You don't really need some of those riders. However, some will also do you a world of good. A rider lets you add more features to a policy at additional costs.

There are many such riders that are not worth a dime a dozen. An accidental death rider (also known as double indemnity) is a rider that you should leave out. If a policy holder dies by accident this rider doubles the face amount his/her beneficiaries will get.

This will cost you between $1 and $2 per $1,000 of coverage. For someone who has a coverage of $3 million, this rider will cost them as much as $6,000 depending on their insurer. By using commonsense, we'll determine if this is a smart move...

Unless you can readily predict the way you'll pass on, the chances that this will happen are really very low. The numbers of people who die by accident are very few if compared to other ways people pass on. It's also very difficult to predict the exact way someone will die considering the number of ways this can happen.

To give you an idea of how relatively rare this is, compare the percentages of acquaintances you know who've passed on by accidental death versus those who passed on through other ways. It will definitely make more sense if you buy more coverage out rightly and be guaranteed that your beneficiaries will get the amount you intend/

Another rider that isn't worth is the waiver of premium rider. This rider gives policy holders who get disabled continued coverage. It comes at an additional 10% to your annual life insurance premium. If you already have a disability insurance coverage then you're only duplicating coverage. Your living expenses are fully taken care of by disability insurance if you ever get disabled.