Momentum Life vs Fidelity Life: Compare life, funeral and other cover

Momentum Life vs Fidelity Life: which is a better fit for you?

Momentum Life fits you if being accepted matters more than being covered straight away. Fidelity Life fits you if you can answer health questions and want a larger, unrestricted payout. Momentum Life's funeral cover runs from $3,000 to $30,000, while Fidelity Life publishes no cap on its life cover.

For funeral cover specifically, the two are not competing. Momentum Life sells a funeral policy. Fidelity Life sells life cover that pays funeral money early, which means you have to qualify for the life cover first.

Momentum Life and Fidelity Life side by side

Momentum Life sells three products: Funeral Insurance, Quick Life, and Platinum Life. Fidelity Life's adviser-sold range is Platinum Plus, whose Life cover carries the funeral benefits inside it. The sixth column below is Westpac's LifeProtect, which Fidelity Life underwrites but does not sell itself.

Indexation is where published comparisons of these two insurers tend to go wrong. On Platinum Plus, CPI (Consumer Price Index) indexation is an opt-in additional option shown on your policy schedule, and the last increase lands on the anniversary before your 65th birthday. On Westpac's LifeProtect it is built in with an annual opt-out, and runs past 65. Those are two different products.

Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance wording does not address indexation, CPI, or cost of living anywhere in its 13 pages. Its own FAQ promises a stable premium, not a growing benefit. Its other two products do index at 3% a year.

How you buy: direct with guaranteed acceptance, or through an adviser

Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance sells directly to you, online or over the phone. Fidelity Life recommends chatting to a financial adviser rather than buying direct. The bigger difference is whose products the person helping you can compare. Momentum Life gives advice only on its own products.

Fidelity Life routes you to an insurance broker, and Policywise is one of them. Policywise is disclosed to advise on Fidelity Life for life insurance. That means Policywise can compare its cover against the other insurers on its panel, help with the underwriting, and stay with you at claim time. Momentum Life is not on that panel, so Policywise cannot quote it or advise on it.

Sorted, the government-backed money site, puts the trade-off plainly. Insurance can be set up in many ways, so it suggests speaking to a financial adviser rather than relying on an online comparison site.

Maximum entry age: who can still apply, and until when

Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance accepts you between 40 and 75, and Fidelity Life's Platinum Plus Life cover between 16 and 75 with no expiry age. Momentum Life's other two products stop at 65, and Westpac's LifeProtect Life Cover at 69.

Fidelity Life's entry ages are lower once you move off life cover:

• Total and permanent disability (TPD) and trauma cover: 16 to 64, or to 69 for trauma taken as an accelerated benefit.
• Income protection: 16 to 59, and 16 to 55 for the "to age 70" benefit period.

If you are over 75 and uninsured, Momentum Life's funeral cover is closed to you too.

Funeral insurance vs life insurance

Funeral insurance and life insurance pay for different jobs. A funeral policy pays a small, fixed lump sum for final expenses. Life insurance pays a larger sum you choose. Westpac's LifeProtect brochure frames it as something your family can put towards a mortgage, debts, or the funeral.

The Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme sorts cover by what triggers it: death, a specified serious condition, or an inability to work. The funeral insurance guide covers the funeral side in full. The IFSO warns that funeral insurance is a risk product, not a savings plan. As you age, the total premiums paid can exceed the amount that would ever be paid out.

The IFSO gives a worked example. A consumer took $20,000 of funeral cover in 2010, and by 2020 had paid more than $20,000 in premiums. That is more than the policy would ever pay out. That is the risk a small fixed benefit carries over a long life.

Where funeral cover stops: trauma, cancer and income protection

A funeral payout only arrives after a death, so it does nothing for the years you live with a serious illness. Accident Compensation Corporation cover does not fill that gap either: see what ACC doesn't cover. ACC covers accidental injury and explicitly does not cover illness, sickness, contagious disease, or conditions related to ageing.

