🎙️ Episode 17: What Happens When You're Sick, Injured, Made Redundant, or Grow Old in New Zealand
From ACC to KiwiSaver — The Financial Safety Nets Every Immigrant Should Know About
Moving to New Zealand means starting fresh and that includes understanding how to protect your health, income, and future in a new system. In this episode of Soft Landing, I take you through the key financial safety nets and insurance options that help provide stability and peace of mind once you've started to settle in.
Whether you're a few months into your immigration journey or already working and building your life here, this episode will give you the practical knowledge to make smarter decisions for yourself and your family.
I cover:
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🛟 ACC: What it does and doesn’t cover
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🏥 Public vs. Private Health Insurance: Is Southern Cross worth it?
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💸 Income Protection & Trauma Cover: Why it matters and how to get it
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🔐 Life Insurance & Redundancy Cover: Who needs it and when
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💰 KiwiSaver: What it is, how it works, and when you can use it
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📈 Other Investments: Building a safety net for the future
I’m not a financial advisor, and this episode isn’t financial advice it’s just my real-life experience, the lessons I've learned, and the systems I now use to protect my family here in Aotearoa.
If you're working toward financial stability, planning your future, or just wondering what these terms mean in the New Zealand context, this episode is for you.
Stay Connected
Follow my Soft Landing podcast and subscribe to my YouTube channel @softlandingnz for real stories, walkthroughs, and practical tips for newcomers to New Zealand.
📍 All links & platforms: https://linktr.ee/softlandingnz
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
There are over 100,000 people whoimmigrate to New Zealand every year with
the intention to make New Zealand theirhome, leaving behind everything they
know as normal day-to-day life and havingto learn new ways of doing things, new
norms, new cultures, and different values.
There are many people who struggle withthis transition and find it challenging
(00:25):
to adjust and settle so they cancall and make New Zealand their home.
The purpose of this podcast is for meto share my journey and our challenges
with the hope that you can learn from meand my family and have a softer landing.
There will be good days and baddays, but with time, more good days.
I believe we have made theright choice for our family.
(00:47):
I want to try and help you do the same,but hopefully with a softer landing.
This is Soft Landing and Iam your host, Brett Colette.
Welcome to this podcast, designed foranyone thinking about preparing for, or
who has just immigrated to New Zealand.
Subscribe now so you never miss an episodedrawing from his personal experience.
(01:09):
This series will guide you throughthe process of preparing for your
move and helping you navigatethe challenges of immigration.
Hey everyone, welcome back andthanks for joining me again.
Really awesome to have youlistening to me again on my podcast.
Just really want to thank youguys for, following me and for
listening to me and I, reallyhope that it is helping you guys.
(01:33):
As I say, I've got some feedbackwhich really motivates me to keep
going, so I really hope it's helping.
For those of you that are joiningus for the first time, welcome,
it's awesome to have you join us.
I do ask if you've got the time,try go back to the first episode.
just I give a little bit more insightinto who I am and what this podcast
is all about and what I'm trying toachieve, so it can hopefully give you
(01:55):
a bit of insight and understanding.
Why you would even want to listento me and why, What I'm sharing is
hopefully beneficial and worthwhile.
So with that, what I wanted to talka little bit about today is I wanna
talk about money, I wanna talk about,insurances, all those type of things.
Now.
I've gotta start off disclaimerright in the beginning.
(02:16):
I am not a financial advisor, okay?
This is not financial advice.
if you want financial advice, go to aregistered financial advisor, please.
that, that's not me.
I'm not a broker, I'mnot a financial advisor.
Everything that I share is frompersonal experience, and this
is my personal experience thatI'm gonna be sharing today.
Really what I want to talkthrough is a couple of insurances.
(02:37):
And I know I've done a tutorialon the full cost of living in,
New Zealand, and I've given a fullbreakdown on my YouTube channel.
But that is really starting to giveyou an idea of what you need to budget
for a family when you first get here.
What are your living expenses?
What are the things you have to pay?
And it's more in the firstyear when you're starting up.
And then when you finally got, inour case, two, two income earners.
(02:59):
So when my wife started working,how we had two incomes coming in,
and this is really what I wanna talkabout today, is once you've got.
Two incomes coming in, or you've got to apoint where you're starting to settle and
financially you're starting to get a fairamount of income now to where you're not
just surviving, you're starting to thrive.
And that's when you've gotta startthinking about these other things.
I'm not saying insurance is notimportant in the beginning, but I
(03:21):
do know when you're first land andyou're just trying to start out.
It, it's, tough.
just, you're just trying to make it,you're really just trying to survive.
So you're not in thrive mode.
You're not thinking insurancesand, retirement, and all
those other type of policies.
You're thinking how to just get foodon the table and a roof over my head.
So this is more along the lines of onceyou've got past that, possibly first
(03:43):
few months a year, and you've got to thepoint where it's, okay, now I'm starting
to think a ahead a little bit more.
I'm trying to think about.
insurance is to close somerisk that we might have.
I'm thinking longer term for investingfor our future, for retirement.
I'm thinking about, life insurance,should god forbid anything happen.
All those type of things is really whatI'm starting to talk about a little bit
(04:04):
today is all those type of insurances.
I'm gonna start off with the first one.
So the first one I wanna talk abouta little bit is, and I have mentioned
in some of my other podcasts andalso in some of my other tutorials
on my YouTube channel, but it's a CC.
So a CC is something that you payfor that is actually part of your
salary, and it does come off.
It's a government, what do you call it?
insurance or accident.
(04:25):
Insurance fund.
So really what a CC is foris it's for any accidental or
injuries caused, when you're out.
Out, and about.
So it could be that you've had acar accident and you hurt yourself.
It could be that you, in my case,in the gym and you've hurt yourself.
(04:46):
It's, any injuries fromaccidents that you've sustained,
while here in New Zealand.
and it does come off on your salary.
it's a. Contribution that you wouldhave, you, it automatically comes
up and, you get, gets paid to thisfund so you can claim from it.
A CC fund in my example, we've claimedtwice now, so the first time that
(05:09):
we claimed was actually with my son.
So he was, if you've listened to myother podcast, he was leaving school
and when, I dunno if he tripped orif he's running on the sidewalk or.
Pavement what, whichever country you'refrom and what you refer to the sidewalk
as he was running along and he trippedand he actually fell and he split his lip.
And I remember my wife had to rushhim off to the, nearest emergency.
(05:33):
and when we got there, and they weretreating him and stuff like that, they
turned around to my wife and they said,oh, this is covered by a C. So they
actually register an a c claim for him.
and everything from that treatment toany post-treatment thereafter be it.
If he had to have follow-ups or he hadto have, in my case, I hurt myself at the
gym, so I had to have follow-up physio.
(05:54):
All of that is coveredunder your a CC claim.
So that, that, that'swhat a CC is all about.
in New Zealand, I, feltthat it, works well.
I've, I haven't had any issues withany of the claims that I've had.
It doesn't mean you can't have, or you,there's not a. Potential need for pr.
(06:14):
Further private insurance.
don't think a CC covers everything.
It doesn't.
This is just with regards to accidents.
Okay.
So it's injury or claims by,
by something that accidentallyhappening, you've injured yourself.
Okay.
So that, that's whatthe a, c, is all about.
like I said, my son, we didhis claim when he, fell on the,
(06:36):
sidewalk and he split his lip.
So that was all covered.
Mine was in gym.
Yeah.
I was pushing too heavy inthe gym and I hurt my knee.
I went to go see the gp.
That gp then said to me,oh, this is an ACC claim.
And.
Put in a claim for meand everything post that.
So all the physio and everythingon my knee was all covered.
And they even said if I hadto go for further surgery.
So I did go to a specialist andthat was also covered by the ac.
(06:58):
He had a look at my knee,said, no, let's try the physio.
Went for, oh, I don't know, sixor 10 different physio sessions.
All of that was coveredby a CC by the claim.
there, there was a little bit of an, ashortfall, an admin fee and whatever else,
but I'll talk about it a little bit later.
I do have a private medicalinsurance that covered that
shortfall that a CC didn't cover.
(07:19):
If you didn't, you'd haveto pay that out your pocket.
Okay.
And it's, a small amount.
It's not a big amount, butyou, would need to pay that.
So that's where I hadmy private insurance.
But the a CC covered majorityof everything that I had to do.
Even if I had to go eventuallyhave surgery on my knee, they
would've covered that as well.
Luckily, I didn't have to do that.
just so that you knowwhat a CC is all about.
(07:39):
Next one I guess I've alreadystarted touching on is your
private medical insurance.
So look, private medical insurance.
