Term Rider

A term rider is a temporary life insurance rider attached to a whole life policy that provides additional death benefit coverage for a defined period. In whole life banking, term riders are commonly used to increase the total death benefit of a policy — which raises the MEC limit — without adding to the base premium.

A higher MEC limit means you can contribute more in PUAs, which accelerates cash value accumulation.

Over time, the term rider is typically designed to decrease as the permanent death benefit (from base policy growth and PUAs) increases — maintaining a relatively stable total death benefit while the permanent component grows.

Term riders add to the policy's death benefit coverage but do not build cash value themselves. They are a structural tool, not a banking tool.

Related terms: Base Premium, Paid-Up Addition (PUA), MEC (Modified Endowment Contract), Death Benefit