What is a rider in insurance?
Life Insurance Riders
- Top 12 types of life insurance riders
- Guaranteed Insurability Rider
- Waiver of Premium Rider
- Accelerated Benefits and More!
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Life Insurance Riders
Would you like your life insurance policy to have some extra benefits? How about customizing your life insurance policy? How do you find the least expensive life insurance riders from the best life insurance companies.
Life Insurance Riders are extra benefits and features that are added to your life insurance policy. Let’s dive deeper and learn more about riders!
Table of Contents
Learn about life insurance riders
Our Ultimate Life Insurance Riders Guide will help to explain what a rider on a life insurance policy is and if it can be a benefit to you. As a life insurance shopper, there are steps you can take to make your life insurance policy more effective. To begin with, you’ll need to figure out the kind of policy that is most suitable, then you’ll have to think about any potential coverage gaps.
A conventional life insurance policy might not fulfill all your specific needs and could make you susceptible to loss. Life insurance riders may help modify and customize a life insurance policy that has some gaps in coverage. Riders can leave you content knowing your gaps are completely taken care of.
What is a Life Insurance Rider?
We should begin with a life insurance rider definition.
Life insurance riders are additions to your life insurance policy that provides expanded benefits in the policy contract. Think of riders as a type of extra life insurance coverage with a variety of functions. You can buy the rider as an addition to your existing policy. These riders offer you supplementary coverage for certain scenarios.
An advantage of a life insurance rider is that you can get more coverage for unique situations and unexpected, costly health circumstances, such as nursing care.
Top 12 Best Life Insurance Riders
There are many life insurance riders to choose from that offer extra coverage for various scenarios. Not every company offers life insurance riders and not all riders are available when they do offer.
The following are the best life insurance riders that are most useful for shoppers looking for additional benefits:
- Guaranteed Insurability Rider
- Long-term Care Rider
- Family Income Benefit Rider
- Child Protection Rider
- Accelerated Death Benefit Rider / Critical Illness Rider
- Accidental Death Benefit Rider
- Return of Premium Rider
- Disability Income Rider
- Waiver of Premium Rider
- Term Conversion Rider
- Cost of Living Rider
- Burial and Funeral Insurance Rider
1. Guaranteed Insurability Rider
With the guaranteed insurability rider, you can renew a term policy once the end of the term is reached, no matter what your health state is, with this rider. Review the provisions meticulously as there are precise circumstances that differ for each company.
2. Long-term Care Rider
The long term care rider provides a certain coverage benefit amount for a set duration. There are variations available. This might let you or your beneficiaries the chance to collect some or all the long-term benefits if the premiums aren’t used. Others let the buyer obtain their unused premiums back, or give back the premiums if the insured cancels coverage.
3. Family Income Benefit Rider
Your beneficiary/family can obtain your death benefits in monthly increments for a specific period (instead of getting them as a single payment) with this rider.
4. Child Protection Rider
With child rider life insurance, you’ll receive nominal coverage if your child should pass away as a result of an accident, and can be used to finance medical or funeral expenses, based on the amount of coverage you intend to purchase. These policies’ issuance might warrant a health profile of the child.
5. Accelerated Death Benefit Rider / Critical Illness Rider
With a critical illness rider or accelerated death benefit rider you’ll have the life insurance option allows you to collect either some or all your life insurance benefit. With critical illness or accelerated death benefit riders, if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness and need long-term care in a nursing home or facility you can access an amount that is stated in you policy. This rider’s term will let you pay for medical costs or other extra expenses you are billed with because of the terminal illness.
6. Accidental Death Benefit Rider
Get extra life insurance coverage if you pass away because of an accident with an accidental death benefit rider. It typically pays double the amount of your existing life insurance coverage. At times, it is called “double indemnity.” Several of these riders also permit extra payment for loss of a limb, or dismemberment.
7. Return of Premium Rider
A return of premium rider can bought individually or as part a main life insurance policy. It applies to term life insurance policies and guarantees that all premium payments will be returned (less interest) once the policy or term expires.
8. Disability Income Rider
With a disability income rider term life insurance you will get a monthly income if you become disabled as described in the life insurance policy.
9. Waiver of Premium Rider
Your life insurance premiums will keep being paid if you aren’t able to work because of a disability with a Waiver of Premium rider.
10. Term Conversion Rider
Change a cheap term life insurance policy (if you have one) into a permanent insurance policy like universal or whole-life with your term conversion rider (without the need to undergo a medical exam). It is helpful for younger individuals who find permanent policies too expensive, but want a policy that covers their lifetime. Features of convertibility come with certain necessities, so ensure you read the policy’s fine print.
