Syndicated Financial Columnist, Host of the weekly talk show Steve Savant's Money, the Name of the Game, Scottsdale Arizona
There are many riders that are associated with most life insurance policies: wavier of premium, term life insurance, long term care, critical illness, catastrophic care, terminal illness, to name a few. These additional benefits may be embedded into the policy at no charge or have cost associated with them.
The way a life insurance rider works is like this. You take out a life insurance policy that provides your basic coverage. Some policies have features built into them without adding a rider (especially living benefit policies). But most policies, however many features they have built within them, do offer some riders.
Onto this core policy, you add riders for the extra features that you want. Most riders have a charge, but some are free.
The options include Child Riders (to cover minor dependents), Accidental Death Rider (pays extra in case of death due to accident), Waiver of Premium Rider (waives the policy premium if you are disabled), Disability Income Rider (pays a percent of your income to you if you are disabled), Term Rider (adds a Term policy to a Permanent policy for you or another person). Terminal Illness Rider (allows you to use part of the death benefit while still alive, if diagnosed as terminally ill), and Return of Premium Rider (pays back all your premiums if death does not occur by the end of the term), among others.
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Onto this core policy, you add riders for the extra features that you want. Most riders have a charge, but some are free.
The options include Child Riders (to cover minor dependents), Accidental Death Rider (pays extra in case of death due to accident), Waiver of Premium Rider (waives the policy premium if you are disabled), Disability Income Rider (pays a percent of your income to you if you are disabled), Term Rider (adds a Term policy to a Permanent policy for you or another person). Terminal Illness Rider (allows you to use part of the death benefit while still alive, if diagnosed as terminally ill), and Return of Premium Rider (pays back all your premiums if death does not occur by the end of the term), among others.