That is why illness cover in New Zealand is bought privately. Cancer diagnoses are projected to rise from about 30,000 a year to more than 45,000 by 2044. Five-year survival has improved from about 58% to 68% over the past 20 years. More people are living through a diagnosis than in the past, and living through one costs money while you are still here.

Three Policywise products can help with that stretch, and whether you need any of them depends on your situation rather than on a rule:

• Trauma cover pays a lump sum on a specified serious condition, including most cancers; see the critical illness vs disability comparison for how it differs from TPD.
• Income protection replaces part of your income while you cannot work.
• Mortgage protection keeps the loan payments going.

A funeral policy pays only on death, so it does not address this either. Fidelity Life does sell trauma, TPD, and income protection cover, which is the practical reason this comparison does not end at funeral money.

How to choose between Momentum Life and Fidelity Life

Three things separate Momentum Life from Fidelity Life, and only the first is about the product. They are whether you can answer health questions, how long you will hold the cover, and whether you want someone who can compare more than one insurer. The main difference is that Fidelity Life has no funeral policy to compare [Fidelity Life, n.d.-a].

A fixed funeral benefit loses value the longer you hold it. Stats NZ publishes the consumers price index as an index number. The same basket that read 714.55 in the June 2001 quarter read 1,359 in the June 2026 quarter. Annual inflation was 4.1% in the year to June 2026, above the Reserve Bank's 1% to 3% target band.

The official benchmark for funeral costs has moved the same way: the statutory Work and Income Funeral Grant maximum has risen at every scheduled update, from $2,058.52 in 2018 to $2,697.43 from 1 April 2026. That is a hardship cap set in regulation rather than a measured average funeral bill, and it is reviewed periodically rather than fixed.

So a $12,000 funeral benefit from Momentum Life, bought in your 60s and claimed in your 90s, is not $12,000 of today's buying power, because Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance wording doesn't address indexation at all. Funeral costs have no CPI class of their own, so they may have moved faster or slower than general prices. Platinum Plus indexes only if you opt in, and Westpac's LifeProtect indexes unless you opt out.

On the third point, the Financial Markets Authority says an adviser should keep in touch with you over time. It should also help if something goes wrong, not simply place the policy. Where there is a conflict of interest, a financial advice provider must give priority to your interests.

Talk to a Policywise adviser if you want Fidelity Life quoted against the rest of Policywise's panel. Policywise cannot do that for Momentum Life.

How Momentum Life and Fidelity Life compare as companies

Both hold an active FMA Financial Institutions licence granted on 31 March 2025.

That date is a 2025 licensing event, not when either company started business: Fidelity Life was founded in New Zealand in 1973, and Momentum Life describes itself as established in 2018, a 45-year gap between them. Fidelity Life recommends buying through a financial adviser, and Momentum Life sells direct.

Searches for Momentum Life reviews, Momentum Life insurance reviews, or a Momentum Life review mostly surface consumer review sites. Those ratings are not a source Policywise cites, because they are self-selected and unaudited. What follows is the regulatory and financial record instead.

Key facts about Momentum Life: who owns it and who underwrites its cover

Momentum Life is a New Zealand company that sells three products:

• Funeral Insurance
• Quick Life
• Platinum Life

Momentum Life Limited is registered in Auckland, underwrites its own policies, and has done so since 14 March 2018.

It holds an active Financial Institutions licence as FSP472286, granted 31 March 2025. Its registered office is Floor 7, Tower 1, 205 Queen Street, Auckland Central.

There is a direct link to the other insurer in this comparison. If you bought a Momentum Life policy before 14 March 2018, your insurer is Fidelity Life Assurance Company Limited, not Momentum Life.

Ownership sits with a New Zealand holding company:

• Momentum Life Limited's sole shareholder and ultimate holding company is DCG Invest Limited, which holds all 1,100 shares.
• DCG Invest Limited is owned 33.33% each by GBMLC Investments Limited, Chepstow Trustee Services Limited, and Spyglass Capital Partners Limited.
• That ownership changed during 2025, with the shareholding and holding-company filings recorded between 7 and 11 August 2025.

