we adequately covered” question continually asked since the earthquakes.
Financial Regulation
From 1 October 2011, financial advisers in Canterbury will be regulated under new rules administered by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). These new rules have been introduced to help promote investor confidence and protect consumers who seek financial advice and are already in place elsewhere in New Zealand. Christchurch advisers were allowed additional time to complete the necessary paperwork following the earthquakes.
All advisers must be registered on the Financial Service Providers Register (www.fspr.govt.nz) and if they advise retail clients they must belong to a dispute resolution scheme. Those who advise on investments must also be licensed by the FMA and meet minimum qualifications and professional standards.
The new rules provide for three types of advisers:
Authorised Financial Advisers (AFA). AFAs can advise on more complex investment products and can also offer investment management and planning services. We are pleased to advise that Ian Greig is an AFA and Kevin, Lance and Steve are almost finished meeting the legislative requirements to become AFA’s.
Registered Financial Advisers - (RFAs). RFAs can provide advice on products including insurances and loans. Brennen Lewis will continue to be an RFA and will continue to provide specialist advice on all personal insurance needs such as life, medical, income protection and mortgage requirements for our clients.
Qualifying Financial Entity (QFE). The likes of Banks and life insurance companies are operating under this structure and they take responsibility for their staff and any advice they provide. We have chosen not to join a QFE as it would remove some of our ability to place your business without restrictions or obligations to any particular insurer.
All of our advisers will continue to offer the same service excellence you have received in the past and you can be assured that going forward our robust processes will help you to identify your insurance and investment needs in a clear concise way.
Kiwisaver
We touched on KiwiSaver changes in our May newsletter and these are now filtering through. Effective from 1 July 2011 the main change is that the Member Tax Credit has been halved from $1 for each dollar contributed up to $1,042p.a. to 50 cents with a new maximum of $521p.a. KiwiSaver remains an attractive proposition and should be considered by all New Zealander’s 65 years of age or younger. In fact, in today's news we see that the Government is looking at starting a discussion paper to encourage more working NewZzealander's to join the scheme.
For those of you with online KiwiSaver access, you will shortly notice the Member Tax Credits for the last financial year will soon start to be credited to your accounts by the Inland Revenue.
Please contact us if you have any questions regarding your KiwiSaver account.
Are you adequately covered?
Since the earthquakes our phone has been constantly ringing with the question “are we adequately covered” or “are we getting the best protection available for us and our family”?
Often overlooked is the extent of trauma insurance yet between July 2009 and June 2010, New Zealander’s made trauma claims exceeding $107 million dollars.
The majority of claims fall under Cancer at 63%, Heart at 24%, Neurological at 6% and other being 7%. One insurer has broken the statistics down by age and surprisingly the youngest claimant was just 11 years of age and the majority of claimants ranged between 40 and 60 years of age.
These have been identified as the 5 most common uses of trauma claims monies:
We all like to share good stories and this is a real example of a trauma claim.
Mary comes into the office rarely but came in with her husband who had an appointment to
discuss his Kiwisaver. Whilst she had a coffee and chatted with the receptionist, she eluded
to having had some recent medical issues and the reason she had the day off was that she
was seeing a specialist in the afternoon to discuss a mastectomy. What evolved from this
conversation was that the operation was urgent and scheduled for the following week.
Mary had life and trauma insurance and it hadn't occured to her that this was a potential claim.
The receptionist quickly got hold of the adviser who promptly made a couple of phone calls,
completed a claim for there and then and by the time Mary had surgery, her cancer claim for
$15,000 had been approved and paid. The $15,000 allowed funds for her daughter to come
from England to be with and care for her parents during a stressful few weeks.
The moral of the story is that if you have health issues that are potentially serious, you should
contact us early on to discuss them. Like in Mary's case she had a valid claim but had
overlooked the benefits available from her trauma policy. Don't be afraid to ask us for advice.
Too often we get referred to people with poorly conceived and implemented lifestyle and family protection plans. It may be that the bang for your buck isn’t pointed in the right direction and we welcome any opportunity to review insurance options with yourself, your family and your friends.
We are available to discuss your insurance, home loan and investment needs in what is a difficult time for many of us at the moment so please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Give us a call on 03 377 3693, 0800 572 387 or email us at admin@supernz.co.nz
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind regards
Kevin, Ian and the team.
This newsletter is issued as a Class Service in terms of the Financial Advisers Act 2008 and is not a Personalised Service. A copy of our disclosure statements can be downloaded from www.supernz.co.nz
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