Have you got your Liferaft in place?

Recently I have been watching a TV show called “Titanic sinks tonight”.  It reminds me of a comment from Nigel Latta I heard around a year ago that inspired me so much that we updated our company’s trading name to “Liferaft Financial Advice”. 

For those of you who are not familiar with Nigel Latta, he was a clinical psychologist, bestselling author, television presenter, and public speaker.  Nigel also had bowel cancer, and he died in September 2025.  When he was diagnosed the first person he called was not his mum, not his kids, not his brothers or his sisters.  It was his insurance broker.  Why?  He wanted to make sure that if he couldn’t work his family could pay the bills.  Fortunately, he had been given good advice and had life, income protection, and medical insurance in place.

In his words, he had a “lifeboat”. 

When the Titanic sank there weren’t enough lifeboats for all the passengers – over 1500 of the 2,200 passengers died as a result.  In their case they needed a physical boat to save them.

Very few of us will be unlucky enough to die from the consequences of a boat colliding with an iceberg on a cold night.  The leading causes of death for New Zealanders are cancer, heart disease, and strokes  (HealthNZ report ).  What’s more,  25,000 – 30,000 New Zealanders will be diagnosed with cancer each year.  Have you thought about how you will pay your bills, protect your family, and pay for any unfunded drugs?

There are many unfunded drugs used for cancers, and these can cost up to $100,000 or more a year.  Insurance can be used to cover them and they can give you more time.  They are a great tool to include in your liferaft.

In Nigel’s book “Lessons on Living” he says “If it’s a choice between an annual holiday and life insurance….choose life insurance.  It’s boring until the boat starts sinking, then it’s a lifesaver.”