Participating whole life policies are the policies where policy holders receive the dividends into the policy if declared by the company. Dividends declared invest into the policy and become part of the guarantees of the polices going forward. So regardless of the performance of funds you never see the cash value decrease unless you opt to use it.
Participating whole life policies have great benefits. There is a guaranteed payout at the death. Premiums for the policies are fixed meaning they never change regardless of the age. Over the period of time cash value is built into the policy and policy holder can access the cash value while being alive for any emergency need or child education or retirement income. The cash value of the policy grows tax free while inside the policy subject to government limits.