Momentum Life says it is supported by Hannover Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance groups. That reinsurance backing is what would stand behind your claim.

Key facts about Fidelity Life: ownership and NZ presence

Fidelity Life Assurance Company Limited is a public unlisted New Zealand company with roughly 25 shareholders, including the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Ngāi Tahu Holdings. It was founded here in 1973, holds an active licence as FSP38786, and recommends buying through a financial adviser rather than directly.

Its ownership is in the middle of changing. Partners Group Holdings announced on 3 September 2026 that it had agreed to acquire Fidelity Life for NZ$630 million, subject to Commerce Commission approval. As of October 2026, the transaction had not been reported as completed. The Fidelity Life insurance review goes deeper into the company and its range.

Financial strength, solvency and claims paid

Fidelity Life holds the stronger financial-strength rating of the two. A.M. Best rates it A- (Excellent) and has done so since December 1996, while Momentum Life is rated B (Fair).

That gap affects how confident you can be that either insurer pays your claim decades from now. Both reported solvency above the regulatory requirement at 30 June 2026, and only Fidelity Life publishes claims statistics.

Fidelity Life also breaks its acceptance rate down by product for FY25, which is a more useful number than the headline 93%. Life claims were accepted at 97% and income protection at 95%, trauma at 84%, and TPD at 69%. Policywise can help weigh that before you apply for TPD cover.

Momentum Life publishes no comparable figures, so treat this as one-sided rather than as a result Momentum Life lost. Its solvency return and its B (Fair) rating are what the public record offers you.

What does Momentum Life offer?

Momentum Life sells three products: Funeral Insurance, Quick Life, and Platinum Life. Funeral Insurance and Platinum Life are sold directly. Quick Life's own product page doesn't state a sales channel.

Two accept you without health questions and apply a stand-down (a waiting period during which only limited claims are paid) instead. The third asks health and lifestyle questions and has no general stand-down.

Momentum Life Funeral Insurance

Momentum funeral insurance accepts any New Zealander aged 40 to 75 with no doctor's visits and no health questions, and pays $3,000 to $30,000 on death. In exchange, the first 24 months cover accidental death only, where the death happens within 90 days of the accident.

Guaranteed acceptance is what you get, and a 24-month wait for cover against illness is what you pay for it. The wording is explicit about the consequence: die of any non-accidental cause inside that window and Momentum Life refunds all premiums paid, rather than paying the benefit.

Other terms on Momentum Life funeral insurance:

• An accidental death pays three times the cover you chose, so the accidental tier runs $9,000 to $90,000.
• Premiums stay level and stop at your 89th birthday, with cover continuing for life.
• If you bought your policy since 22 April 2022, you get 10% of your premiums back after the first 12 months of continuous cover.
• Payment is usually made 24 to 48 hours after Momentum Life has the paperwork.
• The phrase "pre-existing condition" appears nowhere in the wording. The 24-month stand-down does that work instead.

Momentum Life Quick Life and Platinum Life Insurance

Quick Life and Platinum Life are both life cover rather than funeral cover, and they underwrite in opposite ways. Quick Life offers guaranteed acceptance with no medical underwriting, from $50,000 to $300,000 per life. Platinum Life is priced on your answers to health and lifestyle questions, and goes up to $1,000,000.

Quick Life's stand-down is narrower than the funeral product's. For the first two years, it excludes pre-existing conditions and suicide. Accidental death and any new condition arising after the policy starts are covered from day one. The benefit rises 3% a year unless you opt out, and a free $20,000 lifetime benefit applies from age 75.

Platinum Life carries no general stand-down, excluding only self-inflicted death within the first 13 months from acceptance, any cover increase, or reinstatement. Its maximum cover tapers with your age at acceptance: $1,000,000 from 18 to 54, $750,000 from 55 to 60, and $500,000 from 61 to 65.

