If someone depends on your income, life insurance stops being “optional” and turns into “please sort this now”. The tricky bit is choosing who to trust with that job.
In New Zealand, there’s a small group of big, well-rated life insurers who do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to paying claims. This guide walks through the main players, what makes a “best” life insurance company in 2026, and how to pick the right one for you, with advisers like NZ Insurances in your corner to compare them side by side.
What makes a “best” life insurance company?
Before we name names, it helps to know what actually matters:
- Financial strength: Can the insurer keep paying claims for decades?
- Claims track record: Do they actually pay, and how often?
- Product range: Just basic life cover, or trauma, TPD, income protection, and mortgage/rent cover as well?
- Flexibility: Options like level vs stepped premiums, built-in benefits, and the ability to adjust cover without redoing all your medicals.
- Service & advice: Clear information, fair underwriting, and straightforward claims support.
When we compare life insurance in NZ for clients, the same names come up again and again: AIA, Asteron Life, Chubb Life, Fidelity Life, nib, and Partners Life. All of them meet high financial strength standards and have solid claims histories.
Rather than “crowning a winner”, the smarter move is matching the insurer to you. your age, health, job, family, and budget.
AIA: Big global backing and health-focused extras
Why Kiwis pick AIA:
- Financial strength: AA (Very Strong) rating from Fitch, one of the highest in the NZ market.
- Scale: Paid out around $829.6m in claims in 2024 across life, health, and disability, which is a lot of real families helped.
- Claims: Recent data shows about 92% of claims accepted, which is a strong indicator of reliability.
AIA is known for:
- Wide range of cover (life, trauma, TPD, income protection, mortgage/rent style cover).
- The AIA Vitality programme, discounts and rewards for healthier habits, which can help some people lower premiums over time.
- Options for both stepped (cheaper now, rise each year) and level premiums (higher now, more stable long-term).
AIA often suits people who like the idea of a big global insurer, want to bundle health and life, or are keen on wellness rewards.
Asteron Life: award-winning, advice-only specialist
Why Asteron stands out:
- Financial strength: A (Strong) rating from S&P.
- Awards: Multiple-time winner of Life Insurance Company of the Year at the ANZIIF Insurance Industry Awards, including 2024.
- Claims: Around $112m paid in claims in the 2023–24 year, with a claim acceptance rate of about 97%, one of the highest published rates.
Asteron is sold through advisers, not directly online. That usually means:
- Strong focus on underwriting up front (more questions now, fewer surprises at claim time).
- Good flexibility around converting stepped premiums to level later on.
- Solid built-in features like special events increases and bereavement benefits.
Asteron often works well for families who value advice, want a long-term relationship with one insurer, and like the security of strong claims stats.
Fidelity Life: NZ’s largest locally owned life insurer
Why Kiwis like Fidelity:
- Locally owned: New Zealand’s largest locally owned life insurer, protecting over 300,000 people.
- Financial strength: A- (Excellent) rating from A.M. Best.
- Claims: Around $241.5m paid in claims in the 2023–24 year, with about 93% of claims accepted.
Things Fidelity is known for:
- Full suite of personal cover (life, trauma, TPD, income protection).
- Modern digital underwriting and room to switch from stepped to level premiums over time.
- Strong focus on advisers and personalised advice.
If “NZ-owned” matters to you, or you’re moving from an older bank-branded policy into something more flexible, Fidelity Life can be a good fit.
Chubb Life: Strong international backing and rich benefits
Key facts:
- Part of the global giant Chubb, with operations in over 50 countries.
- A (Excellent) rating from A.M. Best, reflecting strong claims-paying ability.
Chubb Life in NZ offers:
- Comprehensive life cover with options like life income cover (regular monthly payments instead of a single lump sum, if that suits your planning).
- Useful built-in extras, for example, access to some counselling, budgeting, or legal support services alongside your cover, depending on the product.
Chubb often appeals to people who:
- Want a well-known global brand backing their policy.
- Like the idea of more tailored benefit structures (like income-style life cover rather than just one big payout).
Partners Life: Modern, NZ-grown challenger brand
Why Partners Life makes the shortlist:
- A (Excellent) rating from A.M. Best.
- One of NZ’s major “pure” life and health insurers, now backed by global group Dai-ichi Life.
Partners Life is known for:
- Designing products specifically for NZ conditions and using adviser feedback to tweak wording and benefits over time.
- Options for loyalty discounts on premiums, the longer you stay.
- Strong focus on good policy wording and updating existing customers when definitions improve.
They’re often a good option for people who like a challenger brand with modern product design and are working closely with an adviser already.
nib: Health powerhouse with growing life & living cover
Most Kiwis know nib for health insurance, but they also offer Life & Living products through advisers.
- Rated A (Strong) by S&P for both health and life/living business.
- Growing footprint in NZ, including acquisitions and new adviser-focused products.
Nib’s life and living cover may include:
- Life insurance, income-style benefits, and serious illness options (varies by product).
- Modern digital application platforms can streamline underwriting and keep the paperwork easier for you and your adviser.
Nib often suits people already with nib health cover who’d like the convenience of keeping things with one group, or those who prefer very “digital-first” processes.
How much does life insurance cost in NZ?
For most people, life insurance is cheaper than they expect. Recent 2025 quotes show that $500,000 of life cover for a healthy non-smoker can start from roughly:
- $10–14 per fortnight for a 25–30-year-old woman
- $16–22 per fortnight for a 25–30-year-old man
Premiums rise with age, health issues, and higher cover amounts, but that gives you a ballpark. The key drivers are:
- Age and gender
- Health and medical history
- Smoker vs non-smoker
- Occupation and hobbies
- Sum insured and add-ons (trauma, TPD, etc.)
- Premium type, stepped vs level.
An NZ Insurances adviser can run quotes across multiple insurers so you can see the trade-offs clearly.
How much life cover do you actually need?
Rules of thumb are helpful, but your life isn’t a spreadsheet. Common starting points:
10× your annual before-tax income, often suggested so your family can clear the mortgage and have a decent buffer for living costs.
Enough to cover:
- Mortgage or long-term rent
- Other debts (car, personal loans, credit cards)
- 5–10 years of living costs
- Kids’ schooling or tertiary study
- Funeral and estate costs (often around $10,000 for a funeral alone).
From there, we adjust down or up based on:
- Your partner’s income and work plans.
- Existing savings or investments.
- Whether the family would keep or sell the home.
- How long will dependents need support?
Ready to get covered?
Choosing the “best” life insurance company isn’t about chasing a trophy logo. It’s about:
- A strong, stable insurer
- The right benefits for your situation
- A premium you can actually keep paying long-term
- Someone local to help when life doesn’t go to plan
Are you fully covered?
Talk to NZ Insurances today for free, no-obligation advice and quotes from New Zealand’s leading life insurance companies and find the policy that really fits your future.
