Business. Scoop » Kiwi Teens Twice As Likely To Take Insurance After Being Caught Out With Nothing
Press Release – Banqer “Working out which policy is actually the better deal is a hard skill. Plenty of adults get that wrong with real money. These students are practising it at 15, which is exactly when. . .
Press Release – Banqer“Working out which policy is actually the better deal is a hard skill. Plenty of adults get that wrong with real money. These students are practising it at 15, which is exactly when you’d want them doing it,” said Simon Brown, CE of Banqer. Above: Michael Weston, CEO at Partners Life (left), students from Mission Heights Junior College, and Simon Brown, CEO of Banqer (right). (Photo/Supplied)Banqer, the New Zealand financial education platform, has released four years of classroom data showing that teenagers caught out with no insurance at all inside its simulation go on to take out cover at more than twice the rate of classmates who were never caught out. The finding comes from 51,920 secondary school students who were given the chance to take out simulated personal risk insurance between 2022 and 2025, in a module Banqer runs in partnership with life and health insurerPartners Life. The data is being released in August during Money Month, New Zealand’s annual financial capability campaign. Inside the simulation, students earn an income, meet weekly costs and decide whether to insure against medical events and loss of income, among other things. Random life events then come at them. Almost half the time, the student it lands on has no cover for it. Of the students holding no insurance of any kind when an event hit them, 54. 3% went on to take out cover afterwards. Among classmates sitting in the same rooms who were never struck by a random event, 26. 8% held cover at any point across the four years. “There is no lesson on earth that beats finding out the hard way,” said Simon Brown, Chief Executive of Banqer. “The trick is arranging for the hard way to happen somewhere it doesn’t matter, with virtual money in Banqer rather than in the real world. ”“We can’t hand a 15-year-old a mortgage, a couple of kids and a bad back and see what they do about it. What we can do is let them skip the insurance, have something go wrong the following Tuesday, and watch the penny drop in real time. ”“In the real world that lesson turns up when you’re 40, and it turns up with an invoice attached. ”Michael Weston, CEO at Partners Life, said one of the most important lessons young people can learn is that good financial wellbeing starts with understanding your choices. “This programme provides a way for students to explore those choices and see the consequences of different decisions in a safe environment. It also highlights the value of getting expert advice, because when it comes to protecting what matters most, informed decisions are usually better decisions. ”“A 15-year-old who is financially literate and understands that solutions for financial protection exist and where to get advice has a head start most of us never got,” said Weston. This year, Banqer and Partners Life’s Money Month campaign will recognise a standout financial education teacher with a two-night wellness escape at Sherwood Queenstown, including flights and onsite wellness experiences. The data also shows that:36. 4% of students took out cover, paying a weekly premium out of their simulated income to hold it. 47. 9% of the events that struck students hit someone with no cover for that risk, and 11,300 students were caught out at least once. Of those who bought income protection, 21. 2% chose a policy that cost more and covered less than a directly comparable option. Where students bought only one type of cover, 73. 4% chose medical and 26. 6% chose income protection. 59. 6% of students holding medical cover had a policy with a stated gap in it, covering either everyday care or surgery but not both. “Working out which policy is actually the better deal is a hard skill. Plenty of adults get that wrong with real money. These students are practising it at 15, which is exactly when you’d want them doing it,” Brown said. “What struck us was how quiet the change was. Their teacher set the module running and let it play out. There aren’t necessarily marks, or a test at the end. They had one bad week in a simulated economy and sorted themselves out. ”Research from the Financial Services Councilfound that 41% of New Zealanders hold life insurance and 39% hold health insurance. The industry body identified a significant knowledge gap around financial risk management, and called for greater financial education in that area. Financial education becomes compulsory in New Zealand schools from the start of 2027. “Money Month is a good moment to talk about how people actually learn this. ” Brown said. “Not by being told. By doing it, getting something wrong somewhere safe, and turning up to the real decision having already been there once. ”Banqer’s Personal Risk Insurance module is available to secondary schools using Banqer High. About Banqer:Banqer is the leader in classroom-based financial education, giving teachers the tools to deliver it without adding to their workload. Students run a simulated personal economy in their classroom, earning income, meeting costs, saving, borrowing, investing and insuring, and living with the consequences inside the simulation. Founded in 2015, Banqer reaches around 75,000 young New Zealanders each year across Banqer Primary and Banqer High, and is led by Chief Executive Simon Brown. Kiwibank is Banqer’s Champion Partner in New Zealand, and has backed Banqer since 2016. Partners Life supports the Personal Risk Insurance expansion in Banqer High Junior. About Partners Life:Partners Life, established as a small start-up in 2011, is now one of the largest life and health insurance companies in New Zealand. Partners Life insures more than 340,000 lives, over $653. 6 million in annual premiums in-force and employs over 400 employees across New Zealand (as of 31 March 2025). In September 2022 Partners Life completed the acquisition of the BNZ Life insurance business from BNZ’s Australian parent company NAB. In 2022, Partners Life became a member of one of the world’s leading life insurers, Dai-ichi Life Group. Partners Life has an A (Excellent) financial strength rating from A. M. Best, an approved RBNZ rating agency (with effective date 23 January 2025). For the latest Best’s Credit Rating, please visitwww. ambest. com. Content Sourced fromscoop. co. nzOriginal url