As I get older and more financially secure it’s hard to look at this as anything other than an actuarial decision, at least for me.
Doesn’t take much to predict the odds and understand how you’re most likely to come out ahead. As for “peace of mind”, I have much more peace of mind with money in my account than I do paying for someone else to hold that money for me in exchange for peace of mind.
Play by the rules, no emotion, always split aces and 8s and double down on 11.
That doesn’t guarantee you win every hand but mathematically maximizes your odds of success.
I think extended warranties are much more valuable to people of less means. If a surprise $5,000 repair would be a financial catastrophe for you, I can see a lot of value in spending some fraction of that proactively and in a controlled way to ensure that doesn’t happen.
If a surprise $5k repair bill is just an annoyance and not a Life Changing Event, then I’ll play the odds knowing I might not have won the hand but succeeded at the long game. Thats real peace of mind.