Two extras are worth naming:

• An Advance Funeral Payment of $10,000 is added automatically once the policy has run for 24 months, paid while the claim is assessed.
• A separate $3,000 financial planning benefit reimburses advice from a licensed financial planner within 12 months of an accepted claim. This is not grief counselling.

What does Fidelity Life offer?

Fidelity Life's personal range covers life, income protection, TPD, trauma, and mortgage repayment cover. Fidelity Life recommends buying through a financial adviser rather than direct.

On the adviser channel, life cover is branded Platinum Plus and its Platinum Plus Level Term variant; trauma cover is Platinum Plus trauma cover; and mortgage cover is Mortgage Protector. There is no standalone funeral policy in the personal range.

One clarification matters before the detail. Published comparisons often describe "LifeProtect" as a Fidelity Life product. LifeProtect is arranged by Westpac New Zealand Limited and underwritten by Fidelity Life, sold in Westpac branches, with Westpac receiving commission. Every LifeProtect figure in this article is labelled as Westpac's, and Policywise cannot place it.

Fidelity Life funeral cover: a benefit inside life cover, not a standalone policy

Fidelity Life funeral cover is a benefit inside its life cover rather than a policy you can buy on its own. Its Platinum Plus Life cover pays an early advance of up to $25,000 towards funeral costs, and the rest of the sum insured follows as a lump sum. You have to qualify for the life cover to get it.

Four Platinum Plus benefits deal with death costs, and they work differently from each other:

• Bereavement benefit: an immediate advance of $25,000, or the full sum insured if that is lower. It reduces the Life cover sum insured.
• Repatriation benefit: the lesser of actual direct costs, 10% of the sum insured, or $20,000. It is paid in addition to the sum insured, and it excludes funeral, cremation, and burial costs.
• Child's funeral benefit: $15,000 for a child aged 10 to 20, or up to $2,000 (less any amount payable under the Life Insurance Act 1908) for a child aged 2 to 9, with a three-month stand-down from the parent's cover start or reinstatement. It is not deducted from the parent's sum insured.
• Grief counselling benefit: up to $2,500 reimbursed, invoiced within 12 months of the lump sum.

All four figures are Platinum Plus terms, not a general feature of New Zealand life insurance. Westpac's LifeProtect carries the same four benefits on the same terms. The Fidelity Life insurance review covers the funeral benefits in more depth.

Fidelity Life's other cover, and the funeral and bereavement support it carries

Holding Fidelity Life life cover can remove the reason to buy a standalone funeral policy, and holding its other cover does not. Funeral and bereavement money sits only on the life assurance covers.

Trauma, TPD, and Survivor's Income carry a grief-counselling reimbursement instead, and individual income protection carries neither [Fidelity Life, 2024b; Fidelity Life, 2024c; Fidelity Life, 2024d; Fidelity Life, n.d.-m].

Two cautions sit in that table. The group rows are employer-arranged cover, not something you can buy as an individual, and the Group Income Protection Funeral Benefit pays only if the member dies while on claim. And a grief-counselling reimbursement is support after a death, not money towards a funeral, so a reader holding only trauma cover is not covered for funeral costs.

What the other covers do instead is protect against more situations than a funeral policy addresses:

• Fidelity Life income protection replaces part of your income while you cannot work, with a choice of seven waiting periods from two weeks to two years.
• Fidelity Life trauma cover pays a lump sum on a specified serious condition, which is the cover that matters most if your real worry is surviving an illness rather than paying for a funeral. See the trauma insurance vs income protection comparison for how the two cushion different risks.
• TPD cover pays if you are unlikely to work again. See the [income protection vs TPD comparison for how the two differ.

What any of this is worth to your household depends on your income, your debts, and who relies on you, which is a conversation rather than a rule. If you're comparing life insurance for a family, that conversation is the place to start.

