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Life Insurance Riders
Life insurance riders allow you to customize your policy, so you can meet your family’s exact needs.
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Life Insurance Riders
Buying life insurance can help you secure your family’s financial future, no matter what happens to you. But sometimes, you need more protection than your policy can provide. Adding life insurance riders to your plan can help you protect your loved ones for as long as they need.
Understanding Life Insurance Riders
Buying life insurance can help you secure your family’s financial future if you were to die. But sometimes, you need more protection than your policy alone can provide. Adding life insurance riders can help provide extra support to your loved ones in situations beyond the scope of your original coverage.
Life insurance riders are optional features you can add to a life insurance policy to customize your plan. They allow you to adapt your coverage to match your lifestyle, your health, or your loved ones’ financial needs. Once you’ve bought a rider, it will remain active for as long as your policy does, in most cases.
While life insurance riders can increase your premium, they also deliver benefits beyond your regular life insurance policy. Planning ahead for you and your family can help you worry less about the future, knowing that you’re covered in a variety of situations.
Insurance companies will have different riders, rates, terms and conditions, and levels of coverage. Our agents at eFinancial can help you review your options including discussing any available riders that will help you meet your needs.
Benefits of Life Insurance Riders
Why add insurance policy riders to your life insurance plan? With a life insurance rider, you can:
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Create a customized policy
Create a customized policy
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Add benefits to a new or existing policy
Add benefits to a new or existing policy
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Mix and match as needed
Mix and match as needed
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Pay lower premiums by combining insurance
Pay lower premiums by combining insurance
Types of Life Insurance
RidersThere are a wide range of life insurance riders available to help you secure additional coverage, protect your paycheck, safeguard against serious illnesses, or cover any outstanding medical bills and nursing home care. Depending on your needs, eFinancial can help you with understanding life insurance options and adding any of the following types of riders in insurance to your policy.
Should I add a life insurance rider to my policy?
For many people, a life insurance rider offers additional protection where they need it most. Keep in mind, though, that riders often come with an additional cost.
Here are some things to consider when you decide whether to add a rider and which to buy:
- What are my goals? Different riders can help you accomplish different things. If you are the primary wage earner in the household, for example, an accidental death benefit rider can help increase your family’s financial cushion and a waiver of premium rider can help ensure your life insurance premiums are paid if you become disabled. To get a sense of your coverage needs, try our life insurance calculator.
- How much will it cost? Part of the reason term life insurance is a good choice for many families is because it’s so affordable. In general, term life insurance is three times less expensive than most people think. The average cost of $250,000 term life insurance for a healthy 30-year-old is about $160 a year. The added cost for a rider might be small, but it can add up over time, especially since people hold life insurance for decades in most cases. If the rider you’re thinking about is free to add to your policy, there’s no harm in adding it. If it costs extra, make sure to weigh the costs with the benefits.
- How likely am I to need it? Life is uncertain, and it can be hard to know what financial needs might come up. Still, it’s important to think about how useful a rider could be to decide whether it justifies the cost. If you have a history of cancer in your immediate family, for example, a terminal illness rider might give you more peace of mind. If you’re buying term life insurance in your 50s or 60s, the living benefit rider often makes more sense than for someone in their 20s and 30s. Ask yourself how valuable it might be – and the risks involved in not buying it.
- What’s the overall value of the rider? Some riders, like the child rider, offer a guaranteed return on your investment. Others, like the waiver of premium, only offer value if you become sick or disabled. Think about what you’re paying for and whether it’s worth the cost.
- What type of life insurance am I buying? Riders are available for both term life insurance and permanent life insurance, but some riders are only available for certain policy types. A life insurance agent can help you understand your options for insurance rider policies.
How life insurance riders work
In most cases, you choose your life insurance riders at the same time as your life insurance plan. Your insurance company will factor in any additional cost for your rider as part of your premium payment.
If you decide later that you’d like to add a rider, some life insurance companies will allow you to add them to an existing policy.
Once you purchase a rider, it will be in place for the same amount of time as your term or permanent policy. One caveat: If you make a claim on the rider while your policy is active, it might end up terminating your rider, even if your original policy continues to cover you.
Life insurance riders through eFinancial
Adding riders can be a great way to customize your life insurance policy around your needs. Whether you know exactly what you’re looking for or need help finding the best options, we’re here to make the process as easy as possible. We offer a range of products from top-rated life insurance companies, and our agents are here to guide you each step of the way.
You've Got Questions. We've Got
Answers.Need help deciding if a life insurance rider is right for you? Here are the answers to some of our most common questions: