3411: Are Home Warranties Worth It? by Mike Ballew of EggStack on Evaluating Home Coverage

Optimal Finance Daily - Financial Independence and Money Advice

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Investing, Education, Business, Self-improvement

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🗓️ 4 January 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3411: Mike Ballew explains why home warranties are often a poor financial decision, describing them as overpriced plans for predictable expenses rather than true insurance. He makes a compelling case for self-insurance, urging homeowners to save strategically instead of relying on warranty companies that rarely deliver full value. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://eggstack.com/blog/2020-03-08-Are-Home-Warranties-Worth-It/ Quotes to ponder: "Home warranties are forced savings for people who don’t have the self-discipline to save." "Insurance performs well when the risk is low and the potential damages are high." "You don’t need to insure against things that are totally predictable." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	To succeed in the future of work, forward thinkers use AI to deliver measurable results.
0:05.5	Workday is the AI platform for HR and finance that frees you from the mundane,
0:10.0	so you can focus on more meaningful work.
0:12.5	Workday, moving business forever forward.
0:15.7	This is Optimal Finance Daily.
0:17.6	Our home warranties worth it by Mike Balloo of Eggstack.com.
0:24.0	No, home warranties are not worth it.
0:27.7	Home warranties are forced savings for people who don't have the self-discipline to save.
0:33.4	Items that predictably wear out from normal use are not good applications for insurance.
0:39.8	Good insurance.
0:41.3	There are two kinds of insurance in this world, good insurance and bad insurance.
0:46.3	Good insurance is relatively inexpensive and it covers tragedies which are highly unlikely to occur.
0:53.3	But if it did, you would be completely wiped out.
0:56.6	An example of good insurance is homeowners insurance. If you own a home and have a mortgage,
1:01.8	you have homeowners insurance. Homeowner's insurance covers calamities such as fires,
1:08.0	earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes, depending on the policy.
1:12.8	It's relatively inexpensive considering how much it pays if you have a claim.
1:17.9	On average, homeowners insurance costs about $100 per month.
1:22.1	If your home burns to the ground, the insurance company is on the hook for the home's
1:26.4	entire value. Homeowner's
1:28.8	insurance is inexpensive because there is little risk that something like that will happen
1:33.0	to you. Do things like that happen? Sure, every day. But will they happen to you? Highly
	...

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