Can I Withdraw Money From My Term Life Insurance?

  1. 1313 POINTS
    Lenny Robbins
    Principal, LifeNet Insurance Solutions, Redmond, WA
    Although term insurance has no cash value in most cases, unless it is a policy with "ROP" or "return of premium". However most term policies today in most states offer a free rider that will allow a portion of the death benefit to be accessed in the event of a terminal illness.
    Answered on December 1, 2014
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  2. 10968 POINTS
    Tim Wilhoit
    Owner, Your Friend 4 Life, Brentwood TN
    Ordinarily, there is no money or cash value to withdraw from a term life insurance policy. Only permanent life insurance policies such as whole life and universal life have cash value to withdraw. Most term life policies have a terminal illness feature that allows the insured to access up to half of the face amount if diagnosed with an illness with a life expectancy of less than 12 months to live. Other than that, there is no cash value to pull from unfortunately.
    Answered on December 2, 2014
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  3. 21750 POINTS
    Jim Winkler
    CEO/Owner, Winkler Financial Group, Houston, Texas
    That is a great question! Unfortunately, term policies are typically very cheap because they have very few perks, One of the perks that they do not have is the ability to withdraw cash from them. There is no cash accumulation in term policies, therefore there is nothing to withdraw from. The premium you pay is typically only enough to pay for the cost of the insurance. Unless you have some form of rider on your policy (and you'd be paying extra for it to be there) you will not be able to get cash from your policy. Thank you for asking!
    Answered on December 2, 2014
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  4. 63333 POINTS
    Peggy Mace
    Most of the U.S.
    Regular Term Life Insurance has no cash value to withdraw money from. However, Term Life policies with "living benefits" do allow you to access the death benefit in the form of cash while you are still living, in certain situations. The triggers that could allow you to use the death benefit as cash while still alive are: a) being diagnosed with a critical illness such as cancer, heart attack, etc; b) being unable to do to or more ADL's for an extended period of time; and/or c) being diagnosed with less than 1-2 years to live.
    Answered on December 3, 2014
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  5. 5877 POINTS
    Stan Cox II
    Insurance Adviser - Broker, SC Insurance Services, Oahu, Hawaii
    As I always say: Term Life insurance is ONLY insurance against dying too early. There is no other benefit to term insurance other than if the insured dies before the term runs out. Or as mentioned by everyone above here, if you are in the process of dying - diagnosed with a terminal condition, (other than life itself...which at present is a "terminal condition"), and not expected to live more than one or two years - you may be able to access most of the death benefit before you die. Otherwise there is NO cash value from which to borrow in connection with term insurance.
    Answered on October 10, 2015
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