Why choose an endowment policy? Well, if you’re a person who needs some kind of insurance protection (let’s say you’re a parent with young kids), but wants to get his money back during his lifetime (once the kids are old enough to stand on their own), then an endowment policy is for you. An endowment policy is a life insurance contract that is designed to pay a lump sum after a specified term. Typically, maturities end in ten, fifteen or twenty years. Once the total amount is paid off, your insurance contract ends. Endowments can be cashed in early (or ’surrendered’) and the holder then receives the surrender value which is determined by the insurance company depending on how long the policy has been running and how much has been paid in to it. In a way, endowments can be viewed as “forced savings”. Some endowment policies can even be viewed as long-term investments depending on the rate of return.