If I talk back to when we are in SouthAfrica, so I, dunno where you are
immigrating from, in the world, but SouthAfricans will relate to me that in South
Africa, unfortunately, the public healthsystem, geez, I don't even know if it's
worthwhile calling a public health system.
(08:00):
it's, really dire.
It's not in a good, way at all.
And if you had to go.
Have something happened to youwhere you would have to be treated
via the public health system?
Again, my opinion, Ibelieve your it's bad.
It's, really, not good.
And I know a lot of the Kiwis here,and locals here, they complain about
the public health system here inNew Zealand, but I promise you the
(08:22):
public health system, system in SouthAfrica is like a hundred times worse.
A hundred times worse.
I really.
I don't wish my worst enemy tohave to be treated by the public
health system in South Africa.
I don't even know if they'll actuallytreat you and you'll survive if
it's something that's really bad.
if I think back to.
When I was in South Africa, we, andlook, I know it's a difficult one because
(08:44):
private medical insurance is expensive.
It's expensive here.
It was expensive in South Africa, but Ithink in South Africa, geez, if you could
afford it, it was, more like you, ugh.
You really needed it, for yourfamily because you didn't want to
go through the public health sector.
If I think back in 2019, I haveshared how I had cancer in 2019.
(09:04):
I'm just thinking if I had to, I don'tknow if I would be here today if I had
been diagnosed with my cancer in 2019 inSouth Africa and had to be treated through
the, public health sector in South Africa.
I dunno if I would've got the treatmentI needed, the surgery I needed,
I, dunno if I would've made it.
my cancer, I know maybe I'mbeing glass half empty here and
(09:25):
not being very positive, but.
I just don't think I would'vemade my 40th birthday.
I don't believe I would'vegot the treatment in time.
I don't think it would'veeven been picked up in time.
that's where I believe and have learned,and that's how we are risk averse
with going for the private medical.
So back in South Africa, I had it inprivate medical there it was discovery.
It was a brilliant plan.
It, paid for everything to do with mycancer, all my treatment, my radiation
(09:49):
follow ups, oncologists, et cetera.
It paid for everything.
So I'm so grateful to have had.
My, my medical aid back or private inprivate medical insurance in South Africa.
So it does mean that what we've donehere is we've done the same thing.
We've also taken out private medicalinsurance here in New Zealand.
the medical insurance that we've gonefor, it's a company called Southern Cross.
(10:09):
Southern Cross is probably the.
They got the lion's share ofpeople that, have private medical,
insurance here in New Zealand.
They're one of the biggest organizations.
They're not the only, thereare whole lot of others.
But I think, in my opinion, and fromwhat I've seen, Southern Cross is
probably one of the biggest here andhas the, biggest amount of people,
(10:29):
members, on, on, on their books,Southern Cross, if I compare it to
Discovery back in South Africa, look.
if I really be honest, I think themedical insurance back in South
Africa, private medical, it wasprobably better than what it is here.
Okay.
And private sector even sometimesworked better back in South Africa.
(10:50):
you could make a doctor's appointment,get a doctor's appointment the same day.
they, moved very quickly.
We had a lot of good specialists.
Yeah.
Okay.
Maybe it's two and a half yearsago, maybe things are changing.
I don't know.
But it, worked well.
I'm not saying it doesn't work well here.
Southern Cross is just, I'mcomparing it to what I know and.
My experience of private medicalin South Africa was good.
(11:11):
So comparing it to here, I'm not sayingit's bad, but I've had the opportunity,
call it an opportunity, I don't know, totest out the public health sector here,
as well as the private health sector.
So what I mean by that is when I got here.
Mentioned to you, I had cancer whenI was in South Africa, so I got
all my treatment in South Africa.
(11:33):
I got my, tumor removed andeverything in South Africa.
and then I went into remission.
but then there's surveillancethat they've gotta do.
So you've gotta have constant followups and everything once you've had
ca cancer for at least the first fiveyears to make sure it doesn't return.
So within those five years Iwas immigrating to New Zealand.
So when I arrived in New Zealand,I was still towards the end,
the post end of my, five years.
(11:54):
So I still had.
Oh, I don't know, a year and a half, twoyears left of having surveillance done.
So they would keep checking up.
So I needed to be allocated to anoncologist here in New Zealand.
So when I got to New Zealand andreached out to, my GP and told them,
Hey, my story and what was going on.
With Southern Cross, they wouldcover everything you had, but
(12:15):
not preexisting conditions.
So obviously now that I had a preexistingcondition, IE my cancer, that wouldn't
be covered for X period of time.
So it would take a couple ofyears being on a certain plan with
Southern Cross before they wouldwaiver that and cover me 100%.
So it would mean everything thatwas preexisting that's not covered.
I'd have to do it through state.
So that meant my last bit of treatmenton my cancer, I had to do through state.
(12:39):
So I had to get a stateoncologist assigned to me.
I had to go for MRIs, bloodtests, other scans, whatever
else through the public sector.
So I had to do that through the NewZealand health system, public health
system, not the private health system.
My experience wasn't bad, really,I must tell you, it's definitely
a hundred times better than whatit was, back in South Africa, not
(13:02):
when I say back in South Africa.
Compared to our public health system, Idon't think it was a hundred times better
compared to the private health system.
I still believe the private healthsystem back in South Africa was
better, but the treatment wasn't bad.
The oncologist.
The biggest thing was I had to travela little bit to go see him, so there
wasn't an oncologist near where I stayed.
(13:22):
So there was a little bit of travel.
When I say a bit of travel, probablyabout a 30 minute drive to get to him.
Also, you don't get the appointment onthe date that you want with private sector
back in South Africa, and I've seen here.
Being on private medical, it almostnot jumps the queue, but you're paying
to get quicker service pretty much.
(13:43):
and what I would see when you'regoing through public sector here
is, yeah, I got the oncologist,but I had to wait for when he was
available and when he could tell me.
And that was a little bitof a wait, so it took.
I don't know, a couple of months, probablytwo months before I could see him from
when I reached out, or my GP reachedout to, to get an appointment with him.
Finally, when I got the appointment, gotto see him, then he will start talking
(14:04):
about the rest of my surveillance,treatment, meaning when I had to go
for tests and whatever else startingoff, he wanted to send me for MRIs.
Again, private sector back inSouth Africa when I needed an
MRI and I'd seen the specialist.
Within a day, two days, worst case aweek, it would've been set up that I'd
gone to whichever hospital to get the MRItests, et cetera, that the doctor wanted.
(14:26):
Here because I had to doit through public sector.
The oncologist is fine.
They will get the guys to get in the,on, what do you call it, the radiologists
and the, I dunno what you call thesepeople that run the MRIs and everything.
They would get hold of me for anappointment when I could go for my MR mri.
That probably took at least another,oh, I dunno, month, two months
before I could get that appointment.
(14:47):
So it just took a lot longer andthat was just the appointment
to get the MR MRI done.
Then once I got the MR MRI done.
That had to be processed andsent back to my oncologist.
So it took a good couple of months,probably four or five months when I
first got here from seeing the oncologistto getting the test that he wanted to,
getting the results back to him for him,then coming back to me and going, seeing
him again, just for him to be able to me.
(15:09):
Okay, yeah, it's all looking good.
So this is our plan.
We'll see you again in six months time andyou'll go for tests and everything again.
So they do what they need to do and itdoes work in the public sector here.
It's just my opinion was it took alot longer what I was used to back
on private medical in South Africa.
It was quick, so you would see thespecialist, you get the test done
(15:31):
within days, weeks, everythingis, getting done quite quickly.
So that's the only difference that I'vepicked up in my opinion here, being in
public health system versus private.
I've also got to use theprivate health system here.
So over and above my a CC claim thatI spoke to you about earlier, over
and above, coming here with cancer,or not cancer, but post-treatment of
(15:52):
having cancer, I've had to use publicsector just to, for my follow-ups and
making sure that I was all okay andstill clear for the first five years.
I also had a, private proceduredone as well, separate to
that, that I got done through.
Private sector, so that, again,I got assigned first the gp.
(16:14):
GP then assigned me to a specialist.
The specialist then saw me andsaid, oh, okay, there's, we've gotta
book you in whatever else, smallprocedure that we need to get done.
and.
from seeing the GP to getting anappointment with the, specialist
probably took, oh, a week ortwo, got to see the specialist.
The specialist then saw meand said, oh yeah, we need to
get you in for a procedure.
That was another week or two.
(16:34):
Went in for the procedure, goteverything done, saw the specialist.
A week or two after that, gotmy results and now we're just
following up and everything's okay.
So again, the experience was quitequick, being in private sector, dealing
with my Southern cross, et cetera, andall the payments being paid by them.
