Whole Life Insurance Policy Question

You can receive some tiny fraction of what you put in

Yeah by quick gorilla math I got like $400 out of the likely $10,000 she put in to it over a decade. Very nice thought on her part but like many older folks was easy prey to scumbag insurance sales people. We didn't even know she had them until it came up.

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Whole life screws you out of.. I mean lets you build a cash value, that yes if you cancel the policy you retain the cash value. If you die, you do not.

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If you die, you get what you paid in towards the cash value minus the earnings right? Or do you not get any of the cash value at all?

No. Unless you've had the policy for a MINIMUM of 20 years and that's if you have a fantastic company with great dividends.

Otherwise you will only get a fraction back, if any at all.

They are all different. Most don't gain a cash value until at least a year in. If you could always cash out what you put in, then everyone would have piles of WL coverage. There is always the "cost of insurance" that keeps you from getting back all that you have put in (early on into the policy), however, the cash value on some will exceed the amount paid in on some policies after several years of the policy being in force (usually depends in interest rates).

All WL contracts are different. Call the agent and ask what the death benefit is and the surrender value. Also, you may be able to take a loan from the cash value if you want to keep the policy in force but need the money