One of the most common comments thrown around about the vaccine is, "Do you know what's in the vaccine?"

And most people would have to say they don't know, honestly. They haven't looked that deeply into it.

So let's take a look!

That headline might sound harsh; at the same time, it is a sign of the times where average Joe thinks they are a specialist in medical science after a couple of YouTube videos.

And you're reading this because you're looking for answers on how to pull a loved one out of the rabbit hole. Sorry, it's hard to impossible.

The Covid vaccine appears to be a contentious subject for many, from conspiracy theories to mistrust of science.

One thing that has not been clear and transparent is the understanding that the vaccine doesn't give you immunity to Covid-19. It gives you an immunity response to the spike protein of the shell of the virus.

You’re looking for insurance cover, be it for your life, home, income or health. You have two choices. You can use an insurance advisor to do all the hard work for you, or you could purchase straight from the insurer's website. Which one will you pick?

Obviously, we recommend that you use an insurance advisor and today we’re explaining the five most important reasons why.

Working through the HSWA stuff relating to Covid-19, I wonder how the Americold CEO is going with his WorkSafe notification to avoid the associated $20k fine...

Part of the HSWA is management and reporting of infectious diseases and other pathogen exposures that can cause serious illness. Covid-19 falls into this category.

I think the comments in Russell Hutchison's post linked here It's great information, but it isn't financial advice: need to be echoed far and wide, and I mean to everyone.

Research and research tools are a part of the advice piece clients need; at the same time, they are far from the single source of truth for making product decisions.

We use QPR and also Strategy Financial Services to give us a view on what the insurance product market looks like.

We've been watching the development of Covid-19 since it first emerged out of Wuhan China, as have most people.

Given what we do and how involved in claims we are, we're getting lots of questions on what people can do.

So let's talk about what that might be and what it might look like. (First published 28 Feb 2020, last updated 24 March 2020)

One of the regular questions we are fielding at the moment is the question about how insurance will respond.

The short answer generally well, the not so short answer most policies will respond as intended with a few exceptions.

Those that know me and have read what I write know I get pretty hot under the collar about things that impact peoples outcomes. Australia is about to career down the path of something that is going to punt us back to the dark ages when it comes to looking after people.

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has decided that income protection is unsustainable, and it needs to be regulated to be more sustainable. Understand this is from a profitability and shareholder return perspective, not what is good for the consumer or the Australian public.

2019 has been a tough year for the anti-vaxer, as their myopic view of the world has come home to roost. We have the most significant number of reported cases of measles worldwide since 2006.

The experience here in Auckland compounded by the tragedy that is rolling through Samoa should be evidence enough that vaccination programs are both safe and necessary.

Yet, we are still getting the keyboard warrior social trolls out en-masse defending their indefensible position. Frankly, they need to be driven back into their deep dark, cold, damp caves they came from and torched with napalm. Possibly while waving pitchforks and sharp objects on poles in their direction.

Yes, you've heard it before, you should have medical insurance and income protection. Well here's a story of exactly why you need to consider insurance cover.

Your life may depend on it.

We have a client who has had ongoing issues with immunity for some time. They have the cover and have been able to access treatment in a reasonably timely way.

Strokes, also known as cerebrovascular accidents, are one of the most sudden and unpredictable conditions we as humans can suffer from. Most of the time and with no warning, we can go from fully active and living life normally, to being bed-ridden and incontinent, or in some cases, dead.

Medical researchers and scientists have been working on identifying tools, techniques and medication which can reduce the effect strokes have on the human body. One of their findings is using the supplement melatonin. While relatively new, giving melatonin for stroke recovery is showing positive signs, and we’re going to look into these findings in depth today. We will also explain what a stroke is, plus treatment and rehabilitation too.

Interesting comments from Consumer, quite contrary to the experience we have seen.

Consumers are more likely to find their policy doesn't work as expected when they have arranged their cover directly with the insurer because the majority of consumers don't know what they don't know.

When you apply for insurance, we as your underwriter will perform a risk management assessment on you. This looks at three key factors: what your world and health look like, and the financial aspects that make up your picture. A risk management assessment is done to help us identify the most appropriate type of insurance cover for you.

While writing my last article on redundancy cover and why it should be considered, I had some additional thoughts while reading the research.  

It highlighted for the average punter, just getting on with life, that they didn't necessarily have the time, energy, or inclination, to do the research I had done. And even if they did, they may not have understood what they were seeing.