That's really my opinion onthe differences between public
sector and private sector.
(16:55):
Here.
You'll hear a lot of locals and everythingcomplain about the public health system.
It's not perfect.
I'm not gonna sit here andpretend that it is perfect, but
my experience, it does work.
It's just a little bit slow.
I'd also know that do struggle with someof the specialists and everything like
that, so sometimes you've gotta travel,depending on where you are in the country.
So that can be tough, but I guessthat's why you paid a little bit
(17:16):
extra for the private medical.
Private medical we on, as Imentioned, is the Southern cross.
we've also got the Southern Cross for,besides having that extra cover because
of what I've explained to you now.
Is that certain things arenot covered a hundred percent.
So what I mean by that is like dental.
so dentists and everything like hereare a big thing in, New Zealand.
(17:37):
your kids will be covered bydental, but it's not all dental.
What I mean by all dental isif they've got skew teeth and
everything like that and they gottago to a, what do they call them?
Is it an orthodontist?
Oh geez.
I hope I get the right wording,but it's where they put the
braces and everything else on.
So I know my son is now a teenagerand he's probably going to need braces
and stuff to straighten his teeth.
That is not covered.
in the public sector.
(17:57):
So if he has holes in his teeth and trcleaning his teeth and, maintaining his
teeth and everything like that, yeah,that's all covered for, kids here.
dental is not covered foradults, so that's why we've
also got the Southern Cross.
So we've got a bit of dental cover onthe plan that we are on, but again,
it's only $750 a year per adult thatwe covered for, and I promise you that
(18:18):
gets eaten up very quickly, especiallyif you, your teeth are not great.
I think just getting onefilling and everything done.
And, seeing the dentist for less than30 minutes doing a filling, you'll
spend $300 just like that, and that'salmost half of your cover for the year.
So dental cover is a biggie, letalone if your kids now need to go
get braces and stuff, you do geta bit of dental cover there, but
(18:40):
it's not gonna cover everything,so you're going to need to pay.
So it does cost a little bit, butthat's where we've been blessed
to have the Southern Cross.
Also with a companythat my wife works for.
The reason we are able to get the SouthernCross and the plan we are on is that
actually there's a benefit with theircompany and they contribute towards,
our private medical with Southern Cross.
(19:00):
So we, we are really blessedin the situation we are in.
So that, yeah, it's still expensive,but at least we've got her company
that's contributing towards to makingit a little bit more affordable for us.
So yeah, just, starting off,as I said, it's the a CC, I've
explained what that's all about.
I've explained now the private medicaland why we've got the private medical
in our opinion, and also how some.
Jobs or companies will actuallycontribute towards that, like my wife's
(19:23):
company, and why we've got the planand why we've actually got the cover.
So that's on the private medical side.
The next thing that we've startedlooking into now, not looking into,
I've actually got it, is, traumacover and income protections.
Trauma cover back in South Africawould be known as your dreaded disease.
So again, grateful that Ihad that with discovery.
(19:44):
when I got diagnosed with the cancer,there was a payout, depending on what
gr stage of cancer you were at is andwhat co your amount of cover was, is
how much they would pay out to you.
But I'm not gonna go into all that detail.
Just over here.
The equivalent would be gettingsomething called trauma,
protection or, trauma cover.
so that's again, choosing a lump sumthat you would want to pay out should,
(20:06):
God forbid you get diagnosed with somesort of, illness or dread disease.
Like a cancer, et cetera.
So I have been able to get that cover.
Where I was lucky to be able toget that cover is the company
that I worked with, gave us cover.
It's part of a benefit and becauseI was part of the company and on
the company's, portfolio, or coverfor everybody at the, company.
(20:30):
They didn't look atpreexisting conditions.
So because I had cancer before, it didn'tlook at my preexisting condition and
I got a hundred percent covered When Ileft that company, I just made sure to
keep that cover in my private capacitybecause then I could keep it as in.
I'm now covered and they don't look atpreexisting, so it's just important.
Just keep that in mind.
It's a way you can potentiallyget the cover even if you had
(20:52):
something preexisting like I did.
So I've got the trauma cover.
What I've done with my trauma cover isI've actually linked my trauma cover to
my life insurance that I've got as well.
So depending on how much moneyyou've got in your budget per
month, you can have trauma coverand your life cover independent.
What I mean is, let's say you've gota, and I'm just using a number, a
hundred thousand dollars worth of.
(21:13):
life cover and you take traumacover to a hundred thousand dollars.
You pay for them each separately.
But to reduce your monthly installmentor fortnightly or weekly or however
you're paying for it, what you can dois say, Hey, take my trauma cover so
it's that a hundred thousand dollars andlink it to my life insurance so that.
If I had to, God forbid, get sick withcancer or something and have to claim
all my trauma, and they pay out 50,000,they reduce my life insurance by 50,000.
(21:38):
So now you would only have 50,000 pay outto you on your life insurance, but they've
paid out the 50,000 for your trauma cover.
Now, it just means that yourmonthly investment will be a
little, ah, monthly investment.
Your monthly payment or yourweekly or fortnightly payment
will be a little bit less.
But there is obviously that caveat where.
It links to your life insurance, soit will reduce your life insurance.
It's just a way to makeit a bit more affordable.
(22:00):
Otherwise, what I've done thatI've linked my, my, my trauma and
my life insurance just because Iwanted more cashflow per month.
if you've got morecashflow, you can afford it.
You've gotta look at what works for you.
But that's the way we've done it overand above the trauma cover, which is a
payout if you get ill or dreaded diseaselike cancer, you get income protection.
So I've also got income protection.
(22:20):
So what that means is if you.
for some reason can't work.
I don't know.
You've, got sick and it's gonna takea little bit time to get better.
So if I use the example where I gotcancer in the beginning with my cancer,
you have to go for the actual surgery,but then you have to have radiation
and everything after that and can bereally tough trying to keep a job going
(22:41):
when you are going through all of that.
So if you have income protection,it'll pay you your salary.
For whatever period of time you'vetaken in income protection for, so
the income protection that I've got atthe moment here is I've taken income
protection where it'll pay me, I getpaid fortnightly, so it'll pay me my
fortnightly amount for a five year period.
(23:02):
So I've got five years whereI'll get paid from this policy
for what my salary is today.
and, while I'm trying to get betterfrom whatever illness that I would have,
okay, but the idea is you want to tryand get better as quick as possible
and get back into the work world.
You can go for, longer thanthe five years different other.
It all depends on what youraffordability is and what you can afford.
(23:23):
What I've got is I've got theincome protection where it pays
me what I currently earn, andit'll be for a five year period.
So that's, all about income protection.
So just making sure I'mnot losing track here.
So I've told you about the A CC, I've toldyou about the private medical I've told
you about, trauma cover income protection.
The next thing that you would want tolook at is you would want to look at,
(23:47):
and I've, already started mentioningit, is life insurance, but there's also
something else called redundancy cover.
So let's start off with,the, life insurance.
Life insurance I think ispretty straightforward.
It's obviously just life cover.
I have got life cover that my companyoffered me, both at my first company
I moved to here and my second.
So sometimes it is benefit of the company.
(24:08):
You can go onto the company.
Benefit for the life insurance,with the income protection that I
took or got from a previous companythat I came to New Zealand on and
I kept that covered privately.
It had life insurance linked to it,so I brought that across as well.
So I've still got that life insurancecover with that income protection
and the trauma cover on that one.
But the new company that I've startedwith also gives me life cover.
(24:30):
So I've also got life cover with them.
So I've got X amount now alladded up with life cover.
A big thing is you've gotta see afinancial advisor to give you real
advice on this, but rule of thumb is youreally wanna get enough life cover, in
my opinion, just to make sure that if Ihad to pass that my, my, my wife and the
kids could carry on without me around.
Meaning that whatever debt we have,it's gotta at least cover all that debt.
(24:52):
And I've worked out that she's gottahave X amount in the bank just to
make up for what my portion would.
Before living expenses and stufffor the three of them left behind.
'cause my wife wouldobviously keep working.
So that's what we've done with the lifecover and making sure that's in place.
So it is important to talk to afinancial advisor and make sure that
they can understand your expenses,your situation, and give you the
(25:13):
right cover for you and your family.
Okay, so I please, again,I'm not a financial advisor.
I'm just trying to tell youwhat it is that I've learned
and what I've got in place.
So I have got the life cover andthat's what I've got in place.
Redundancy cover.
So back in South Africa wehad something called UIF.
Again, it was a government fund,but it's if you were unemployed and
(25:34):
lost your job or whatever else, youmade redundant, you would be able
to go and claim from UIF, and in.
unemployed insurance fund or whateverit is, so you could get a claim to,
to pay you x amount of money while youweren't able to or, had lost your job.
