Final answer:
Accelerated death benefit riders and long-term care riders can decrease the death benefit of a life insurance policy by allowing early access to funds, while premium waiver riders might indirectly impact the cash value and thus the death benefit.
Step-by-step explanation:
The riders that can decrease the death benefit of a life insurance policy are those that allow the policyholder to access some of the funds before death, such as accelerated death benefit riders in cases of terminal illness or long-term care riders.
These riders might decrease the death benefit because they permit the insured to withdraw a portion of the death benefit under certain circumstances, which can diminish the final amount paid out to beneficiaries. Other riders, like premium waiver riders, do not directly decrease the death benefit but might affect the policy's cash value, indirectly impacting the death benefit over time.