What Is Non-Participating Whole Life Insurance? 
That is a great question ! Many insurers are regular corporations , and some are mutual or fraternal organizations . As they make money , as in any corporation , there are dividends that may be paid . Mutual insurers are a lot like mutual funds , -LRB- I am simplifying this tremendously -RRB- in that they will generally pay those dividends , as each policy holder is a shareholder in the company . The ones that pay are `` participating '' ; the ones that do n't are `` non-participating . '' Unfortunately , there are far less participating companies than non-participating . I hope that helps , thanks for asking ! 