Redundancy cover works in the samesort of way, but it's not a government
funded thing here in New Zealand.
(25:54):
This is a cover that you would have totake out with a private organization,
just like you do with your privatemedical, et cetera, and you would
ask them for redundancy cover.
Redundancy cover doesn'tseem, in my opinion, to be
the most popular thing here.
and it is.
Costly.
It's not cheap, so you really gottamake sure you have enough budget for
this, and generally it's also limitedto a very short period of time.
So it could be like a three orsix months or something like that.
(26:16):
The whole idea is, yeah, you'vemade redundant, so maybe your
company went through a restructureor consultation process and you've
lost your job and be made redundant.
It'll be able to cover you and justgive you enough breathing room.
Paying your, salary so thatyou could find another job.
Now, the cover is quite expensive.
I do not have redundancycover as it is today.
(26:37):
It's not something I'velooked at the moment.
Again, it's all dependent on your budgetand your risk appetite and whether
you'd want to do this and not allof the same companies that offer you
the income protector, life insurance,et cetera, offer redundancy cover.
There's only certain ones that do.
but that's what redundancycover is all about.
If it is something thatyou'd be interested in.
Okay, so we've gone through the a, CC,we've gone through, the income protector.
(27:01):
we've gone through the trauma cover,we've gone through the private medical,
we've gone through life insurance,we've gone through redundancy cover.
The next one that I wanted to talka little bit about is your QE Saver.
So you might hear people talk a lotabout a QE Saver, what a QE saver is.
This is when you're talking aboutgetting cover for when you're older.
This is towards retirement age now.
(27:21):
So this is putting yourretirement funds away.
How it works here is the Kiwi Saver willbe with a, organization, so a, financial
institution that invested for you andthey give you x return depending on, how
they manage their, portfolios, et cetera.
when it is a Kiwi saver, it is generally.
(27:42):
Yeah, not generally.
It is that you're savingfor your retirement.
So when you're 60, 65 years old, whateverelse, and that's when it would pay out.
So you are paying into it everysingle month or fortnight or
whenever your salary goes off.
You're paying a percentage of thatto your kiwi saver, your retirement.
Usually it's anywhere, I don'tknow, between three and 10% that
you would usually pay into this.
(28:04):
when I say three and 10%, three and10% of whatever your pay is, your,
what do you call it, your gross, pay.
What also happens with your Kiwi Saveris generally the company that you
work for, they will contribute towardsthat as well, and they will contribute
anywhere from three to 10% as well.
You've gotta check on your employmentcontract and see what they offer.
(28:25):
Currently, the, company that I'm withpays, 3% towards my, Kiwi KiwiSaver.
There is change happening at the momentin New Zealand where, I think from.
April next year, 2026, they aregradually starting to move towards
companies contributing not just 3%now, but 4% towards the KiwiSaver.
(28:48):
which is then obviously a complimentto whatever percentage you're covering.
a contributing.
So if you're contributing.
3% in your company is contributing 3%.
That's almost 6%.
That's going into your KiwiSaver every time you're getting
paid currently, as an example.
and obviously like I mentioned,the companies are trying to, by
next year, April, 2026, workingtowards, contributing 4%.
(29:08):
Okay.
Towards your Kiwi Saver.
Kiwi Saver.
Also, there is agovernment contribution if.
You're contributing X amounts intoyour KiwiSaver every single year.
At the end of the year, the governmentwould pay a small contribution
towards your KiwiSaver as well.
I think it's, a couple of hundred dollars.
I think it, it was like$500 or something like that.
But I've heard it's gonna reduce, I thinkfor people that are higher income earners.
(29:30):
But again, as I said,not a financial advisor.
Just letting you know what a KiwiSaver is.
KiwiSaver is, think retirement.
Think age 60, 65 payout.
There is a companycontribution of roughly.
3% going up to 4%, and you putyour contribution into it as well.
Whatever percentage you've chosenbetween three and 10%, and so it
can power it when you retired.
Benefit to also having a QE saverthat a lot of people must know is
(29:53):
for a first time home buyer you can.
Use your Kiwi Saver as a depositon your first home, but it needs
to be your home that you're movinginto, not an investment home.
It usually needs to be your own home.
and you, still would have to talk to afinancial, like a bank, whatever, that
you're getting your mortgage with oryour bond with to find out that what you
(30:14):
qualify for, what, percentages that they,they would give you as a interest rate.
Over what term, et cetera, and whatamount of deposit you would need to pay.
So it all depends on who you work for.
I've been blessed.
I am working for a bank in NewZealand as well, so I'm at least
able to get a mortgage, but I stillneed to save up for that deposit.
(30:35):
but I can get a lower.
deposit amount, percentage thatI have to pay in because of being
an employee and obviously get alittle bit of a, reduced rate.
but the point I'm trying to makeis you can draw on your KiwiSaver
for your first home that you'rebuying, that you will be moving into.
If you're trying to buy an investmenthome, they'll say, no, it doesn't qualify.
(30:56):
I did ask, This's something.
I was looking into this to be, no,it has to be our home and we need
to be moving into it to be able touse your KiwiSaver towards that.
that's what your Kiwi Saveris all about and some of the
benefits to having a KiwiSaver.
As well.
it's really important thatyou, do talk with a financial
planner and a financial advisor.
Really make sure that you'reinvesting it with the right fund.
(31:19):
I know that the fund that I'm with atthe moment, I'm probably getting a return
of roughly about, oh, I think over thelast past year it's been at about 10%,
but since I've had my KiwiSaver, it'ssitting at about 11.5 or something
percent, return that I'm getting.
So really you gotta talk to your financialadvisor, choose the right investment
house that they hold your kiwi saver with.
(31:41):
but that's, about your Kiwi saver.
The last thing I want to talkabout is just other investments.
So what we've also done over and aboveall the others that I've just spoken
through, insurances wise and the KiwiSaver that we've now got in place, what
I've also tried to start working on now isputting a little bit of extra money aside.
Call it a rainy day fund.
Call it an emergency fund.
Call it.
I dunno, savings count, holidayfund, whatever you wanna call it.
(32:03):
But we've started putting a littlebit of money aside, what I've done
over and above, just keeping it in ainterest bearing account with, the bank.
I've actually invested it with the samefund provider as my QE fund, provider.
I, but it's a separate fund,that they're investing.
Or a separate investmentthat they're doing for me.
So it's not my KiwiSaver.
(32:23):
I have gone in a little bit moreaggressive on that investment, so I'm
trying to get a little bit more ofa higher return, a little bit more.
but it does mean it'sa little bit riskier.
But again, talk to your financial advisor.
Let them guide you, and let you know.
Which one is the best, fund to, to tryand invest in depending on what you're
trying to do and meets your needs.
(32:43):
I've just explained to you thatit is something that we've looked
into and it's something that we arebusy actively doing at the moment.
So I think all I really wanted to sharea little bit today is that, I know
moving across to New Zealand is not easy.
I know it's really tough.
I know in the first year, even twoyears, it is like, it can be a. A mental
struggle, but over and above mental.
(33:05):
I know it can also be really difficultfinancially, and I know some people out
there are still struggling financially,but I'm, just trying to share this to show
you, there is hope you can make it work.
Even with economy and everything that'sgoing on, you just gotta really push hard.
but you can work towards gettingall these other insurances and
funds and everything in place.
You just gotta keep at it.
I also just wanted to give you a littlebit of an overview of what the funds are.
(33:27):
Especially since, you, when you firstmoved here from another company, from
another country to here, sometimesthe names are a little bit different.
So like when I was talking abouttrauma cover, for example, how they
call it treated disease back in SouthAfrica, it's like just trying to get
the lingo right and just trying tounderstand what they're all about.
So just to recap, your a CC, it'salready included in your, your pay.
So that's for your accident coverand injuries and stuff like that.
(33:50):
So you, can claim against thatif anything happens to you.
really hope it doesn't, but if itdoes happen to you, you've got that.
Private medical.
There's a whole lot out here.
We are.
We are obviously coveredwith Southern Cross.
Just explain why a little bit, whywe went with Southern Cross, and
why we've got that private cover.
There's trauma cover, which is.
If anything, God forbid, happenslike cancer or anything like that,
(34:12):
that you get a lump sum payout incomeprotection if you get ill and can't
work for any reason that it pays outyour salary for X period of time.
You've got your life insurance.
I think that's pretty straightforward.
Redundancy cover.
So if you're made redundant, so forX period of time just to cover while
you're trying to find another job,you got your kiwi saver, which is
for your life, for your retirement,sorry, for when you get older.
