> it's easier to just buy a domain and route * to your inbox

There is the caveat of the domain getting into the wrong hands, if you look long enough down the road. What if you die, or simply can't afford to renew the domain well into the future? I know if I could look down from heaven after I die and saw someone re-registering my dropped domain, I would be furious!

Then there is the issue of even when you're alive, you could simply refuse to renew for whatever reason and the domain is suddenly someone else's.

MarkMonitor and Epik are the only companies that I know of that can safeguard against this. Epik has so called 'forever domains' and ensure the domain stays active well into the future.