<prompt> Human: Apparently my father purchased a variable whole life insurance policy from Northwestern Mutual for me shortly after I was born. Now that Im done with graduate school and working, he is transferring the ownership to me. I know that reddit tends to hate life insurance, but Id like some opinions on what to do with this one.The annual premium is 1k and as of the middle of last year the net death benefit was about 260,000, the last dividend was about 350, and the net cash value was a little over 30,000. I believe the total cash surrender value is just under 12,000 according to the 2017 illustration. What I find interesting according to the illustration is that the cash surrender value yearly increase will become larger than the annual premium in about five years if I continue the policy.I have no debt and no children, but am planning on getting married in the next 2-3 years. Kids maybe 2-3 years after that. My dad thinks I should hold on to the policy because it has a good rate for its type maybe? and will be a nice amount of money to cash out on when Im older. Im considering cashing out now so I can invest the money in my Vanguard fund where it should grow at a better rate, then wait to buy term life insurance once I start a family. Thoughts?  <response>: I also have a plan like this. Each month they take 75 from me. In one year that is 900. Ive kept track of the surrender value, and every year, it has been increasing by 2000 so Im paying in 900, but they add in 1,100. 2016 surrender was 27,204 with 237 dividend. 2017 surrender is 29,340 with 260 dividend. Clearly, this is better than any investment out there today. Do some calculations and get a better idea of how itll grow. My mother got this for me when I was a toddler so of course she was paying a lot more in the beginning and it was of much less over-all value. But because they have been paying so long, now its clearly gaining at a much higher rate than what Im putting into it. Other people saying its a sunk cost - its not anymore since you started yours so young. 