Better than quitting
Selling life insurance – who is it worth it for?
Updated on 02/21/2026 – 07:43 amReading time: 5 minutes
Life insurance is actually intended to protect you financially. But if necessary, you can also sell them. What you should pay attention to.
Having life insurance used to be standard. But the number of contracts is now falling. On the one hand, fewer people are taking out a new policy, but on the other hand, many insured people want to get rid of them.
One way to make money quickly is to sell life insurance. We explain who this is suitable for, how much money you can expect and what you should know about the tax.
If you’re thinking about getting rid of your life insurance, you don’t necessarily have to cancel it. A better option may be to sell the life insurance – not to your own insurer, but to a third, specialist provider.
This person then continues the contract and pays the contributions on your behalf until the end of the term. In return, the provider later receives the payout from which he hopes to make a profit.
Nevertheless, there may of course be other reasons why policyholders think it makes sense to end the contract – for example because they urgently need money. For you as a person with life insurance, selling the insurance is usually more worthwhile than canceling it and only collecting the small surrender value from your insurance company. Read here what your life insurance is worth.
Life insurance buyers usually pay you a little more than the surrender value. This amounts to the contributions you have paid minus the costs and a cancellation fee. You will find the exact value in the annual contract notification.
According to the consumer advice center, there is a surcharge of up to 5 percent for a sale compared to a cancellation. But that depends very much on your contract. The price you get is determined by the guaranteed interest rate, the remaining term and the profit participation, among other things. Your age can also play a role.