11. Cost of Living Rider
Automatically add more life insurance coverage to your existing policy with this rider (based on the Consumer Price Index, which counters inflation over the lifespan of your existing policy).
12. Burial and Funeral Insurance Rider
Extra smaller policies can be bought, which will offer or pre-pay a certain death benefit amount to compensate funeral costs.
These life insurance riders are a great starting point if you’re looking to modify your life insurance policy.
Are Life Insurance Riders Worth It?
Figuring out if you require a life insurance rider will be based on your financial circumstances, health state, age, dependent’s needs, and intentions to have coverage for a precise scenario. Your requirement for a life insurance rider may also be based on how much life insurance protection you have in your existing policy, and what coverage gaps are apparent.
Security and Price of Life Insurance Riders
Rather than buying a life insurance policy that doesn’t fit your needs, we recommend you modify your policy by using an insurance rider. Riders give current life insurance policies extra coverage, and can be customized to reduce coverage that a policy addresses.
Be mindful, however, that adding these additional riders to your life insurance policy could raise your premiums. In some situations it can raise them by a great deal. Just be sure the coverage truly justifies the costs.
Getting rid of unnecessary coverage is a practical approach to minimizing how much you’re spending on coverage. If you really want a life insurance policy, but find it to be too costly – check to see if you can add a rider. You may be able to lower the coverage amount in a certain area that isn’t as important.
When you purchase life insurance, existing riders differ by policy and life insurance company. This is just like the regulations they operate with. The price you pay will also differ. The costs are based on several aspects, such as your health, age, and policy type.
What Riders Should You Use?
Life insurance riders can be used for a variety of strategies. Here are 3 common situations where riders can be beneficial.
- Paying off Debt
- Paying for College
- Paying for a Funeral
Paying Off Debt with Life Insurance Riders
There are several ways life insurance riders can be used to repay debts. For instance, if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, an accelerated death benefit rider lets you obtain all or some of your death benefits immediately.
Those benefits can be used to cover all or some of your bills. Your beneficiary can repay debts that are on a monthly budget with a family income rider.
A disability income rider will offer an income source if you suffer a disability, and it will let you keep paying off your current credit cards and personal loans.
If you were to pass away unexpectedly as a result of an accident, the amount of your death benefits can be doubled with an accidental death benefit rider. This additional source of revenue can be used to pay off current bills and mortgage.
Paying for College with Life Insurance Riders
Tuition for university and college is pricey and could take a lifetime to pay back a student loan.
Most life insurance riders can offer you or your beneficiaries additional coverage so that the student loan will still be repaid if you were to pass away unexpectedly, if you get disabled, or become critically ill and aren’t able to bring home a paycheck.
Paying for a Funeral with Life Insurance Riders
There are riders or policies developed to cover burial or funeral expenses. These policies or riders can be purchased individually from your main life insurance policy. They are available in several products, like final expense insurance, pre-need funeral insurance, and burial insurance. These policies will pre-pay the funeral home or pay your beneficiary a single amount addressed in the policy.
A typical life insurance policy like a permanent or term policy might not meet all your goals. You can personalize and boost your life insurance protection by shopping for riders. Riders will help you build a suitable insurance package that covers all of your main issues and goals. Life insurance riders differ substantially per insurance company.
To get an ideal rider for your insurance needs, get in touch with us. Your personal agent can aid you in comparing all of the policy rider options and customizing them for your specific needs.
Bottom Line
Securing proper coverage is so important because the unexpected can always happen. When it comes to life insurance riders, there really isn’t a 1 size fits all solution. You have to see what is important to you and weigh your life insurance policy options. Only then will you have the best policy that meets your goals and needs.
At Life Insurance Blog, we want you to understand how each life insurance rider works. We’ll help explain them so you can weigh the advantages and disadvantages of adding a rider to your policy.
To find extra life insurance coverage with an ideal rider to cover you, speak to your Life Insurance Blog independent agent. We can obtain quotes from the top companies in the market. You’ll also get the best coverage for all your life insurance needs.
Life Insurance Quote
Thank you for reading our guide, Life Insurance Riders. If you’d like to find out more about life insurance rates, life insurance riders or have any questions about your life insurance needs – Contact us today and speak with a licensed agent. If you’re simply wanting to compare life insurance quotes you can use our instant life insurance quoter on this page.