(34:35):
And then you've just got some otherinvestments that you can try and do
for saving, to try and put a little bitof money aside for holidays, rainy day
emergency fund, et cetera, whatever else.
So I think that's it for me today.
I know not the most excitingto share about, but.
Yeah, just wanna talk a little bitabout money and insurances, investments,
(34:55):
and I really hope it helped.
and if it does help, please sharewith, whoever else you feel it
would benefit to, to hear from this.
the whole idea is just trying to helpas many of us immigrants as possible
so that we can really make a softerlanding and make New Zealand home.
So please share it and help pay forwardto as many other immigrants as possible.
Otherwise, guys, you must keepwell and, we'll speak soon.
(35:16):
Cheers.
There are over 100,000 people whoimmigrate to New Zealand every year with
the intention to make New Zealand theirhome, leaving behind everything they
know as normal day-to-day life and havingto learn new ways of doing things, new
norms, new cultures, and different values.
There are many people who struggle withthis transition and find it challenging
(00:25):
to adjust and settle so they cancall and make New Zealand their home.
The purpose of this podcast is for meto share my journey and our challenges
with the hope that you can learn from meand my family and have a softer landing.
There will be good days and baddays, but with time, more good days.
I believe we have made theright choice for our family.
(00:47):
I want to try and help you do the same,but hopefully with a softer landing.
This is Soft Landing and Iam your host, Brett Colette.
Welcome to this podcast, designed foranyone thinking about preparing for, or
who has just immigrated to New Zealand.
Subscribe now so you never miss an episodedrawing from his personal experience.
(01:09):
This series will guide you throughthe process of preparing for your
move and helping you navigatethe challenges of immigration.
Hey everyone, welcome back andthanks for joining me again.
Really awesome to have youlistening to me again on my podcast.
Just really want to thank youguys for, following me and for
listening to me and I, reallyhope that it is helping you guys.
(01:33):
As I say, I've got some feedbackwhich really motivates me to keep
going, so I really hope it's helping.
For those of you that are joiningus for the first time, welcome,
it's awesome to have you join us.
I do ask if you've got the time,try go back to the first episode.
just I give a little bit more insightinto who I am and what this podcast
is all about and what I'm trying toachieve, so it can hopefully give you
(01:55):
a bit of insight and understanding.
Why you would even want to listento me and why, What I'm sharing is
hopefully beneficial and worthwhile.
So with that, what I wanted to talka little bit about today is I wanna
talk about money, I wanna talk about,insurances, all those type of things.
Now.
I've gotta start off disclaimerright in the beginning.
(02:16):
I am not a financial advisor, okay?
This is not financial advice.
if you want financial advice, go to aregistered financial advisor, please.
that, that's not me.
I'm not a broker, I'mnot a financial advisor.
Everything that I share is frompersonal experience, and this
is my personal experience thatI'm gonna be sharing today.
Really what I want to talkthrough is a couple of insurances.
(02:37):
And I know I've done a tutorialon the full cost of living in,
New Zealand, and I've given a fullbreakdown on my YouTube channel.
But that is really starting to giveyou an idea of what you need to budget
for a family when you first get here.
What are your living expenses?
What are the things you have to pay?
And it's more in the firstyear when you're starting up.
And then when you finally got, inour case, two, two income earners.
(02:59):
So when my wife started working,how we had two incomes coming in,
and this is really what I wanna talkabout today, is once you've got.
Two incomes coming in, or you've got to apoint where you're starting to settle and
financially you're starting to get a fairamount of income now to where you're not
just surviving, you're starting to thrive.
And that's when you've gotta startthinking about these other things.
I'm not saying insurance is notimportant in the beginning, but I
(03:21):
do know when you're first land andyou're just trying to start out.
It, it's, tough.
just, you're just trying to make it,you're really just trying to survive.
So you're not in thrive mode.
You're not thinking insurancesand, retirement, and all
those other type of policies.
You're thinking how to just get foodon the table and a roof over my head.
So this is more along the lines of onceyou've got past that, possibly first
(03:43):
few months a year, and you've got to thepoint where it's, okay, now I'm starting
to think a ahead a little bit more.
I'm trying to think about.
insurance is to close somerisk that we might have.
I'm thinking longer term for investingfor our future, for retirement.
I'm thinking about, life insurance,should god forbid anything happen.
All those type of things is really whatI'm starting to talk about a little bit
(04:04):
today is all those type of insurances.
I'm gonna start off with the first one.
So the first one I wanna talk abouta little bit is, and I have mentioned
in some of my other podcasts andalso in some of my other tutorials
on my YouTube channel, but it's a CC.
So a CC is something that you payfor that is actually part of your
salary, and it does come off.
It's a government, what do you call it?
insurance or accident.
(04:25):
Insurance fund.
So really what a CC is foris it's for any accidental or
injuries caused, when you're out.
Out, and about.
So it could be that you've had acar accident and you hurt yourself.
It could be that you, in my case,in the gym and you've hurt yourself.
(04:46):
It's, any injuries fromaccidents that you've sustained,
while here in New Zealand.
and it does come off on your salary.
it's a. Contribution that you wouldhave, you, it automatically comes
up and, you get, gets paid to thisfund so you can claim from it.
A CC fund in my example, we've claimedtwice now, so the first time that
(05:09):
we claimed was actually with my son.
So he was, if you've listened to myother podcast, he was leaving school
and when, I dunno if he tripped orif he's running on the sidewalk or.
Pavement what, whichever country you'refrom and what you refer to the sidewalk
as he was running along and he trippedand he actually fell and he split his lip.
And I remember my wife had to rushhim off to the, nearest emergency.
(05:33):
and when we got there, and they weretreating him and stuff like that, they
turned around to my wife and they said,oh, this is covered by a C. So they
actually register an a c claim for him.
and everything from that treatment toany post-treatment thereafter be it.
If he had to have follow-ups or he hadto have, in my case, I hurt myself at the
gym, so I had to have follow-up physio.
(05:54):
All of that is coveredunder your a CC claim.
So that, that, that'swhat a CC is all about.
in New Zealand, I, feltthat it, works well.
I've, I haven't had any issues withany of the claims that I've had.
It doesn't mean you can't have, or you,there's not a. Potential need for pr.
(06:14):
Further private insurance.
don't think a CC covers everything.
It doesn't.
This is just with regards to accidents.
Okay.
So it's injury or claims by,
by something that accidentallyhappening, you've injured yourself.
Okay.
So that, that's whatthe a, c, is all about.
like I said, my son, we didhis claim when he, fell on the,
(06:36):
sidewalk and he split his lip.
So that was all covered.
Mine was in gym.
Yeah.
I was pushing too heavy inthe gym and I hurt my knee.
I went to go see the gp.
That gp then said to me,oh, this is an ACC claim.
And.
Put in a claim for meand everything post that.
So all the physio and everythingon my knee was all covered.
And they even said if I hadto go for further surgery.
So I did go to a specialist andthat was also covered by the ac.
(06:58):
He had a look at my knee,said, no, let's try the physio.
Went for, oh, I don't know, sixor 10 different physio sessions.
All of that was coveredby a CC by the claim.
there, there was a little bit of an, ashortfall, an admin fee and whatever else,
but I'll talk about it a little bit later.
I do have a private medicalinsurance that covered that
shortfall that a CC didn't cover.
(07:19):
If you didn't, you'd haveto pay that out your pocket.
Okay.
And it's, a small amount.
It's not a big amount, butyou, would need to pay that.
So that's where I hadmy private insurance.
But the a CC covered majorityof everything that I had to do.
Even if I had to go eventuallyhave surgery on my knee, they
would've covered that as well.
Luckily, I didn't have to do that.
just so that you knowwhat a CC is all about.
(07:39):
Next one I guess I've alreadystarted touching on is your
private medical insurance.
So look, private medical insurance.
If I talk back to when we are in SouthAfrica, so I, dunno where you are
immigrating from, in the world, but SouthAfricans will relate to me that in South
Africa, unfortunately, the public healthsystem, geez, I don't even know if it's
worthwhile calling a public health system.
(08:00):
it's, really dire.
It's not in a good, way at all.
And if you had to go.
Have something happened to youwhere you would have to be treated
via the public health system?
Again, my opinion, Ibelieve your it's bad.
It's, really, not good.
And I know a lot of the Kiwis here,and locals here, they complain about
the public health system here inNew Zealand, but I promise you the
(08:22):
public health system, system in SouthAfrica is like a hundred times worse.
A hundred times worse.
I really.
I don't wish my worst enemy tohave to be treated by the public
health system in South Africa.
