chisue, insurance companies don't make money strictly off policy premiums. AIG's current headline news is a perfect example of this. When I worked at CIGNA (formerly Connecticut General, then they bought INA and changed their name), each of their 5 separate divisions was given an annual profit margin target to hit. This was called a "zero margin plus xx%". Note this was not a sales number, it was a "quick and dirty" percentage of how much revenue minus division expenses they made annually. My boss (one of the regional VPs with a shot at the division presidency) got interested in exactly where this target number came from. He learned that what CIGNA called "zero margin" was actually a base 15% profit margin. CIGNA could earn 15% off its money, through investments and such things as real estate development (for instance they bankrolled Foster City, a landfill development in the SF Bay Area that was considered risky at the time, but is now a desirable mixed-use suburb, selling it after a few years for a hefty profit), without ever writing another insurance policy. Therefore, their divisions had to earn OVER that 15% profit margin, to be worth expending corporate funds for. This is why insurance companies go in and out of market niches - they tend to keep a fairly conservative eye on what their profit margins are on each line of business. When people are discussing the stock market, the majority of money in it is institutional. Insurance companies are a very large part of that. They are even better than banks at leveraging their money. We used to make jokes about actuaries, but insurance companies realistically suvive on the number-crunching abilities of their actuaries. Like developers in a software company, they are what actually drives the financial corporate engines.

Yes, but his information is accurate, so at least it lets Mary know a little bit more as she continues her research. I agree Mark has breached the terms of posting here, but sooner or later Mary's got to talk to an agent or broker to get some idea of whether she even qualifies for an LTC policy, aside from type and price. One can only go so far in continuing to post discussion threads. The trouble with LTC is that people talk about it and talk about it, but very few people actually do it. When people talk about financial planning, this is why I keep insisting that it has very little to do with ROI. True financial planning is mitigating your personal risks against not achieving the retirement lifestyle you want to have. If your LTC risk is high, as ours was, and you don't take steps to mitigate it, your financial planning was and is, inadequate. If you have a high risk of needing help with LTC and haven't budgeted properly for it - whether self-insuring or buying some type of LTC insurance - you are playing dice with your money and possibly involving some risk to those who would need to help take care of you. Mary's got the right idea - you want to deal with a company that is solid and reliable - but she's participated in many LTC discussions over the past four years, and still has yet to 'pull the trigger.' LTC insurance just keeps getting more expensive, and if one waits too long, sometimes the decision gets taken away, by a health issue that precludes getting any affordable LTC policy of any type. I have a sense of urgency about it, because I personally have friends/family who were offered LTC insurance in the last ten years and turned it down, and now that they're closer to retirement, honestly admit they regret not buying it. Now they're terrified, and rightly so...but it's too late for them. They're medically rateable, and can no longer afford it.

No! Don't steer clear of white! You who are having staining issues, are you using Blanco sinks or another brand? And if your sink is white or light, are you using Soft Scrub with bleach to clean it? I've had my WHITE WHITE Blanco silgranit sink for 2 years. NOTHING stains it. I've had beets in there. Much coffee (with splashes that DH doesn't notice). Tomato based stuff. Even tumeric which stains everything!! Not one stain in my sink. Never even one problem cleaning it. I called Blanco before the sink was delivered to ask what to clean it with. They said Soft Scrub on the white ones. So that's what I use. With a green scrubby pad (Scotch Brite green pads). Most of the time I just used the Soft Scrub with my dish rag and any pot marks come right out. Pot marks are the only marks I seem to get in the sink, but they wipe out with not even any muscle. I don't know why others have bad luck with them unless they're a different brand, and therefore a different type of material or something. My white Blanco gets 5 stars from me and I highly recommend it. I love the granite you've chosen, by the way!

* First go with a clothes processer rather than a stackable washer and dryer. Clothes processors are "the" standard in Europe. They wash and dry all in one machine. They are less than 35 inches tall, only 24 wide and only take up 25-27 inches deep. That would give you more counter and another upper cabinet. You are really lacking in kitchen storage -- our 5th wheel RV has 50% more storage . You don't have much space for food + dishes + glasses and cups + cookware. * push the sink over so it is next to the corner. That might buy you enough space for an 18" dishwasher. * woodstoves are great - had one in our cabin in the mountains that heated the whole place. BUT -and this is a huge BUT - you can NOT have that chair in between the couch and the woodstove. You do not have enough clearance. There has to be minimum 36 inches from any part of the wood stove to something flammable (wood, cloth etc.) Even a small box stove is gonna take up more than you realize because of the clearances. Also the stove will have to come out more from the corner - again the heat clearances. Bare minimum with a good heat shield would be more like 125 from its rear. Small box stove 16 inches wide, 24 inches deep... gonna take up a huge amount of space You have much bigger problems though as in: (1 ) No room for a dresser for socks, undies etc. The main bedroom is TOO small - at least not with the bed centered, That leaves you only 42 1/2 inches on each side of it. You need that much to get in and out of the room-length closet. Either widen the room or give up some closet length for a dresser space. (2) No place for the vacuum cleaner brooms, mops etc. (3) No place for coats (the bedroom closet - especially if part is a dresser - is not gonna fit everything. ) (4) No place for linens - towels, sheets, winter blankets (5) No place for the water heater or electric box My GARAGE is bigger than this. There is a small 'house' in the village here that was a garage - rented by a lot of local workers since it is cheap. They could only fit in 1 bedroom after allowing for brooms, water heaters, coat hooks near the entry, linen closet etc. To fit in the necessary things like linens and vacuums and electric boxes and water heaters, you are gonna need to lose that 2nd bedroom ___ Sigh...just saw the 2nd version. W a t e r h e a t e r. (Even my beloved tankless Bosh that hang on the wall still need space and are 18 inches wide with nothing above or below them) E l e c t r 1 c J u n c t 1 o n box. (No box, no power) H e a t - as in where are you gonn a put even a small heat pump? (Do NOT DO electric baseboard-- you will go broke. Think $400 -500 a month in the winter)