Many people took out an endowment policy when they got a mortgage to buy their house. This policy was meant to provide the cash to pay off the mortgage after a certain time, many hoped that they would even have money left over for a holiday or maybe a new car.
If you are considering cashing endowment policies it means that you want to sell your policy back to your insurance company. They will buy back the policy from you if you want to cash it in. You will however not get back as much money as it is worth as they tend to offer a lower amount than its actual value. The amount you get back will depend on a number of factors including how many paid up years you have and the company you bought it from in the first place.
These days you do have other options for cashing in your policy. There is now a second hand market for endowments where investors buy and sell endowments in the hope of making a profit. Even after you stop paying into a policy its value should in theory continue to grow as long as the markets are growing so investors can make money.
The second hand market means that you now have another option for cashing endowment policies. You can usually get much more money by selling to someone other than the company that you originally brought the policy from.
To cash in your policy you can get a quote from both your insurer and from an endowments broker. This then give you the option to decide where you are going to sell to get the best price. A broker will be able to get you the best price based on the current market demand. As demand fluctuates you may get more for it one day than you would another, it all depends on how the markets are moving.