I don't even know if they'll actuallytreat you and you'll survive if
it's something that's really bad.
if I think back to.
When I was in South Africa, we, andlook, I know it's a difficult one because
(08:44):
private medical insurance is expensive.
It's expensive here.
It was expensive in South Africa, but Ithink in South Africa, geez, if you could
afford it, it was, more like you, ugh.
You really needed it, for yourfamily because you didn't want to
go through the public health sector.
If I think back in 2019, I haveshared how I had cancer in 2019.
(09:04):
I'm just thinking if I had to, I don'tknow if I would be here today if I had
been diagnosed with my cancer in 2019 inSouth Africa and had to be treated through
the, public health sector in South Africa.
I dunno if I would've got the treatmentI needed, the surgery I needed,
I, dunno if I would've made it.
my cancer, I know maybe I'mbeing glass half empty here and
(09:25):
not being very positive, but.
I just don't think I would'vemade my 40th birthday.
I don't believe I would'vegot the treatment in time.
I don't think it would'veeven been picked up in time.
that's where I believe and have learned,and that's how we are risk averse
with going for the private medical.
So back in South Africa, I had it inprivate medical there it was discovery.
It was a brilliant plan.
It, paid for everything to do with mycancer, all my treatment, my radiation
(09:49):
follow ups, oncologists, et cetera.
It paid for everything.
So I'm so grateful to have had.
My, my medical aid back or private inprivate medical insurance in South Africa.
So it does mean that what we've donehere is we've done the same thing.
We've also taken out private medicalinsurance here in New Zealand.
the medical insurance that we've gonefor, it's a company called Southern Cross.
(10:09):
Southern Cross is probably the.
They got the lion's share ofpeople that, have private medical,
insurance here in New Zealand.
They're one of the biggest organizations.
They're not the only, thereare whole lot of others.
But I think, in my opinion, and fromwhat I've seen, Southern Cross is
probably one of the biggest here andhas the, biggest amount of people,
(10:29):
members, on, on, on their books,Southern Cross, if I compare it to
Discovery back in South Africa, look.
if I really be honest, I think themedical insurance back in South
Africa, private medical, it wasprobably better than what it is here.
Okay.
And private sector even sometimesworked better back in South Africa.
(10:50):
you could make a doctor's appointment,get a doctor's appointment the same day.
they, moved very quickly.
We had a lot of good specialists.
Yeah.
Okay.
Maybe it's two and a half yearsago, maybe things are changing.
I don't know.
But it, worked well.
I'm not saying it doesn't work well here.
Southern Cross is just, I'mcomparing it to what I know and.
My experience of private medicalin South Africa was good.
(11:11):
So comparing it to here, I'm not sayingit's bad, but I've had the opportunity,
call it an opportunity, I don't know, totest out the public health sector here,
as well as the private health sector.
So what I mean by that is when I got here.
Mentioned to you, I had cancer whenI was in South Africa, so I got
all my treatment in South Africa.
(11:33):
I got my, tumor removed andeverything in South Africa.
and then I went into remission.
but then there's surveillancethat they've gotta do.
So you've gotta have constant followups and everything once you've had
ca cancer for at least the first fiveyears to make sure it doesn't return.
So within those five years Iwas immigrating to New Zealand.
So when I arrived in New Zealand,I was still towards the end,
the post end of my, five years.
(11:54):
So I still had.
Oh, I don't know, a year and a half, twoyears left of having surveillance done.
So they would keep checking up.
So I needed to be allocated to anoncologist here in New Zealand.
So when I got to New Zealand andreached out to, my GP and told them,
Hey, my story and what was going on.
With Southern Cross, they wouldcover everything you had, but
(12:15):
not preexisting conditions.
So obviously now that I had a preexistingcondition, IE my cancer, that wouldn't
be covered for X period of time.
So it would take a couple ofyears being on a certain plan with
Southern Cross before they wouldwaiver that and cover me 100%.
So it would mean everything thatwas preexisting that's not covered.
I'd have to do it through state.
So that meant my last bit of treatmenton my cancer, I had to do through state.
(12:39):
So I had to get a stateoncologist assigned to me.
I had to go for MRIs, bloodtests, other scans, whatever
else through the public sector.
So I had to do that through the NewZealand health system, public health
system, not the private health system.
My experience wasn't bad, really,I must tell you, it's definitely
a hundred times better than whatit was, back in South Africa, not
(13:02):
when I say back in South Africa.
Compared to our public health system, Idon't think it was a hundred times better
compared to the private health system.
I still believe the private healthsystem back in South Africa was
better, but the treatment wasn't bad.
The oncologist.
The biggest thing was I had to travela little bit to go see him, so there
wasn't an oncologist near where I stayed.
(13:22):
So there was a little bit of travel.
When I say a bit of travel, probablyabout a 30 minute drive to get to him.
Also, you don't get the appointment onthe date that you want with private sector
back in South Africa, and I've seen here.
Being on private medical, it almostnot jumps the queue, but you're paying
to get quicker service pretty much.
(13:43):
and what I would see when you'regoing through public sector here
is, yeah, I got the oncologist,but I had to wait for when he was
available and when he could tell me.
And that was a little bitof a wait, so it took.
I don't know, a couple of months, probablytwo months before I could see him from
when I reached out, or my GP reachedout to, to get an appointment with him.
Finally, when I got the appointment, gotto see him, then he will start talking
(14:04):
about the rest of my surveillance,treatment, meaning when I had to go
for tests and whatever else startingoff, he wanted to send me for MRIs.
Again, private sector back inSouth Africa when I needed an
MRI and I'd seen the specialist.
Within a day, two days, worst case aweek, it would've been set up that I'd
gone to whichever hospital to get the MRItests, et cetera, that the doctor wanted.
(14:26):
Here because I had to doit through public sector.
The oncologist is fine.
They will get the guys to get in the,on, what do you call it, the radiologists
and the, I dunno what you call thesepeople that run the MRIs and everything.
They would get hold of me for anappointment when I could go for my MR mri.
That probably took at least another,oh, I dunno, month, two months
before I could get that appointment.
(14:47):
So it just took a lot longer andthat was just the appointment
to get the MR MRI done.
Then once I got the MR MRI done.
That had to be processed andsent back to my oncologist.
So it took a good couple of months,probably four or five months when I
first got here from seeing the oncologistto getting the test that he wanted to,
getting the results back to him for him,then coming back to me and going, seeing
him again, just for him to be able to me.
(15:09):
Okay, yeah, it's all looking good.
So this is our plan.
We'll see you again in six months time andyou'll go for tests and everything again.
So they do what they need to do and itdoes work in the public sector here.
It's just my opinion was it took alot longer what I was used to back
on private medical in South Africa.
It was quick, so you would see thespecialist, you get the test done
(15:31):
within days, weeks, everythingis, getting done quite quickly.
So that's the only difference that I'vepicked up in my opinion here, being in
public health system versus private.
I've also got to use theprivate health system here.
So over and above my a CC claim thatI spoke to you about earlier, over
and above, coming here with cancer,or not cancer, but post-treatment of
(15:52):
having cancer, I've had to use publicsector just to, for my follow-ups and
making sure that I was all okay andstill clear for the first five years.
I also had a, private proceduredone as well, separate to
that, that I got done through.
Private sector, so that, again,I got assigned first the gp.
(16:14):
GP then assigned me to a specialist.
The specialist then saw me andsaid, oh, okay, there's, we've gotta
book you in whatever else, smallprocedure that we need to get done.
and.
from seeing the GP to getting anappointment with the, specialist
probably took, oh, a week ortwo, got to see the specialist.
The specialist then saw meand said, oh yeah, we need to
get you in for a procedure.
That was another week or two.
(16:34):
Went in for the procedure, goteverything done, saw the specialist.
A week or two after that, gotmy results and now we're just
following up and everything's okay.
So again, the experience was quitequick, being in private sector, dealing
with my Southern cross, et cetera, andall the payments being paid by them.
That's really my opinion onthe differences between public
sector and private sector.
(16:55):
Here.
You'll hear a lot of locals and everythingcomplain about the public health system.
It's not perfect.
I'm not gonna sit here andpretend that it is perfect, but
my experience, it does work.
It's just a little bit slow.
I'd also know that do struggle with someof the specialists and everything like
that, so sometimes you've gotta travel,depending on where you are in the country.
So that can be tough, but I guessthat's why you paid a little bit
(17:16):
extra for the private medical.
Private medical we on, as Imentioned, is the Southern cross.
we've also got the Southern Cross for,besides having that extra cover because
of what I've explained to you now.
Is that certain things arenot covered a hundred percent.
So what I mean by that is like dental.
so dentists and everything like hereare a big thing in, New Zealand.
