Does Life Insurance Work As An Investment? 
Yes , cash value life insurance can work as an investment . That said , comparing the returns of the stock market to a life insurance policy is sort of a fools errand . Why ? RISK . Risk is the thing that keeps people up at night , worried about their investments panning out or not . When you consider cash value life as part of your financial plan , you are choosing a conservative , low return , very low risk choice . This may free you up to be more aggressive in other investment options as your cash values become a fall back or `` if I screw up elsewhere , I 've still got this '' investment . Will cash values provide stock market returns while maintaining the relative safety ? Nope . Stock Market returns require taking Stock Market risks . The up and down of a portfolio . Cash Value life will in most cases continue to move upward over time slowly moving upward . While that does n't sound exciting , a few years back when the market slapped everybody back ten years , my cash values continued to grow as they do n't go backwards . Something to think about as you plan for your life . Cash value plans provide if you do n't come home and they provide if you do come home . 