What is a participating policy?

Participating policies are policies that may pay you dividends, meaning you have a chance to participate in the company’s earnings. Life insurance dividends are refunds of parts of your premium. When a company collects more in premiums than it needs to pay death claims and maintain the insurance pool, the company may pay dividends at the end of that year. Always check to determine if and when dividends would be paid on your policy. Not all participating policies have guaranteed dividends, so payment of dividends is not guaranteed.