Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how to figure out what insurance is worth getting, and what's not. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Insurance is one of those areas that gets murky even for the experts.

There are lots of different things you can insure, from your stuff, to your house, even pets or your health.

There's also insurance for your income, and one rather worrying statistic shows about 55,000 NZ households lose their main source of income each year, whether that's because of accident, illness, or unemployment.

Most of us need that income to get by, yet only about 15 per cent of us have income protection insurance.

But what's hard about insurance more generally is knowing when it's worth it. Insurance can cost a lot, and while it gives you peace of mind, you also want to be sure you get the benefits that make it worthwhile.

There is a school of thought that says you should "self-insure" – otherwise known as making sure you have enough savings to replace something yourself, if disaster strikes.

That can work well for the small stuff.

Happily the Herald has rolled out a series on insurance, putting all aspects under a microscope.

For the latest Cooking the Books I talked to Herald money editor Tamsyn Parker.

We discussed what most people are missing, how to figure out what you need for your life, and common areas of overinsurance.

You can read more about the insurance series here:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12295127
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12300549

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook