The best way to explain what a life insurance rider is as follows:

Riders are modifications to the basic insurance policy added at the same time the policy is issued. Riders are used to either add or limit benefits to the policy. Riders change the basic policy to provide some feature desired by the policy holder. The policy holder will have to pay an extra amount to cover the rider.

When your agent includes riders to your policy to calculate your premium, ask the agent to price each rider separate. You then can decide whether your believe the added benefits any rider provides is worth the extra cost.

The most common riders I know of are:

Accidental death: Double indemnity. It means that the benefits paid by your policy will be 2 times the face amount of the policy if you die in an accident. It is known that 20% of all policy holder die in accidents. The cost for an accidental death rider is generally inexpensive. This rider is worth considering.

Waiver of Premium: This rider let you stop paying premiums whenever you become disabled and can no longer work. It is important to understand what the rider define “disabled” In most cases it means that you can not do any kind of work not just the work you had when you signed the policy. You may want to consider getting a disability policy to protect your from financial hardship due to a disability. Depending on the type of policy you buy, it could provide money to pay for all your living expenses and not just your life insurance premiums.

Mortgage Protection: This rider attaches a mortgage life policy to your main policy.

Other Insured: You can add life benefits for your spouse or children.

Guaranteed Insurability: This rider would typically be added to a whole life or universal life policy. Whereby it gives you the right to buy a new policy or increase the limit on your existing policy without passing another medical/physical exam. The rider will also specify how much you can add and when to do it.

Accelerated death benefit: This rider will let you sue some part of your death benefit when you have a terminal illness.