Income Protection Wait Period Cost Calculator

This calculator shows the trade-off in choosing a longer wait period on income protection insurance in New Zealand: the premium you save against the savings buffer you would need to cover the extra weeks before your cover kicks in. The wait period, sometimes called the stand-down, is how long you must be unable to work before the policy starts paying you. Choosing a longer wait period lowers your premium, because the insurer pays out less often and later, but it shifts more of the early risk onto you, since you have to fund your own living costs through those first weeks. The decision really comes down to your emergency savings: with a solid buffer you can comfortably self-fund a longer stand-down and pocket the premium saving, while with little put aside a shorter wait period buys faster support. You enter the premium for a shorter wait period and a longer one, the extra weeks the longer option adds, and your weekly income, and the calculator shows the annual premium you would save and the buffer you would need to cover the extra wait if you had to claim. Use it to match your wait period to your savings, and to see how many years of premium saving it would take to build that buffer. A guide only, not financial advice.

The buffer covers your income for the extra wait weeks if you claim. The longer wait pays off if you rarely claim and hold the buffer. A guide only, not advice.