Child life insurance that grows with them. Whole life insurance for children that can help provide a lifetime of protection — and can build cash value over time, as long as premiums are paid.
Child life insurance that grows with them. Whole life insurance for children that can help provide a lifetime of protection — and can build cash value over time, as long as premiums are paid.
We offer many types of life insurance for people in all stages of life. The Grow-Up® Plan is a whole life insurance policy for children that helps protect your child early on and continues into adulthood and can last a lifetime as long as premiums are paid.
Here’s a look at how the Grow-Up® Plan works, and why buying it early on can be so important and make all the difference in the world for your child.
The Grow-Up® Plan is a children’s whole life insurance policy that offers lifelong coverage for the insured child as long as premiums are paid.
By definition, whole life insurance — also called permanent or traditional life insurance — is designed to last for the insured person’s entire life. Term life insurance, on the other hand, lasts for a specified period of time, such as 10 or 30 years, depending on the insurance provider.
With the Grow-Up® Plan, your child could have life insurance coverage starting as young as 14 days old and lasting throughout adulthood, as long as premium payments are kept up. Plus, their rate will never go up.
This makes the Grow-Up® Plan a great and meaningful gift that can be bought by a child’s parent, grandparent or permanent, legal guardian.
To maintain the policy, one pays a monthly premium. The younger your child is when you buy the policy, the lower the monthly premium. The child-size premium rate when you started the policy will never increase as long as premiums are paid — even after your child automatically becomes the policy owner at age 21.
Your child would pay the same child-size monthly premium rate for life even after becoming the policy owner at age 21. All your child needs to do is keep paying the premiums.
This means that getting a life insurance policy at a younger age can be a huge benefit, as securing your rate early on can save you a large sum of money in the premiums you pay over time. By having Grow-Up® Plan protection with a locked-in premium, your child won't have to worry about rising costs.
The sooner you apply for the Grow-Up® Plan, the lower the premium rate.
“[I] love the Grow-Up Plan, paying now and knowing it will double once they turn 18 helps with my peace of mind.”
- RayRay, Pineville, LA; September 4, 2025
Another benefit the Grow-Up® Plan offers is the doubling of the coverage amount.
On the policy’s anniversary date during the year that your child turns 18, the coverage will automatically double at no extra cost. This means, for example, that if you originally bought a $25,000 Grow-Up® policy, it would double into a $50,000 policy, and so forth.
Your child will gain twice the coverage for the same monthly payment.
"This policy lets my grandchildren lock in a low rate now and keep it as adults, which saves them from much higher life insurance costs later on.”
- NanaBonter, Grant, MI; December 30, 2025
You can’t predict your child’s health, but you can rest easier knowing that with the Grow-Up® Plan, your child won’t risk being denied life insurance later on.
The Grow-Up® Plan guarantees the right for your child to buy more life insurance coverage as an adult — up to ten times the original policy amount — at our standard adult premium rates for his or her age at that time for a standard policy. No questions asked, no medical exam and regardless of whether your child’s job is full-time or high risk.
Your child will have several occasions to buy additional coverage, such as upon getting married or having a child — times when there’s a need for increased life insurance to financially protect loved ones.
* Guaranteed right to purchase additional insurance is through the Guaranteed Purchase Option Rider included on all standard issue policies. Policy Form Series GPO-12
Whole life insurance policies include the ability to build “cash value” over time, representing how much the policy would be worth at a given point in time were you to cash in the policy or take a loan against the policy.
Here’s how cash value works:
After the initial policy years, each time you make a premium payment for a Grow-Up® Plan, Gerber Life sets aside a small portion, which grows into the policy’s cash value over time.
If a need arose, you as the policy owner — or subsequently your adult child — could borrow against the policy’s cash value* as long as all premiums are paid, or turn in the policy for the available cash value. In some instances, you might be able to apply the cash value toward making premium payments.
However, it’s important to remember that any loan debt against the policy reduces the amount you’d receive if you surrendered the policy, or the payout amount to your beneficiaries.
* Loans will accrue interest. Cash value may take years to accumulate. Loans and withdrawals may generate an income tax liability, reduce the Account Value and the Death Benefit, and may cause the policy to lapse.
If you must cash out, no problem. You would receive the accumulated cash value that has been building over time, less any outstanding debt against the policy. Just call our customer service number at 800-704-2180.
It’s natural and advisable to compare your needs with the benefits of a Grow-Up® Plan. “Is Gerber Life Insurance a good idea?” is a valid question, since protecting your child’s future shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Some food for thought:
Whether or not you have life insurance for yourself, it’s well worth considering a life insurance policy for your child. Yes, you could add a rider to your existing life insurance policy to cover your child, but doing so could leave your child without insurance when your policy ends.
In the end, you may find that it makes sense to fully invest in your child by giving the gift of an individual whole life policy.
The sooner we start thinking about our children’s future, the better off our children can be.
By enabling financial protection, the Grow-Up® Plan makes it easier for your child to have life insurance coverage as an adult, along with the guaranteed right to buy additional coverage as your child’s adult life evolves. More coverage means your child can have even greater financial protection.
With the Grow-Up® Plan, you can help provide your child some coverage against the unexpected, which can help give you peace of mind. We’ve helped provide comfort to families for more than 50 years, and we’re ready to protect yours, too.
Now that you know how the Grow-Up® Plan works, you can decide if it is the best option. Get started with your free quote, which will give you an idea of what the policy will cost. When you’re ready to apply, select the amount of coverage that’s right for you (remember, it doubles later!), answer a few other questions and submit your application. That’s it!
Once you’re approved, we’ll send you your policy, which takes effect as soon as we receive your first premium payment. Call us at 1-800-704-3331 with any Grow-Up® Plan questions.
You may find that it makes sense to fully invest in your child by giving the gift of an individual whole life policy.
Take the guesswork out of important decisions with easy-to-understand content that helps you plan with purpose.
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Gerber Life is the marketing name for all direct-to-consumer business of Western & Southern Financial Group and its subsidiaries, which include Gerber Life Insurance Company, an insurance carrier, and Gerber Life Agency, a licensed insurance agency leveraging Fabric Technologies. Click here for more information about Western & Southern Financial Group and its companies.
