In the same example, if mary has life insurance that pays $100,000 to peter upon her death, then the face amount is $100,000. Key factors to consider when making changes with life insurance. Term Life Vs Universal Life Insurance Option a is a level death benefit, called the specified or face amount. Universal life insurance face amount . The option to adjust your premium payment is. You can always choose to quit and walk away with what you have—your cash value (subtract any surrender charges). Universal life insurance is often sold using projections showing the amounts. If you have (for example) cash value of $50k, a death benefit of $100k, and you are nearing that crossover point, you have to estimate the odds of the policy staying in force to pay a death benefit. When you buy a permanent life insurance policy such as a whole, universal, or variable life policy, you may discover that the policy has two vales, the face value and the cash value. It allows for a greater degr...