Life insurance glossary
Policy dividend
Plain-English definition
A non-guaranteed payment that participating life insurance policies may distribute when the insurer's experience is favourable.
A share of the insurer's good years — welcome, but never promised.
What a policy dividend represents
A dividend on a participating life insurance policy is a distribution the insurer may make to par policyholders when its actual experience turns out better than the conservative assumptions built into the premiums. That experience reflects three main things: investment returns in the participating account, mortality (claims experience), and expenses. When these come in favourably, the surplus can be shared back with par policyholders as dividends.
It is important to understand that these dividends are not the same as stock dividends, and they are not guaranteed. Insurers set a dividend scale that can change from year to year based on ongoing experience. A policy illustration showing decades of projected dividends is a scenario built on current assumptions, not a promise.
How you can use dividends
When dividends are paid, you typically have several options for what to do with them. You can take them in cash, use them to reduce your premiums, leave them on deposit to accumulate with interest, or use them to purchase paid-up additional insurance, which increases both your coverage and your cash value with no additional underwriting.
The paid-up additions option is popular for people using participating whole life to build value over time, because it compounds coverage and cash value. The tax treatment of each option differs — dividends taken in cash or left to accumulate can have tax consequences depending on the policy's adjusted cost basis — so it is worth confirming the treatment with a licensed advisor before choosing.