(17:37):
your kids will be covered bydental, but it's not all dental.
What I mean by all dental isif they've got skew teeth and
everything like that and they gottago to a, what do they call them?
Is it an orthodontist?
Oh geez.
I hope I get the right wording,but it's where they put the
braces and everything else on.
So I know my son is now a teenagerand he's probably going to need braces
and stuff to straighten his teeth.
That is not covered.
in the public sector.
(17:57):
So if he has holes in his teeth and trcleaning his teeth and, maintaining his
teeth and everything like that, yeah,that's all covered for, kids here.
dental is not covered foradults, so that's why we've
also got the Southern Cross.
So we've got a bit of dental cover onthe plan that we are on, but again,
it's only $750 a year per adult thatwe covered for, and I promise you that
(18:18):
gets eaten up very quickly, especiallyif you, your teeth are not great.
I think just getting onefilling and everything done.
And, seeing the dentist for less than30 minutes doing a filling, you'll
spend $300 just like that, and that'salmost half of your cover for the year.
So dental cover is a biggie, letalone if your kids now need to go
get braces and stuff, you do geta bit of dental cover there, but
(18:40):
it's not gonna cover everything,so you're going to need to pay.
So it does cost a little bit, butthat's where we've been blessed
to have the Southern Cross.
Also with a companythat my wife works for.
The reason we are able to get the SouthernCross and the plan we are on is that
actually there's a benefit with theircompany and they contribute towards,
our private medical with Southern Cross.
(19:00):
So we, we are really blessedin the situation we are in.
So that, yeah, it's still expensive,but at least we've got her company
that's contributing towards to makingit a little bit more affordable for us.
So yeah, just, starting off,as I said, it's the a CC, I've
explained what that's all about.
I've explained now the private medicaland why we've got the private medical
in our opinion, and also how some.
Jobs or companies will actuallycontribute towards that, like my wife's
(19:23):
company, and why we've got the planand why we've actually got the cover.
So that's on the private medical side.
The next thing that we've startedlooking into now, not looking into,
I've actually got it, is, traumacover and income protections.
Trauma cover back in South Africawould be known as your dreaded disease.
So again, grateful that Ihad that with discovery.
(19:44):
when I got diagnosed with the cancer,there was a payout, depending on what
gr stage of cancer you were at is andwhat co your amount of cover was, is
how much they would pay out to you.
But I'm not gonna go into all that detail.
Just over here.
The equivalent would be gettingsomething called trauma,
protection or, trauma cover.
so that's again, choosing a lump sumthat you would want to pay out should,
(20:06):
God forbid you get diagnosed with somesort of, illness or dread disease.
Like a cancer, et cetera.
So I have been able to get that cover.
Where I was lucky to be able toget that cover is the company
that I worked with, gave us cover.
It's part of a benefit and becauseI was part of the company and on
the company's, portfolio, or coverfor everybody at the, company.
(20:30):
They didn't look atpreexisting conditions.
So because I had cancer before, it didn'tlook at my preexisting condition and
I got a hundred percent covered When Ileft that company, I just made sure to
keep that cover in my private capacitybecause then I could keep it as in.
I'm now covered and they don't look atpreexisting, so it's just important.
Just keep that in mind.
It's a way you can potentiallyget the cover even if you had
(20:52):
something preexisting like I did.
So I've got the trauma cover.
What I've done with my trauma cover isI've actually linked my trauma cover to
my life insurance that I've got as well.
So depending on how much moneyyou've got in your budget per
month, you can have trauma coverand your life cover independent.
What I mean is, let's say you've gota, and I'm just using a number, a
hundred thousand dollars worth of.
(21:13):
life cover and you take traumacover to a hundred thousand dollars.
You pay for them each separately.
But to reduce your monthly installmentor fortnightly or weekly or however
you're paying for it, what you can dois say, Hey, take my trauma cover so
it's that a hundred thousand dollars andlink it to my life insurance so that.
If I had to, God forbid, get sick withcancer or something and have to claim
all my trauma, and they pay out 50,000,they reduce my life insurance by 50,000.
(21:38):
So now you would only have 50,000 pay outto you on your life insurance, but they've
paid out the 50,000 for your trauma cover.
Now, it just means that yourmonthly investment will be a
little, ah, monthly investment.
Your monthly payment or yourweekly or fortnightly payment
will be a little bit less.
But there is obviously that caveat where.
It links to your life insurance, soit will reduce your life insurance.
It's just a way to makeit a bit more affordable.
(22:00):
Otherwise, what I've done thatI've linked my, my, my trauma and
my life insurance just because Iwanted more cashflow per month.
if you've got morecashflow, you can afford it.
You've gotta look at what works for you.
But that's the way we've done it overand above the trauma cover, which is a
payout if you get ill or dreaded diseaselike cancer, you get income protection.
So I've also got income protection.
(22:20):
So what that means is if you.
for some reason can't work.
I don't know.
You've, got sick and it's gonna takea little bit time to get better.
So if I use the example where I gotcancer in the beginning with my cancer,
you have to go for the actual surgery,but then you have to have radiation
and everything after that and can bereally tough trying to keep a job going
(22:41):
when you are going through all of that.
So if you have income protection,it'll pay you your salary.
For whatever period of time you'vetaken in income protection for, so
the income protection that I've got atthe moment here is I've taken income
protection where it'll pay me, I getpaid fortnightly, so it'll pay me my
fortnightly amount for a five year period.
(23:02):
So I've got five years whereI'll get paid from this policy
for what my salary is today.
and, while I'm trying to get betterfrom whatever illness that I would have,
okay, but the idea is you want to tryand get better as quick as possible
and get back into the work world.
You can go for, longer thanthe five years different other.
It all depends on what youraffordability is and what you can afford.
(23:23):
What I've got is I've got theincome protection where it pays
me what I currently earn, andit'll be for a five year period.
So that's, all about income protection.
So just making sure I'mnot losing track here.
So I've told you about the A CC, I've toldyou about the private medical I've told
you about, trauma cover income protection.
The next thing that you would want tolook at is you would want to look at,
(23:47):
and I've, already started mentioningit, is life insurance, but there's also
something else called redundancy cover.
So let's start off with,the, life insurance.
Life insurance I think ispretty straightforward.
It's obviously just life cover.
I have got life cover that my companyoffered me, both at my first company
I moved to here and my second.
So sometimes it is benefit of the company.
(24:08):
You can go onto the company.
Benefit for the life insurance,with the income protection that I
took or got from a previous companythat I came to New Zealand on and
I kept that covered privately.
It had life insurance linked to it,so I brought that across as well.
So I've still got that life insurancecover with that income protection
and the trauma cover on that one.
But the new company that I've startedwith also gives me life cover.
(24:30):
So I've also got life cover with them.
So I've got X amount now alladded up with life cover.
A big thing is you've gotta see afinancial advisor to give you real
advice on this, but rule of thumb is youreally wanna get enough life cover, in
my opinion, just to make sure that if Ihad to pass that my, my, my wife and the
kids could carry on without me around.
Meaning that whatever debt we have,it's gotta at least cover all that debt.
(24:52):
And I've worked out that she's gottahave X amount in the bank just to
make up for what my portion would.
Before living expenses and stufffor the three of them left behind.
'cause my wife wouldobviously keep working.
So that's what we've done with the lifecover and making sure that's in place.
So it is important to talk to afinancial advisor and make sure that
they can understand your expenses,your situation, and give you the
(25:13):
right cover for you and your family.
Okay, so I please, again,I'm not a financial advisor.
I'm just trying to tell youwhat it is that I've learned
and what I've got in place.
So I have got the life cover andthat's what I've got in place.
Redundancy cover.
So back in South Africa wehad something called UIF.
Again, it was a government fund,but it's if you were unemployed and
(25:34):
lost your job or whatever else, youmade redundant, you would be able
to go and claim from UIF, and in.
unemployed insurance fund or whateverit is, so you could get a claim to,
to pay you x amount of money while youweren't able to or, had lost your job.
Redundancy cover works in the samesort of way, but it's not a government
funded thing here in New Zealand.
(25:54):
This is a cover that you would have totake out with a private organization,
just like you do with your privatemedical, et cetera, and you would
ask them for redundancy cover.
Redundancy cover doesn'tseem, in my opinion, to be
the most popular thing here.
and it is.
Costly.
It's not cheap, so you really gottamake sure you have enough budget for
this, and generally it's also limitedto a very short period of time.
So it could be like a three orsix months or something like that.
(26:16):
The whole idea is, yeah, you'vemade redundant, so maybe your
company went through a restructureor consultation process and you've
lost your job and be made redundant.
