ferrit beads or smt ferrits have their right to exist, if you leave a pcb, and or enter a critical section.

if you do not want to carry some noise from one area to the next one, smt ferrit (well inductors, if you look at them) are a good choice in combination with some caps. and L/C low pass filter.

steve, think of analog / digital combinations or power supply with switching inductors. and you do not want to have the noise on some signals. then ferrits can help and in some cases are the only solution.

but i would take the time to think about what to do and save the money for the components you do not need. imagine a product that has to be built 100.000 times and you can safe 1 and more caps. 100.000 caps @ 0.01US$ is something that needs to be discussed. even if you can save more parts. the knowledge you get helps you the next time.

michael