Pre-existing conditions, health questions and underwriting

Momentum Life and Fidelity Life handle your health history in opposite ways. Momentum Life's two guaranteed-acceptance products ask nothing and apply a stand-down instead. Fidelity Life asks health and lifestyle questions at application and prices the risk. Once accepted, cover starts immediately with no stand-down on the core death benefit.

Momentum Life and Fidelity Life take two different approaches to this. The guide to life insurance and pre-existing conditions covers the pre-existing-conditions question more generally.

Momentum Life: guaranteed acceptance and the 24-month stand-down

Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance asks no health questions at all, and replaces underwriting with a 24-month window in which only accidental death is paid.

The phrase "pre-existing condition" never appears in the 13-page wording. Instead, the stand-down applies to every cause of death rather than to named conditions.

Quick Life draws the line differently. Its two-year exclusion is specific to pre-existing conditions and suicide, so a condition diagnosed after the policy starts is covered from day one.

Platinum Life is the one Momentum Life product that does ask about your health, using your answers on age, gender, smoker status, and health and lifestyle to set the premium.

Fidelity Life: underwritten cover and the health questions you answer

Fidelity Life assesses medical, financial, occupational, and pastime risk before it offers cover. The outcome can be a standard premium, a loading, an exclusion, a deferral, or no offer at all. How much evidence it asks for scales with the sum insured and your age rather than being the same for everyone.

Its adviser underwriting guide sets those bands out. Life cover from $1 to $500,000 needs only the application form at any age. A GP or paramedical exam with HbA1c, lipids, and liver function tests (Code A) is first required at $500,001 to $750,000, but only from age 61.

For ages 46 to 50, that same exam is not required until the sum insured reaches $1,500,001 to $2,000,000. Blood tests stay valid for 12 months unless the results are abnormal.

The duty of disclosure is where underwritten cover carries real risk. Policywise can help with an application for this reason:

• New Zealand law requires you to disclose anything that could affect the insurer's decision to insure you, including symptoms without a diagnosis, and anything that arises between applying and your cover starting.
• The insurer's remedy for material non-disclosure is to avoid the policy back to inception and treat it as if it never existed. Current law does not distinguish innocent from deliberate non-disclosure.
• Fidelity Life's Platinum Plus terms and conditions allow it to void the policy and retain all premiums paid where a material fact was not disclosed.
• Outcomes are not always a full decline. In one IFSO case, an undisclosed anaemia diagnosis was material, and the insurer paid the life claim at the reduced level it would have offered, being half the life benefit.

Immediate cover and stand-down periods

Fidelity Life's Platinum Plus Life cover has no stand-down on the core death benefit, so it pays from the start once underwriting is complete.

Momentum Life's funeral and Quick Life products have no underwriting but do have a stand-down, which is the same trade seen from the other side. Several stand-downs sit across the two insurers, led by Platinum Plus's child's funeral benefit and Momentum Life's 24-month funeral wait:

• Platinum Plus: the child's funeral benefit has a three-month stand-down, and suicide within 13 months is the only permanent exclusion. It is waived where the policy replaced an equivalent one in force for 13 months or more.
• Platinum Plus's special-event additional cover benefit: a six-month stand-down for non-accidental events.
• Platinum Plus trauma cover: a three-month stand-down applies to cancer, heart attack, cardiac arrest, stroke, and specified cardiac surgery, plus a 14-day survival period.
• Momentum Life Funeral Insurance: 24 months, accidental death only, with premiums refunded on a non-accidental death inside the window.
• Momentum Life Quick Life: two years for pre-existing conditions and suicide only.

One LifeProtect-specific term is worth separating out here, because Platinum Plus does not match it. Westpac's LifeProtect gives up to 60 days of free interim cover up to $500,000 while an application is assessed. Platinum Plus has no interim or temporary cover clause in either its terms or its life cover wording.

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