Essentially life insurance provides financial protection to your family and dependents in the event of any unforeseen event or your untimely death. To cover you under a life insurance policy, an insurance company will charge you a certain sum of money (called the premium) periodically. The premium paid helps cover the risk that the life insurance company takes by insuring your life and in turn entitles your family to receive a fixed lump sum.

The premium you pay depends on a variety of factors including age, health and the amount of life cover you want to name a few. However, premiums are typically lower for younger, healthier people, so starting early is always beneficial for you.

There two major categories under which all life insurance plans can be categorized. These categories are as follows:

• Traditional plans – Traditional life insurance plans make sure that the investments made by the policy holders are not exposed to equities. They are also called as non-unit linked insurance plans. Such plans are suited for customers looking for pure risk protection. These plans are also suitable for those who are totally risk averse and want complete safety of their investments.
• Unit Linked Insurance plans (ULIPs) –ULIPs, as the name suggests, allows for the investments made by the policyholders to get exposed to equities. They may also be called as market linked life insurance plans. ULIPs are suited for customers who aim for wealth creation over a long term. The level of equity exposure can be as per your risk appetite thus making ULIPs highly flexible.

Life Insurance is required because of the following factors -

• The need for income continues for those who are financially dependent on you even when you are not around to look after them.
• After retirement, there is no guarantee of your ability to earn consistently for rest of your life.
• The expenses you may incur in future will keep increasing due to inflation, thus even a fluctuation in your income may lead to a compromised lifestyle,
• Limited access to information and the time constraints you have may lead to inefficient management of your investments resulting in grim returns.
• Your limited appetite to take risk may hinder you from parking your savings into pure equity options.

Kotak Life Insurance (Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Ltd.) is one of India’s leading life insurance companies. It is joint venture between Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. and Old Mutual Plc, South Africa, one of the biggest Life Insurance companies in the world. Because of the strong investment lineage of Kotak group Kotak Life Insurance is able to offer a comprehensive variety of products and services that suit the diverse needs and risk-return profiles of every investor. We have been growing over the past 9 years and are committed to using our expertise in securing your future and ensuring that your investments keep giving you lucrative returns.