[Reeses]

preparation for retirement

Many people downsize, or end up having to vote with their feet to a warm place that likes them. With subsidies, solar is still often a 20 year stay-put bet to break even. Most of us here are lucky to have 20 years left, having the same 4 walls to stare at or not.

[Tell It Right]

I'm retiring in my 50's, my financial plan has to account for a long retirement (Good Lord willing). Plus I live in Alabama -- great sunshine, the sun is out when you need it most (i.e. A/C is needed more during the day in the spring through fall, which consumes more power than needed for the heater in the winter at night), and my wife and I like having a large house for our grown kids and their families to visit.

So far with the past year's worth of performance, the only downside is opportunity cost. If I had used that HELOC money to invest in the market it would have made more than the "return" I'm getting on the solar project.