Withdrawing dividends from whole life insurance policies

Generally, dividends purchase more life insurance with each future dividend issued. This is called paid up additions. It's not the only dividend option, but it's the most common.

Cashing out your dividends would likely reduce your death benefit. It would also likely reduce the amount of future dividends paid. You can withdraw some, or all, of the accrued dividends without disrupting the basic life insurance plan.

The value of your policy if you cash it out is called cash surrender value. That term and amount should appear on your policy statements.

Hope this helps.