Risk tool library · Aotearoa New Zealand
Before you buy cover, find the gap.
Six working tools for New Zealand business owners, families and trustees. Enter your numbers, see what is actually unfunded, then print a report you can take to your adviser, your bank or your board.
Free preview · Submit contact details to continue · Client questions require a separate account
The library
Six tools, six different conversations
Each one ends with a number, a written finding and a next step — not a brochure.
Method
The law sets the test. The policy answers it. The gap is the conversation.
01
A statutory hook
Every tool is anchored to a duty that already exists in New Zealand law — trustee record-keeping under s45 of the Trusts Act 2019, director duties under ss131–137 of the Companies Act 1993, officer due diligence under s44 of HSWA 2015. The user is not being sold a theory; they are being shown a duty.
02
Their numbers, not ours
No defaults are hidden. Every assumption — discount rate, indemnity period, dependency percentage — is shown on screen and printed in the report, so the client can argue with it. A number a client can challenge is a number they will trust.
03
A handover, not a checkout
The report is designed to be carried into a meeting — with an adviser, a bank, an accountant or the other shareholders. That is where the real decision is made, and that is why the tools are free.
What this library is not
It is not personalised financial advice, and it is not legal advice. It is an educational calculator: it applies published formulas to the figures you type in. It does not know your policy wording, your health, your trust deed, your company constitution or your tax position. Those are the things an adviser, a lawyer and an accountant are for.
Client area · askcaroline.co.nz
Register once. Ask when it matters.
Three things happen in here: you register, you ask a question, and you read the answer — yours, or someone else's.
What happens to a question
It is stored in the database with a timestamp and a status. Caroline sees it on her desk the same day. When she answers, the status changes and the answer appears in your client area — and, only if you ticked the box, an anonymised version joins the public answer library. Questions about your own circumstances are never published.
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Who you are dealing with
Caroline Liang 梁艳
Caroline Liang is an Auckland senior insurance adviser and risk protection specialist with over twenty years in financial services. She runs ICIB AssureMe Team and helps professionals, business owners and families understand risk and establish suitable protection: life, disability, trauma, health, key person and employee benefits insurance.
Caroline Liang · ICIB AssureMe Team
The information on this website is for information only and is subject to change without notice. It is not personalised financial advice and does not take your circumstances into account.
Tool 01 · Personal & family
Family safety net
What would your household actually need if your income stopped tonight — and how much of that is already funded?
Method: household costs are discounted at 2.5% a year over the support period to give a present value; debts, education and final costs are added at face value; liquid assets and existing life cover are deducted. ACC, KiwiSaver withdrawal rules, tax and investment returns are excluded — deliberately, so the figure stays conservative and easy to explain.
Tool 02 · Corporate & shareholder
Key person & shareholder exit
If one owner disappeared for six months, what would the business lose — and would the remaining shareholders be able to buy the shares without borrowing?
This is a screening tool, not a valuation. It scores eight governance facts that decide whether an exit is fundable, and multiplies revenue at risk by the months you say it takes to replace the person. A Buy-Sell agreement, a share valuation and a funding mechanism are three separate documents — most SMEs have none of them.
Tool 03 · Commercial
Revenue loss & business debt
Two numbers every owner should know before the next renewal: what the business loses each month it cannot trade, and what the bank still wants if the person behind the debt is gone.
What each cover actually does
One replaces trading income. One clears the debt. One buys the shares.
| Cover | Responds to | Solves |
|---|---|---|
| Loss of Revenue Cover | The insured cannot work through illness or injury and revenue falls with them | Pays a monthly benefit while revenue is down, so wages, rent and suppliers are still paid |
| Debt Protection Cover | The insured dies or meets a defined critical condition | Clears business debt, so surviving owners are not forced to sell assets to satisfy the lender |
| Ownership Buyout Cover | A shareholder dies or is disabled | Funds the purchase of their shares at an agreed value, instead of borrowing under pressure |
Cover names and triggers differ between insurers and are defined in the policy wording — the descriptions above are a summary, not the contract. Check the definition of the triggering event, the benefit period and any offsets before relying on them.
