A solar powered show! Read this update on no cost solar systems! September 19 2014

 

Marc Notes:
Hi kids, did you hear that show yesterday? It was on NO COST solar systems!

What a great show with lots of great feedback.

If you would like a no cost solar `system` on YOUR house, just click on the banner on the right side of moneymanagementradio.com on Solar City and you will be connected to the guy who did my house. Don’t wait. Go green and pay nothing! I did! After all if you had a choice to pay more for dirty power or less for green power, what would you do??

Here is the article once again for your edification. And then a market update for your reading.

 

If you’re like most people, you’ve considered solar powering your home at one time or another yet balk at the price of such a system.

I too looked at solar power systems more than once over the last 10 years and each time a solar company came out to my house, the result was a potential cost of tens of thousands of dollars. In my case, systems started at $20,000 for very small array to a more adequate size for my needs exceeding $50,000 or more. After doing the math, sizing up the chances of maintenance and/or breakdowns, the opportunity cost of the money I would spend and how much I would save, the payback of such a `system` just didn’t make sense.

By the time I paid the `system` back and started saving, the efficiency may have dropped off, my panels or controllers could require servicing, and knowing my luck, I would have to fix the darn thing for some reason or another and end up not saving much of anything.

That was until I read about a no-cost program from Solar City, the brain child of entrepreneur Elon Musk (touted as the next Steve Jobs) who also started Tesla, the electric car phenomenon and Space X, the private rocket company that now takes up the worlds satellites and services space stations for entire countries and has signed an agreement with no other than NASA.

Their program is a simple one as you would expect from the likes of Musk. The company installs the `system` at their cost and I mean everything from the equipment to the permits and all costs in between. The company insures the panels and `system` against damage and promises to fix it if it ever breaks: every bolt, nut, wire and computer chip. The company monitors the `system` 24/7 from a wireless modem in your house for potential problems and checks efficiency daily. You pay nothing nor touch nothing. For a tech-neanderthal like me that suits me just fine.

The company then bills you a flat rate of 16 cents per kWh. For a residence like mine, where I constantly am paying for electricity in the upper tiers as high as 34 cents or more that’s a bargain as my highest payment to PG&E is in the upper tiers. In my case, I’m looking at a cost savings of over $1000 annually at current rates. With the anticipated increase in rates in PG&E over the life of the system, I look to save even more. Solar City will increase my rates a maximum of 2.9 % a year but compared to potential PG&E increases, that’s a great deal and if rates rise even more, I do even better. To protect their investment I agree to keep their array for 20 years but have no problem what so ever in saving money for at least that long!

If I move residences Solar City will either transfer the contract to the new buyer (who by the way will probably be thrilled to get solar on his new house) or move the `system` for a small fixed cost. The same applies to a roof repair. They will remove the panels for a small fee.

Although I won’t save as much as a `system` I might own, I also didn’t pay a dime for my `system` nor have to maintain or repair it if it breaks. I might add the company has been a pleasure to deal with. Every company employee I have spoken with from the consultant to the people on the phone to the installers were as pleasant as can be. My contractor friends who have visited me have all viewed the installation and all have said it’s a quality installation on all counts.

As a money guy, I couldn’t think of a better way for me to go green without spending any of my hard earned money and the money I save will go instead to supporting my family and our community. And how good is that.

If you would like to contact the Solar City representative who did my system, you can call Andrew Mckibben at (916) 628-5774.

 

Shadow Banking encompasses TRILLIONS in off the books money and no one really knows where it is all buried! 

 

Market Update:

The markets still haven’t fallen in the burning heap many analysts are warning about and one has to wonder just what the fall season will bring to our portfolio balances.

Fall is the season to be wary of market corrections as history does tell us many of the worst crashes occurring at this time of year.

Not all fall seasons will bring about a market correction of course as many a leaf season has passed with nothing more the beautiful colored leaves hitting the ground, but still, a bit of caution is recommended based on market history alone.

Although the US stock markets are close to all-time high, needless to say our economies aren’t. As a result many an analyst now forecast a drastic correction is due but as usual not all of the experts agree.

From my point of view, the signals are mixed at best and it’s not so obvious to at least this analyst that this fall will follow those other historic late seasons where markets experienced painful corrections.

Although the Federal Reserve is scaling back the Quantitative Easing (QE) programs, they are still printing a ton of money and just last week the European Central Bank has announced another round of money printing (QE) will commence along with another reduction in interest rates.

These QE money programs which are designed to ward off recessions and stimulate economies bring massive amounts of money into play and these mountains of freshly minted cash always finds its way into stock markets and the wares of Wall Street.

Based on the money printing programs alone and the amounts of money they encompass leads me to believe a massive stock market correction is still a ways off and perhaps even years off.

That’s not to say we won’t see minor pullbacks here and there but a major stock market crash is not in the cards, at least in my foreseeable future.

I could find many an analyst that would agree with me and many that would say exactly otherwise but that’s the beauty of the markets: they don’t move in accordance with what anyone says or does and that includes the governments and central banks of the world although the hubris of governments prevents them from seeing that part of the equation.

At the end of the day the markets just obey the reality of the economic environments around them despite the myriad of programs and prognostications that surround us.

When it comes to your investing habits in this upcoming fall season use common sense: never go all in on any one asset market no matter what anyone says and always keep a good portion of your money in plain old cash and cash equivalents like bank savings accounts, FDIC insured CDS and US government debt instruments like short term US treasuries and I-Bonds. (I-Bonds can be purchased direct from the US Treasury Department at www.treasurydirect.gov).

This article expresses the opinions of Marc Cuniberti. Mr. Cuniberti hosts “Money Matters” on KVMR FM 89.5 and 105.1 FM on Thursdays at noon and syndicated on over 30 radio stations throughout the US. He has been featured on NBC and ABC television and on a host of made for TV documentaries for his economic insights. His website is www.moneymanagementradio.com