What are Life Insurance Riders?

Riders, as explained above, are add-on coverages to increase the benefits of your life insurance plan. These are entirely optional and as per your discretion. Life insurance riders merely broaden the scope of your life insurance plan, and since they are customizable, they enhance the individual’s financial protection as per the needs.

There are a wide number of additional riders you can select when you get a life insurance plan. Some of the popular life insurance riders include:

1. Premium Waiver Benefit Rider
   Since these life insurance plans are for a fixed term; the premium payments are to be paid for that specific period for the plan to be active. Non-payment of even one premium can result in insurance lapse. Under the premium waiver benefit rider, the premium payments are completely waived off in the event of an injury that may leave the policyholder disabled for a sustained period, or in the unfortunate event of the policyholder’s death. Though, all premium payments are cancelled in such an event; the benefits under the plan continue to be valid for the sum assured. This life insurance rider, under certain life insurance providers, even extends its advantages to partial or permanent disabilities.  
   
   
2. Critical Illness Rider
   The life insurance plan documents specify a list of comprehensive illnesses which are defined as critical in nature such as cancer, kidney failure, heart stroke, etc. In the event you get diagnosed with any of these illnesses, this rider offers you critical illness benefit under it. Post utilization of this life insurance rider, the rider’s premium and benefits cease to exist.
   
   
3. Accidental Death Benefit
   This is a life insurance rider where the death benefit under this is extended if the death of the insured happens through an accident. In such an event, not only is the sum assured under the life insurance plan but also the benefit under the life insurance rider is paid. 
   
   

How to buy Riders with your Life Insurance?

Riders are not sold together with the basic insurance policy but need to be bought separately as per your requirements. However, they need to be purchased simultaneously along with your plan. You can get your life insurance plan as you usually do and just pay additional to include the specific riders as you wish to your existing plan. These extend to critical illness, disability cover, accidental death claim, , accelerated death benefit, and several others.

It is critical that you understand that life insurance riders cannot be purchased post buying the policy. Therefore, it is important that you spend enough time to evaluate the type of life insurance rider you may need prior to buying your policy. Some insurance companies even have in-built riders as a part of their basic plan, while a few even offer flexibility in their plans which can be customized as per your requirements.     

Riders serve as the perfect solution to create a more robust life insurance plan for you. Instead of getting multiple insurance plans, you can just add riders to enhance your coverage. These riders can be customizable since you can opt for risks that are more specific to you and your family. Additionally, riders can be added to any type of life insurance plan, including term insurance, ULIP, endowment plan, or even a whole life plan. They can be added at the time of purchase of the policy, or at times later, if applicable.  

There are several benefits attached to riders since they impeccably increase the coverage of your life insurance plan while offering you the advantage of affordability and tax benefits, which would be considered as a regular basic life policy would. Further, they also provide you or your loved ones extra financial coverage during extremely crucial times which would be helpful during difficult periods.  

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