What Does The Cash Value Of A Life Insurance Mean? 
The cash value of your life insurance policy is actually a reserve build up inside the policy . Most permanent life insurance plans accumulate cash reserves that can be borrowed by the policy owner . Cash value policies also have surrender values and maturity or endowment values . If you decide to surrender your policy the carrier will send you a check representing the accumulated cash value of your policy and , in some cases , a termination dividend . If you keep the policy long enough until it endows , usually at age 100 , the policy is surrendered by the carrier and a check for the maturity value of the policy . 