You may be asked if you want to incorporate one or more riders when obtaining a life insurance policy. Life insurance riders are add-ons that can be used to increase the coverage of your policy. A guaranteed insurability rider, also known as a guaranteed purchase option rider, allows you to enhance the death benefit of your policy without having to take another medical test. If you think your life insurance needs will change in the future, adding this type of rider could make sense, but it could also mean paying higher rates. Find out what the guaranteed insurability rider can provide.
What Is A Guaranteed Insurability Rider?
A guaranteed insurability rider allows you to increase your current death benefit; without having to go through medical testing or re-qualification. For the enhanced death benefit, you’ll still pay a higher premium; but it’ll be based on your original life insurance application rather than your current age or any new health conditions. Guaranteed insurability riders are useful if you fear you’ll develop health problems in the future or if you wish to give extra to your beneficiaries.
How Does A Guaranteed Insurability Rider Work
The guaranteed insurability rider provides “option dates” when you can increase your death benefit. Your option dates might be set in stone, or they could be based on life events and contain a window of time during which the option can be chosen. It is your responsibility as the policyholder to keep track of your option dates, regardless of when they fall:
- Life events are occurrences in your life that may require a higher death benefit.
- Pre-determined option dates are usually every three to five years from the policy’s inception date.
When you reach a guaranteed insurability rider option date, you have the option of increasing your death benefit by any amount up to the policy’s limit. The maximum varies by insurer and policy, but it’s usually equivalent to the initial death benefit payout; for example, a $100,000 life insurance policy might be enhanced by $100,000 at each option date. Your policy may also define a total maximum benefit; once your death benefit reaches the total maximum, you won’t be able to increase it any further.
You don’t have to increase at every option date; declining to do so will not affect your ability to grow at the following option dates. Most guaranteed insurability riders, on the other hand, impose an age limit (usually around 40) on pre-determined option dates. If you want to increase your life insurance payout as you get older; you’ll need to undergo a medical exam and new underwriting when you reach the age restriction.
Check the specifics of your insurance to ensure you don’t lose out on an opportunity to change your benefit. The cost of adding a guaranteed insurability rider to your insurance varies per insurer, but it shouldn’t be more than a few dollars extra every month.
What Does A Guaranteed Insurability Rider Provide?
Even if your health remains good as you age, simple things like weight increase might have an impact on your life insurance coverage. Locking in the best policy premium now can save you tens of thousands of dollars in whole life insurance premiums over the course of your life.
Your insurance provider puts you in a rate class when you apply for whole life insurance. Preferred best, preferred, standard plus, standard, and substandard are the rate classes available. These rate classes have an impact on your insurance policy’s price, coverage, and available insurance riders. As a result, locking in a low rate today will save you hundreds of dollars in insurance premiums later. It’s worth noting that a poor rating will almost always disqualify you from obtaining a guaranteed insurability rider.
Over the course of your life, your insurance needs will change. As your family develops, you’ll most likely wish to leave a greater legacy in the form of an insurance death benefit to your beneficiaries. When you establish your own business or expand your present one, you’ll need more insurance coverage. Major life purchases, like a home or paying for your children’s college education, can add to your family’s liabilities. Having additional insurance in place to cover these huge payments in the event of your death is critical to your family’s financial security.
When Does A Guaranteed Insurability Rider Allow The Insured?
The guaranteed insurability (GI) rider is available on certain life insurance policies and allows the insured to purchase additional insurance at defined future dates without having to take a medical exam or answer health concerns.
What Does a Guaranteed Insurability Rider Allow the Insured to Buy Additional Coverage?
The guaranteed insurability rider can be added to a permanent life insurance policy and allows the owner to purchase additional life insurance at pre-determined intervals in the future for pre-determined amounts (subject to minimums and maximums) without the insured having to provide proof of insurability.
What Kind of Life Insurance Is Compatible With a Guaranteed Insurability Rider?
Guaranteed insurability riders are most typically seen on permanent life insurance plans; such as whole life and universal life, but not exclusively. This is because the GI rider allows for long-term upgrades; a customer with a term life insurance policy; who will only be covered for a limited time, is less likely to require one.
