Only the cash value of permanent policies you own counts toward your net worth while the insured person is alive. If you receive a death benefit as beneficiary of a life insurance policy, then the entire amount that you received does count toward your net worth for financial planning purposes.
You can certainly count the cash surrender value of a life insurance policy towards your networth.
The death benefit of a policy would be added to your total gross estate, but you would normally not include this in your networth calculation while you are alive.
Agent Owner, Gilmore Insurance Services, Marysville, Washington State
Does life insurance count towards net worth? Well, it depends on who's doing the counting. Normally, the cash values of a life insurance policy could be included in net worth calculations, but usually not the death benefit. Now, in dealing with estate tax planning the life insurance death benefit is included as part of the taxable estate value. This is based on ownership of the policy. If the policy is owned by a trust or another person, it is not counted against the estate.
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The death benefit of a policy would be added to your total gross estate, but you would normally not include this in your networth calculation while you are alive.