i have never bought extended warranties for electronics. I always find that by the time the thing actually breaks down, it is obsolete and needed to replaced by a superior upgraded version. So far I have not had any costly repairs on anything that I have bought. I know the game system you speak of and it is one of the reasons I stayed away from the 360. I knew when I first looked at them, that they would have heating issues. Everyone of my friends who have had them, are on a replacement and are now smart enough to use an intercooler.

As for cars, no way. I eliminate that expense before I buy a vehicle. I check consumer reports 5 year reliability records and cross out anything that scored average or below average on reliability rating, after all why would I buy something I know upfront I am going to have problems with? Has this strategy worked? I have owned 2 Hondas (1987 prelude and 1994 Civic) both of which had 120K miles before I sold them and I had no repair issues on either of them, an extended warranty would have been a waste of money on either. I currently have a 2000 TL with 105K on it and so far, same story, no problems. If you feel you must buy an unreliable car, then by all means invest in the ext warranty.

The article is written toward a broad audience, so there are specific cases where some of these things are worth getting.

Most experts have long concured that life insurance should only be taken on people in the house who actually earn an income. If you want to invest money for your kids a good no load mutual fund, pays a much better average rate of return over time.

As for flood, yes if I lived anywhere in FL or LA I would probably get it. But here in central NC, we get a serious flood once every 500-600 years I doubt I would live that long to claim it. By the way if your porperty is in a flood plain but the house itself is elevated, you can get an exemption certificate from FEMA.