Who Needs a Guaranteed Insurability Rider?
The type of coverage, your age, your living situation, and your overall health can all influence whether or not you should add a guaranteed purchase option rider to your life insurance policy.
If you’re young and healthy and have no aspirations to marry or start a family; a term life insurance policy may be a better fit for you than a permanent one. You could put a life insurance policy in place to cover any outstanding bills you may leave behind; as well as funeral and burial costs. Taking on the additional cost of guaranteed insurability might not make sense in that situation.
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Alternatively, if you have dependents; you may be able to obtain a large enough term insurance policy to cover their requirements for decades. Term insurance is much less expensive than whole life or other types of permanent insurance.
A guaranteed purchase option rider, on the other hand, might be worth considering if:
- You want to keep your life insurance coverage for the remainder of your life.
- You have one or more medical problems that are likely to worsen as you get older.
- Because of your family’s medical history, you are predisposed to serious illnesses or chronic health disorders.
- You’re the family’s major breadwinner, and you want to make sure that any death benefit you leave behind will be enough to meet their needs.
- You want to buy permanent insurance coverage for your child who has a chronic health issue.
It’s a good idea to speak with an insurance agent about the specifics of guaranteed insurability so you know exactly how much it’ll cost; how much you can expand your coverage, and whether it has any limitations. Your insurance provider, for example, may only enable you to enhance the death benefit of your policy up to a specific age. You won’t be able to receive more insurance unless you buy a new policy after you reach the age threshold.
Should I get a guaranteed insurability rider?
If you’re a young, healthy person who can afford permanent life insurance and want to account for your circumstances altering dramatically in the future—something that might boost the amount you want to provide for your beneficiaries—you might consider a guaranteed insurability rider. For example, you might need more coverage when your family grows or your salary rises.
When you buy life insurance with a guaranteed insurability rider, the younger you are; the more opportunities you’ll have to boost your benefit at a reasonable cost. Because of the increasing premium that comes with age, a guaranteed insurability rider will likely give less potential value if you get life insurance after the age of 40 or so.
Even if you never increase your death benefit, adding a guaranteed insurability rider to your life insurance policy will increase the cost of your premium by a tiny amount throughout the life of the policy. If you don’t plan on using the periodic increases, a somewhat bigger life insurance policy without the guaranteed insurability rider may be preferable.
Alternatives to a Guaranteed Insurability Rider
Other riders might give similar benefits if you foresee needing more insurance in the future. These are some examples:
- Cost-of-living rider: A cost-of-living rider allows you to acquire additional insurance each year to mitigate the impacts of inflation. The quantity of insurance you can buy is determined by how much the cost-of-living index has risen. The rates for insurance you obtain through this rider are typically modest, and you don’t need to present proof of insurability (like a new medical exam).
- Term rider: With this rider, you can add term coverage to a permanent life insurance policy to satisfy your additional insurance needs for a limited time.
Conclusion
You can utilize a guaranteed insurability rider to boost your life insurance policy without having to take another medical exam. It will, however, increase the cost of your policy and may not be essential if you currently have adequate coverage.
Guaranteed Insurability Rider FAQs
What is the purpose of the guaranteed insurability rider in a disability income policy?
The guaranteed insurability rider (GIR) enables the insured to purchase additional disability income coverage without demonstrating insurability. At specific ages indicated in the policy, or following life events such as marriage or the birth of a child, the insured is normally eligible to acquire additional coverages.
What is change of insured rider?
While the policy is in force, the Change of Insured Rider permits the policy owner to change the insured. This is typically utilized by companies who insure a key employee and want to change the insured when the individual is replaced.
When exercising is a guaranteed insurability option?
The standard guaranteed insurability rider allows you to obtain insurance on the anniversary date of your original policy every three or five years. Many plans additionally allow you to exercise your option up to 90 days before a marriage or child’s birth/adoption.
How often can you use guaranteed insurability rider?
Either three or five years
You can typically use your assured insurability rider every three or five years, beginning on the first day of your policy and ending within 30 to 90 days following a life event such as marriage or childbirth.
