All Life Insurance Tips - Can you really cash in life insurance?

Can you really cash in life insurance?

I though that its somthing you can only get once you die? i plan on geting gerber life insurance for my child

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Some companies will pay you "early" to become the beneficiaries of your life insurance if you are terminally ill (cancer, diseased, etc). The payout will be significantly less, but at least you get to enjoy it.
some plans do carry a cash value that you can terminate coverage and get cash back. You'll have to check with insurance company first to find out. I believe Gerber life insurance does carry a cash value, but you'll need to check with them to find out for sure.
Life insurance is a good system but you can also save money for your child in the bank .
"Whole Life" policies do carry a cash value depending on the length of time you held the policy (paid premiums)...They are extremely poor investment strategies as they are very expensive relative to buying a "term life" policy which carries no cash value and only pays on death or some disabilities. So insure to protect dependents with term life and invest the difference in more lucrative investment vehicles.
If you have a type of policy where you get a portion back you can (this is called a universal life policy). A gerber life is called a johnny jumper policy...at age 21 your child can either reenroll the policy or can have a nice little savings account.
Yes, sometimes. Whole life (or cash value) policies build up a cash value as you continue to pay the premiums. There are usually more disadvantages than advantages to these plans. Also, there are convertible and transferable policies that can be sold in exchange for a loan against the proceeds. This practice is just starting to resurface and is not legal in all states. The idea here is that someone who is older (typically over 65) can name the lender as beneficiary of their life policy in exchange for a loan that will give them cash to live on while they are alive. Aside from the whole sci-fi angle of someone having a contract on your life, the other fear is what if you outlive the loan proceeds? Getting a small amount of insurance to cover final expenses on a child makes sense as long as the policy is Guaranteed renewable (like Gerber) and from a top rated company. The biggest reason for doing this is future insurability. Not to wish your child any harm, but if they are diagnosed as diabetic, have a back injury, or some other lasting condition, they may not be elligible later in life to get insurance when they have their own assets to protect.
OK, if you pay $10 a month or some such, and you want to cash in the policy when the kid is 18, you'll be lucky to get $175. Do the math. It's a HUGE ripoff. It's NOT a good savings plan. With Gerber, less than 10% of what you pay in goes towards cash value. It's really your OWN money. If you INSIST on buying life insurance for your child (and I don't recommend it, and don't have any on my kids as I think it's a ripoff), buy a term policy for, oh, $50 a YEAR for $25,000 of coverage. It will cost a fraction of the Gerber policy, and if you save HALF the difference, you'll have 5X as much money at the end.
If you buy a policy that accumulates cash value, you can cash it in. I think it's a great idea to buy life insurance for your child as a significant percentage of children will be uninsurable by the time they're 21. Buying insurance now will guarantee that he or she will have coverage if he or she develops a condition that will make him or her uninsurable later. Gerber is OK, but consider purchasing a policy from MetLife, or New York Life. The price won't be significantly more, but you'll be with a reputable company. (Gerber is slowly getting out of the business). Also, those 2 companies pay the highest dividends, meaning, you'll get more bangfor your buck from those policies. Make sure you purchase a Guaranteed Insurability Rider that will give your child the right to purchase more life insurance if they wish without providing evidence of insurability. Well worth the couple extra dollars. Good luck, down the road your child will be happy you did this for him or her.
Some life insurance policies have a Cash Value that accumulates during the life of the policy. These types of insurance are called Universal Life, Whole Life, etc... Generally, after the first few years you can either borrow against the Cash Value and repay it (if you die the outstanding loan will be deducted from the face amount). Or, you can cancel the policy and get the surrender value, this is what is generally referred to as cashng in your life policy. The surrender value is the cash value minus the surrender charge. Surrender chardes are usually charged during the first 7 to 14 years of the policy. There usually no cash value on term policies, although a few companies offer a Return of Premium term product. I hope this helps. Email if you have any questions. Alvin
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You've probably gotten the idea that the short answer is "yes, if it has surrender value," but you seriously should work with an independent agent who can likely show you better options than what Gerber has. There is a cost associated with the convenience of simplified or guaranteed issue life insurance.
In short: yes you can. However there seems to be a lot of misconceptions here. When you buy an insurance policy with cash values, these values grow steady, but slow. In a child, it might be years before these values appear. Let's say you buy a policy for 25000 on your child. Some of the gerber plans are payable for 20 years only. After 20 years of payments, the insurance will stay with your child forever. However, that doesn't mean he can cash it out for the 25000. If he cashes it out, they might give him 1000 or 1200, or any amount of money, but less than 25000 (usually the amount of money will be written in the policy). Each year that goes by, the cash value will grow (regarless if you finisht o pay the policy or not), usually it will reach the face value of the policy (the 25000) when the insured (your child) turns 100 years old.
As others are telling you term is a better price for coverage. You don't need a lot of coverage on children as they don't really have responsibilities, but you do need to have some money just in case (funeral, missed work, etc). The best part about getting life insurance on a child is that there are policies that will be able to convert into more coverage later on for your child. The best part is that in some cases they don't need to proof health suitability (let's say the child develops diabetes, or something worse that would not allow him to qualify for insurance as adult, at least they will have the policy you have). The BEST thing to do to cover children is find a FAMILY POLICY, you have to look but they are out there! You only pay ONE policy fee and the children all go as one rider (LESS expensive). This will also help if you cover your spouse as a rider (again, less expensive). You must also remember to SAVE! Term is great and is the best price, but it is not permanent. It is a temporary protection while you build up the savings to cover costs. At some point you should be self insured. GOOD LUCK!