Be Sly About Combined Life Insurance and Get a Rider

Ever heard of combined life insurance? Possibly so, but maybe not. If not then it’s worth an explanation.

It seems that everything today comes combined. Cell phones have cameras; cars have stereos; computers can play TV shows. There’s no way to escape this combined fad, as it makes sense – you usually save money if two things you need are combined. The same principle operates behind combined life insurance.

Known as a rider, a combined life insurance policy takes your original policy and adds on an addendum for additional coverage. These addendums override the original provisions of your policy and extend your protection to areas that weren’t included before. For example, you might want to add a disability rider to your policy if your current job is labor intensive. Who knows what might happen at a construction site, after all? That way if something isn’t covered in your original life policy – or if it’s explicitly excluded – your insurance rider will cover that area. These riders can also remove pre-existing areas of protection from your policy, though most people don’t opt for this insurance route.

Continuing with a rider for disability, you’ll typically be paid for your insurance claim after a pre-agreed period of time. So if you’re kept away from work for more than a few months because you broke your leg on the job and it’s really mangled up you can probably make a move for your claim and have it approved by the company. Though it’s not protecting your life, per se, it’s still ensuring that your life remains stable finance-wise. Bear in mind, of course, that you cannot purchase a rider that will get you more money than you would normally get in a year: by doing so lots of people would probably just get injured on purpose and enjoy the benefits of being paid for sitting at home.

Also bear in mind that this rider will only take effect once all other compensatory avenues are exhausted. So if you get worker’s compensation and that runs out, only after will you be allowed to access the rider’s money.