I think we usually end up with car analogies because, like washing mahines, they are pretty universal. Most people own one, and even the few who do not know what one is and at the least the basics of how it works. Better that then if I were to use an anology that referred to assembly code or nuclear fusion or silicon conductivity that most people would say "huh?" to. Anyway, your statement "Bottom line is - concrete can crack / cast iron will not" I am sorry to say, is about as wrong as wrong can be. Cast iron is one of the most brittle of metals and is very prone to stress and temperature fracturing (like the cracked blocks from overheated engines of yesteryear :-). If quality of materials were really the issue they'd be using a high-tensile steel counter weight, which would be significantly stronger. It would cost more, to be sure, but would worth bragging about in a washing machine (or maybe tungsten carbide, if they really wanted to brag). :) P.S. That "on-line article" sounds suspiciously like a Miele brochure to me. Now they wouldn't be biased, would they? LOL!

I am remodeling my house and saw in this thread that someone had mentioned Kolbe windows. I want to share my experience. I just ordered expensive wood K-KRON Kolbe and Kolbe windows for my entire house and it's been a nightmare. They arrived dinged and with these suction cup marks between the panes (which can not be fixed without replacement) and on the outside of the panes that takes some mystery cleaner to get off. There is sand between the panes (which they don't consider a flaw) and the caulking on the inside and out is sloppy. To top it off, after about a two months,the wood in my sliding glass doors started to crack. I have to replace almost every single window and door in the house due to all of the problems. They say that my case is rare, which it may be but in any case it's not acceptable. So going on 4 months after installation, and a lot of arguing with the distributor and Kolbe.....the problems have still not been resolved. The last of my replacement windows and doors have not been delivered as promised. AND it's stalled my remodel. So do NOT order these windows. I wish I had gone with Pella and paid the extra money. The money I "saved" by going with Kolbe has been eaten up by the sheer inconvenience and delay in getting the rest of my project done. They have been a nightmare to work with. I'd be glad to share anything you'd like to know about my experience. I find this website very helpful!!!

The trouble with LTC insurance is that it is like health or auto insurance - carriers enter the market, and some of them price poorly and end up leaving the market. A good carrier may close a book of business (e.g., stop selling a particular type of policy) and come out with a slightly different policy calculated to provide a better profit margin or improved mortality. This is the way insurance works, it's just good business to them. LTC is not a new product at all. Met Life has been selling LTC insurance for 25 years. Lincoln Benefit (I think I accidentally listed it above as Lincoln National, which is a different company) has a huge block of LTC business and for many years was the low-cost carrier. They are owned by Allstate and are in no danger of going under. They closed their current book of business to bring out a completely new LTC product, one of the new hybrid LTC/annuity policies. None of their existing policyholders will see any raise in premiums or adjustment to the terms of their current policies; the "book" is merely closed for new business. That's how a GOOD carrier works, as opposed to a bad one. Where do you find a good carrier? That's the difficulty, you need to find a good agent, not just a "friend who works in the insurance business." Hard to find, just like trying to find a good car mechanic, LOL! Nursing homes around here vary from $3500 to $6000 month. Even if our policy does not cover all the costs, a drain of $1000/mo is a lot better than $72,000 per year, I'm sure you'd agree. The reason I don't rely on the statistic about nursing home care only being needed for an average of 2 years is that as the Boomer population ages, I believe that length of stay average will rise rapidly. And in fact, the largest growing age group in the US is the group over age 80. Since our policy pays for at home care as well as convalescent or nursing care, we feel we have done what we can to MINIMIZE risk. You cannot eliminate all risk; it's impossible. A recent article in the WSJournal calculated that someone with a net worth of at least $5M wouldn't need LTC insurance. Remember that these days, being worth $1M or $2M is so commonplace that the government statistics don't even track it any longer; the bar is now at $100M+. There is no way my DH and I could afford long-term care without insurance. Even though our net worth is well over $1M we simply don't have that kind of liquidity without having to sell the house. My DH had a minor stroke at 50 -- not only is he virtually uninsurable now, but his mortality got halved right there. His chances of being disabled as he ages are considerably higher. Had we waited to obtain LTC insurance for even a few years, we would never have been able to afford it even if we could have found a carrier willing to write a policy on him. I agree that not having health insurance is foolish; on the other hand, if you can stagger along until age 65 (and assuming that somewhere along the line your employer or spouse's employer paid the Medicare A costs) a Medigap policy with zero-doughnut drug benefit is available at a relatively reasonable cost, certainly a lot less than the $900/mo cost (for an individual; $1200/mo for a couple) for my husband's current employer HMO plan. But it is almost a certainty that somewhere down the line, if you and/or your spouse live long enough, one of you will need LTC. And right now, nobody will pay for that except you. With all the disadvantages of private insurance, the fact remains, waiting for the government to take care of your LTC needs is a very dicey proposition indeed. What I point out to most younger people I know is that if they are going to buy a home and have children, they really need term life insurance. Nowadays with most couples dependent upon two incomes to make it, it is disastrous to consider burdening your lives with debt and obligations without buying life insurance. As mortality has improved, the premiums for term life have dropped substantially in the last couple of years. $40/mo will buy a $500K level premium term for 20 years on a 40-yr old in good health. When I worked at a financial planner's office for a while, it was interesting to see that there were quite a few clients who were widows, from ages 50-75. Their major assets were the home and insurance proceeds. Without the latter, some of them would have been in serious financial difficulties. My apologies for seeming to get OT here, but my point is that if you are going to own a home, there is not just health insurance but other insurance issues which are just as important for long term financial planning. To ignore them is being penny-wise and possibly pound-foolish. Thinking that "the odds are it won't happen to me" is taking a big risk. Nothing wrong with that, but I often wonder why people are willing to take such huge risks with their personal retirement finances when they are so often vociferous in proclaiming they want minimal risk when investing in the stock market.

kec01, I did wrestle with that option for quite a while. The main reason for getting new windows is lead paint. Lots and lots of lead paint. I hired some painters to redo some paint on the exterior of the house for the same reason, and it was difficult enough to find someone who could do that properly (actually, I DIDN'T find someone who could do that properly.) The prospect of shopping around for someone qualified to rehabilitate all my windows, most of which won't open and all of which send lead paint chips flying when they ARE opened, was not appealing.