It'll be able to cover you and justgive you enough breathing room.
Paying your, salary so thatyou could find another job.
Now, the cover is quite expensive.
I do not have redundancycover as it is today.
(26:37):
It's not something I'velooked at the moment.
Again, it's all dependent on your budgetand your risk appetite and whether
you'd want to do this and not allof the same companies that offer you
the income protector, life insurance,et cetera, offer redundancy cover.
There's only certain ones that do.
but that's what redundancycover is all about.
If it is something thatyou'd be interested in.
Okay, so we've gone through the a, CC,we've gone through, the income protector.
(27:01):
we've gone through the trauma cover,we've gone through the private medical,
we've gone through life insurance,we've gone through redundancy cover.
The next one that I wanted to talka little bit about is your QE Saver.
So you might hear people talk a lotabout a QE Saver, what a QE saver is.
This is when you're talking aboutgetting cover for when you're older.
This is towards retirement age now.
(27:21):
So this is putting yourretirement funds away.
How it works here is the Kiwi Saver willbe with a, organization, so a, financial
institution that invested for you andthey give you x return depending on, how
they manage their, portfolios, et cetera.
when it is a Kiwi saver, it is generally.
(27:42):
Yeah, not generally.
It is that you're savingfor your retirement.
So when you're 60, 65 years old, whateverelse, and that's when it would pay out.
So you are paying into it everysingle month or fortnight or
whenever your salary goes off.
You're paying a percentage of thatto your kiwi saver, your retirement.
Usually it's anywhere, I don'tknow, between three and 10% that
you would usually pay into this.
(28:04):
when I say three and 10%, three and10% of whatever your pay is, your,
what do you call it, your gross, pay.
What also happens with your Kiwi Saveris generally the company that you
work for, they will contribute towardsthat as well, and they will contribute
anywhere from three to 10% as well.
You've gotta check on your employmentcontract and see what they offer.
(28:25):
Currently, the, company that I'm withpays, 3% towards my, Kiwi KiwiSaver.
There is change happening at the momentin New Zealand where, I think from.
April next year, 2026, they aregradually starting to move towards
companies contributing not just 3%now, but 4% towards the KiwiSaver.
(28:48):
which is then obviously a complimentto whatever percentage you're covering.
a contributing.
So if you're contributing.
3% in your company is contributing 3%.
That's almost 6%.
That's going into your KiwiSaver every time you're getting
paid currently, as an example.
and obviously like I mentioned,the companies are trying to, by
next year, April, 2026, workingtowards, contributing 4%.
(29:08):
Okay.
Towards your Kiwi Saver.
Kiwi Saver.
Also, there is agovernment contribution if.
You're contributing X amounts intoyour KiwiSaver every single year.
At the end of the year, the governmentwould pay a small contribution
towards your KiwiSaver as well.
I think it's, a couple of hundred dollars.
I think it, it was like$500 or something like that.
But I've heard it's gonna reduce, I thinkfor people that are higher income earners.
(29:30):
But again, as I said,not a financial advisor.
Just letting you know what a KiwiSaver is.
KiwiSaver is, think retirement.
Think age 60, 65 payout.
There is a companycontribution of roughly.
3% going up to 4%, and you putyour contribution into it as well.
Whatever percentage you've chosenbetween three and 10%, and so it
can power it when you retired.
Benefit to also having a QE saverthat a lot of people must know is
(29:53):
for a first time home buyer you can.
Use your Kiwi Saver as a depositon your first home, but it needs
to be your home that you're movinginto, not an investment home.
It usually needs to be your own home.
and you, still would have to talk to afinancial, like a bank, whatever, that
you're getting your mortgage with oryour bond with to find out that what you
(30:14):
qualify for, what, percentages that they,they would give you as a interest rate.
Over what term, et cetera, and whatamount of deposit you would need to pay.
So it all depends on who you work for.
I've been blessed.
I am working for a bank in NewZealand as well, so I'm at least
able to get a mortgage, but I stillneed to save up for that deposit.
(30:35):
but I can get a lower.
deposit amount, percentage thatI have to pay in because of being
an employee and obviously get alittle bit of a, reduced rate.
but the point I'm trying to makeis you can draw on your KiwiSaver
for your first home that you'rebuying, that you will be moving into.
If you're trying to buy an investmenthome, they'll say, no, it doesn't qualify.
(30:56):
I did ask, This's something.
I was looking into this to be, no,it has to be our home and we need
to be moving into it to be able touse your KiwiSaver towards that.
that's what your Kiwi Saveris all about and some of the
benefits to having a KiwiSaver.
As well.
it's really important thatyou, do talk with a financial
planner and a financial advisor.
Really make sure that you'reinvesting it with the right fund.
(31:19):
I know that the fund that I'm with atthe moment, I'm probably getting a return
of roughly about, oh, I think over thelast past year it's been at about 10%,
but since I've had my KiwiSaver, it'ssitting at about 11.5 or something
percent, return that I'm getting.
So really you gotta talk to your financialadvisor, choose the right investment
house that they hold your kiwi saver with.
(31:41):
but that's, about your Kiwi saver.
The last thing I want to talkabout is just other investments.
So what we've also done over and aboveall the others that I've just spoken
through, insurances wise and the KiwiSaver that we've now got in place, what
I've also tried to start working on now isputting a little bit of extra money aside.
Call it a rainy day fund.
Call it an emergency fund.
Call it.
I dunno, savings count, holidayfund, whatever you wanna call it.
(32:03):
But we've started putting a littlebit of money aside, what I've done
over and above, just keeping it in ainterest bearing account with, the bank.
I've actually invested it with the samefund provider as my QE fund, provider.
I, but it's a separate fund,that they're investing.
Or a separate investmentthat they're doing for me.
So it's not my KiwiSaver.
(32:23):
I have gone in a little bit moreaggressive on that investment, so I'm
trying to get a little bit more ofa higher return, a little bit more.
but it does mean it'sa little bit riskier.
But again, talk to your financial advisor.
Let them guide you, and let you know.
Which one is the best, fund to, to tryand invest in depending on what you're
trying to do and meets your needs.
(32:43):
I've just explained to you thatit is something that we've looked
into and it's something that we arebusy actively doing at the moment.
So I think all I really wanted to sharea little bit today is that, I know
moving across to New Zealand is not easy.
I know it's really tough.
I know in the first year, even twoyears, it is like, it can be a. A mental
struggle, but over and above mental.
(33:05):
I know it can also be really difficultfinancially, and I know some people out
there are still struggling financially,but I'm, just trying to share this to show
you, there is hope you can make it work.
Even with economy and everything that'sgoing on, you just gotta really push hard.
but you can work towards gettingall these other insurances and
funds and everything in place.
You just gotta keep at it.
I also just wanted to give you a littlebit of an overview of what the funds are.
(33:27):
Especially since, you, when you firstmoved here from another company, from
another country to here, sometimesthe names are a little bit different.
So like when I was talking abouttrauma cover, for example, how they
call it treated disease back in SouthAfrica, it's like just trying to get
the lingo right and just trying tounderstand what they're all about.
So just to recap, your a CC, it'salready included in your, your pay.
So that's for your accident coverand injuries and stuff like that.
(33:50):
So you, can claim against thatif anything happens to you.
really hope it doesn't, but if itdoes happen to you, you've got that.
Private medical.
There's a whole lot out here.
We are.
We are obviously coveredwith Southern Cross.
Just explain why a little bit, whywe went with Southern Cross, and
why we've got that private cover.
There's trauma cover, which is.
If anything, God forbid, happenslike cancer or anything like that,
(34:12):
that you get a lump sum payout incomeprotection if you get ill and can't
work for any reason that it pays outyour salary for X period of time.
You've got your life insurance.
I think that's pretty straightforward.
Redundancy cover.
So if you're made redundant, so forX period of time just to cover while
you're trying to find another job,you got your kiwi saver, which is
for your life, for your retirement,sorry, for when you get older.
(34:35):
And then you've just got some otherinvestments that you can try and do
for saving, to try and put a little bitof money aside for holidays, rainy day
emergency fund, et cetera, whatever else.
So I think that's it for me today.
I know not the most excitingto share about, but.
Yeah, just wanna talk a little bitabout money and insurances, investments,
(34:55):
and I really hope it helped.
and if it does help, please sharewith, whoever else you feel it
would benefit to, to hear from this.
the whole idea is just trying to helpas many of us immigrants as possible
so that we can really make a softerlanding and make New Zealand home.
So please share it and help pay forwardto as many other immigrants as possible.
Otherwise, guys, you must keepwell and, we'll speak soon.
(35:16):
Cheers.
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