The research "Risking Everything", carried out by Horizon Research, looked at New Zealanders attitudes to financial risk and how they protected their wealth should the worst happen.

"Risking Everything found that although most Kiwis are aware of their financial risks, they aren’t doing much about it," chief executive Richard Klipin said. 

He said it showed there was more for the sector to do to improve access to quality, easy-to-understand protection.

“The majority of New Zealanders have not considered the risk of ‘protecting me’, with just 20% of respondents saying they had considered a risk of lost income due to illness or serious injury.

“Over 50% of Kiwis said that they disliked having to think about impact of financial risk, and when they do think about it, almost half (43%) then forget about it.

“The research indicates that a stigma still remains in New Zealand around discussing, managing and engaging with financial risk.

“Adding to this high stakes gamble, the research also found that two thirds of New Zealanders don’t have sufficient savings to cover an unexpected short-term loss of income.

“Of those surveyed, on 37% thought that they had sufficient savings to cover household expenses such as rent or mortgage repayments for a three-month period."

He said premium affordability and risk prioritisation were the key issues affecting take-up rates.

“Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed had checked car and home contents insurance in the past few years, yet only 20% had considered the financial implications for other members of their family if they died.

“It is worrying that many of us spend more time worrying about protecting our car than our life, family or source of income and that we are still very reliant on family and friends to help us out."