Tool 04 · Trusts
Trust governance check
Since 2021 every trustee has had to keep core documents and records of decisions. This is the twelve-point check we run before anyone relies on a trust for asset protection.
Based on the record-keeping and disclosure obligations in the Trusts Act 2019 — in particular the requirement that at least one trustee hold the core documents (s45) and the presumption that trustees tell beneficiaries about the trust (ss49–51). A trust that cannot produce its records is a trust a creditor, a bank or a Family Court judge can argue about.
Tool 05 · Directors
Director exposure check
A director signs personal guarantees, certifies solvency and owes a due diligence duty on health and safety. This maps where the personal exposure actually sits.
Anchored to the Companies Act 1993 (ss131–138 duties, s135 reckless trading, s136 obligations, s162 indemnity and insurance) and s44 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, which puts a personal due diligence duty on every officer. D&O cover responds to claims against the person — it does not replace the duty, and it does not cover every statute.
Tool 06 · Team & employees
Employee team protection
Five staff or fifty-five, an owner asks two questions: what is absence already costing me, and will my team still be here in three years? This page answers both with your own numbers.
The owner's ledger
You are already paying for this — just not to an insurer
Every business pays for illness and turnover. It is paid in days lost, in rehiring, in customers who drift, and in a team that quietly stops caring. The only choice is whether you pay it deliberately.
01
Absence you already absorb
Ten days of sick leave is the statutory floor. Beyond that, every day is either unpaid — and the person leaves — or paid twice, because you cover the shift and the wage. A team scheme moves that cost off your P&L and onto a premium.
02
Replacing people is the expensive part
Advertising, interviewing, induction, mistakes in the first three months, and the clients who follow the person out. A quarter of a salary per departure is a conservative estimate — and it is the number most owners never write down.
03
A looked-after team works differently
Owners who provide health cover report the same thing: people raise problems earlier, cover for each other, and stay. That is not sentiment — it is fewer crisis weeks, less rework and a shorter hiring queue.
04
It shows up in the sale price
A buyer pays for a business that keeps trading without the owner and without key staff. Documented people risk — benefits, a wellbeing framework, low turnover — is one of the few things that raises a multiple rather than a cost line.
What is available at each size
Three bands
| Band | What the scheme can include |
|---|---|
| 5–9 | Health cover for specialist and imaging, surgical cover — plus add-on options |
| 10–14 | Add surgical and specialist cover, scaled by band rather than by individual; life and trauma at 2× salary; income protection at 75% of salary to age 65 with a 30-day wait |
| 15+ | Full specialist and surgical; life, trauma and income protection on one schedule; claims experience rated at renewal |
On tax
How premiums are treated for tax depends on who owns the policy and who benefits. Please check your own position with a tax specialist before you commit; this page does not calculate it.
Working together
Use the tools free. Pay only for the hour.
The calculators cost nothing and always will. What takes time is reading your numbers properly — with your policy schedules on the table and someone asking the awkward questions.
The six tools
Preview for 3 minutes (4 for the employee tool), or until the scroll threshold. Submit contact details to continue; no client account is created.
- All six calculators after enquiry submission
- Save or print a one-page summary
- Nothing leaves your device unless you send it
Risk Report + 45-minute review
Your numbers, your policies, and a written list of what to do first.
- 6–8 page report on your own figures
- 45 minutes, video or in person
- The three gaps that matter most, in writing
- Credited against any advice fee if you go ahead
Board risk review
For companies with 5–50 staff, several shareholders, or a trust behind the shareholding.
- Key person, buy-sell and revenue loss modelled together
- D&O and statutory liability reviewed with the board
- A one-page risk register the board can minute
- A team scheme scoped for your headcount
Why the calculators are free
Because the information was never the scarce part — the reading of it is. Most people spend years collecting articles and comparing quotes, and still not know whether their family would be alright. If a calculator gets you to the right question in ten minutes instead of seven years, it has done its job. There is no catch: use the tools, keep the printout, and call only if you want the numbers checked.