When Does Life Insurance Have A Cash Value? 
Life insurance has cash value under the circumstances below . The thing is that depending on how you manage that cash , it can be a blessing or a curse . Whole life has cash value when the company pays dividends . These are not guaranteed , but are typically paid . Over time , they can add up . But once you use that tempting loan provision , that cash value not only goes down but so does the death benefit . Better make sure you can deal with that . Universal life has cash value when the company applies a high enough interest rate to the policy account . That can be higher than a lot of conservative instruments out there . But you can take cash out of the policy . And , you can stop paying premiums , or under pay , if you want . What do you think will happen if the interest rate goes down and you deplete the policy of cash ? It will die an ugly death . So be careful . 