What Factors Influence Cash Value Growth?
With whole life insurance, every time you make a payment, a portion is credited to the cash value account. Furthermore, this account also earns interest, typically 3-4%. Your ongoing premiums, plus interest, will cause the cash value to continually grow as long as you’re alive. Also, some whole life policies pay dividends, which, if reinvested, will also bolster cash value growth.
If you’re in the market for a whole life policy, it’s wise to request an illustration. A life insurance illustration will showcase the cash value projections. Most illustrations will show minimum guaranteed and non-guaranteed cash value figures.
The guaranteed values are the insurer’s absolute minimum cash value figures. The non-guaranteed cash value figures are predictions based on the insurance company’s past investment performance (typically the last ten years).
If you already have a whole life insurance policy, you can call the company and request an in-force illustration to understand where your cash value currently stands and what it’s projected to be in the future.
Dividend Paying (Participating) Whole Life Insurance Cash Value Charts
Participating whole life insurance policies build much more cash value than non-participating ones. Furthermore, they will pay dividends that can be used in a variety of ways, such as increasing the death benefit, paying policy premiums, being withdrawn as cash, or being left on deposit to bolster cash value growth.
Below are some participating whole life insurance cash value charts for coverage ranging from $100,000 to $1 million.
$100,000 participating whole life insurance cash value chart
Rates are calculated at a non-tobacco preferred rating, rounded to the nearest dollar, and are valid as of 03/09/2026. Illustrated values are for a $100,000 participating whole life policy.
$250,000 participating whole life insurance cash value chart
Rates are calculated at a non-tobacco preferred rating, rounded to the nearest dollar, and are valid as of 03/09/2026. Illustrated values are for a $250,000 participating whole life policy.
$500,000 participating whole life insurance cash value chart
Rates are calculated at a non-tobacco preferred rating, rounded to the nearest dollar, and are valid as of 03/09/2026. Illustrated values are for a $500,000 participating whole life policy.
$1,000,000 participating whole life insurance cash value chart
Rates are calculated at a non-tobacco preferred rating, rounded to the nearest dollar, and are valid as of 03/09/2026. Illustrated values are for a $1,000,000 participating whole life policy.
Non-Dividend Paying (Non-Participating) Whole Life Insurance Cash Value Charts
Standard whole life insurance policies differ from participating policies in one primary way- they don’t pay dividends. Of course, they still build cash value, but at a lesser pace. Where standard whole life policies rise above is that they tend to cost less than participating policies.
Below are some standard whole-life insurance cash value charts for coverage ranging from $100,000 to $1 million.
$100,000 whole life insurance cash value chart (non-participating)
Rates are calculated at a non-tobacco preferred rating, rounded to the nearest dollar, and are valid as of 03/09/2026. Illustrated values are for a $100,000 non-participating whole life policy.
$250,000 whole life insurance cash value chart (non-participating)
Rates are calculated at a non-tobacco preferred rating, rounded to the nearest dollar, and are valid as of 03/09/2026. Illustrated values are for a $250,000 non-participating whole life policy.
$500,000 whole life insurance cash value chart (non-participating)
Rates are calculated at a non-tobacco preferred rating, rounded to the nearest dollar, and are valid as of 03/09/2026. Illustrated values are for a $500,000 non-participating whole life policy.
$1,000,000 whole life insurance cash value chart (non-participating)
Rates are calculated at a non-tobacco preferred rating, rounded to the nearest dollar, and are valid as of 03/09/2026. Illustrated values are for a $1,000,000 non-participating whole life policy.
Final Expense Whole Life Insurance Cash Value Charts
Final expense policies are a type of whole life insurance, which means they build cash value. It’s important to know that the purpose of these policies is to have lifelong coverage that will surely be there to pay off your end-of-life expenses.
They are not built for optimal cash value growth. While they do build cash value, it’s minimal, and you should view it as icing on the cake rather than a reason to buy this type of policy.
Below are some sample cash value charts for final expense plans.
$10,000 final expense whole life cash value chart
Rates are calculated at a non-tobacco preferred rating, rounded to the nearest dollar, and are valid as of 03/09/2026. Illustrated values are for a $10,000 final expense whole life policy.
$25,000 final expense whole life cash value chart
Rates are calculated at a non-tobacco preferred rating, rounded to the nearest dollar, and are valid as of 03/09/2026. Illustrated values are for a $25,000 final expense whole life policy.
How The Cash Value Can Be Used
The owner of a whole life insurance policy is entitled to use the cash value however they desire. Here are the various ways cash value can be utilized:
- Loans: You can withdraw any of the cash value and spend the money however you prefer. When you withdraw cash value from a life insurance policy, it counts as a loan against the policy. Loans do not have to be repaid, but they will reduce the death benefit. For example, if you have a $50,000 life insurance policy and have an outstanding $10,000 loan, the insurer will only pay out $40,000 when you die. Loans also accrue interest (typically about 2%), so it’s best to pay them back to keep the loan balance from continually growing over time.
