We're drifting off-topic.

Last one from me. When we run projections on the whole portfolio of our insured persons we deal with tens of millions of records. Yes, records, not rows, because none of the systems we've looked at utilizes a database but rather small flat files on the filesystem. These are highly specialized systems for asset liability management. Nobody expects response time <1 second. Or even one hour. Usually we start the run before we leave and it finishes somewhere during the night, so the results are available the next morning. What I mean to say, sometimes one is better of thinking off-database and consider the use of a dedicated software package.