- Pay premiums: The cash value can be used to pay your policy premiums.
- Automatic premium loan: This helpful feature automatically withdraws some of your cash value to pay policy premiums when you fail to do so. The point of this feature is to keep the policy from lapsing due to non-payment. If you choose to enable this feature, the policy will withdraw cash value to keep the policy in force until the cash value runs out.
- Reduced paid-up life insurance: This option lets you convert your policy to paid-up life insurance. The cash value is converted into a corresponding amount of paid-up life insurance. How much life insurance you get depends on how much cash value you have when you exercise this option. For example, if you have $50,000 in cash value, it will likely convert to roughly $75,000-$120,000 of paid-up life insurance.
- Additional paid-up life insurance: If your policy pays dividends, you can opt to use them to buy PUA’s (additional paid-up life insurance). In essence, instead of taking the dividend as cash, you opt to increase the death benefit.
- Cash payment: If you have a dividend-paying policy, you can request that the money be sent to you to spend however you’d like.
When Is Whole Life The Right Policy To Buy?
Whole life insurance is a type of life insurance that is right for those who want lifetime coverage with a guaranteed fixed price and rate of cash value growth. For example, whole life is an ideal option if you need it to cover your funeral expenses, want to leave money to a surviving spouse who depends on your income, or have estate planning needs.
However, it’s important to compare whole life vs term life insurance before you make any final decisions. Term life insurance is significantly less expensive for a much larger death benefit. However, term life insurance expires after a number of years, unlike whole life insurance.
Ultimately, term life insurance is a suitable option for those who need to cover a temporary liability, such as income replacement, or pay off debts, such as a mortgage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cash value grows tax-deferred. Furthermore, it’s virtually impossible to incur a tax burden on cash value withdrawals because the IRS does not treat them as income. The only time cash value withdrawals will be considered income is when the amount exceeds the total premiums you’ve paid into the policy (which will essentially never happen).
The cash value in a whole life policy is guaranteed to increase. It cannot decrease on its own. The only way the cash value in a whole life policy could decrease is if the policy owner elected to withdraw it or utilize it to pay policy premiums.
The cash value in a whole life policy is only pertinent while you’re alive. It can be used in various ways outlined above, all of which are when you’re living. After you die, it becomes null and void and does not pay out in addition to the death benefit.
When you cancel a whole life policy, the insurer will refund you the net surrender value, which is normally equivalent to the current cash value.
Term life insurance does not accrue cash value. Only permanent life insurance policies (whole life and universal life) accumulate cash value.
- Nationally licensed life insurance agent with over 16 years of experience.
- Personal annual production that puts him in the top .001% out of all life insurance agents in the nation.
Anthony Martin is a nationally licensed insurance expert with over 16 years of experience and has personally served over 10,000 clients with their life insurance needs. He frequently authors entrepreneurial and life insurance content for Forbes, Inc.com, Newsweek, Kiplinger, and Entreprenuer.com. Anthony has been consulted as an expert life insurance source for dozens of high-profile websites such as Forbes, Bankrate, Reuters, Fox Business, CNBC, Investopedia, Insurance.com, Yahoo Finance, and many more.
- Nationally licensed life insurance agent with over 20 years of experience
- Best selling Amazon author.
Jeff Root is a nationally licensed life insurance expert with over 20 years of experience. He has personally helped over 3000 clients with their life insurance needs. Jeff is a best-selling Amazon author and the managing partner of a highly successful insurance brokerage that manages over 2,500 licensed insurance agents across the USA. He has been a featured life insurance source for prestigious websites such as Forbes, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, Nerdwallet, and many more.
- Nationally licensed life insurance agent with over 15 years of experience
- Best selling Amazon author of five insurance sales books.
David Duford is a nationally licensed insurance expert with over 15 years of experience. He has personally helped more than 15,000 clients buy life insurance. David has been featured as an expert source for highly authoritative publications such as A.M. Best and Insurancenewsnet. He also runs one of the largest Youtube channels to help aspiring insurance agents serve their clients better.
- Nationally licensed life insurance agent with over 20 years of experience
- Best selling Amazon author.
Jeff Root is a nationally licensed life insurance expert with over 20 years of experience. He has personally helped over 3000 clients with their life insurance needs. Jeff is a best-selling Amazon author and the managing partner of a highly successful insurance brokerage that manages over 2,500 licensed insurance agents across the USA. He has been a featured life insurance source for prestigious websites such as Forbes, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, Nerdwallet, and many more.
- Nationally licensed life insurance agent with over 15 years of experience
- Best selling Amazon author of five insurance sales books.
David Duford is a nationally licensed insurance expert with over 15 years of experience. He has personally helped more than 15,000 clients buy life insurance. David has been featured as an expert source for highly authoritative publications such as A.M. Best and Insurancenewsnet. He also runs one of the largest Youtube channels to help aspiring insurance agents serve their clients better.