The Professor's Perspective

I promised to update you after the seminar on solar installations and costs last Friday.

As I said in the last post, solar energy has long been interesting to Joe and I, but we don't do things because they are interesting and neat.  We do them because they make economic sense.  It appears that solar may now do that for us.  You may want to look onto it, too. 

 

Just before Christmas, Joe and I installed a spa on our new deck.  The spa had been in the lower floor ofthe house.  This was not a good idea in Pennsylvania.  Then two things happened in quick order.  (1) We got our first electric bill with the spa outside and the truly cold weather having arrived.  Bill went up a bit, as expected, but not enough for real concern.(2)  One month leter we got our first bill with the spa outside, the cold weather,  AND the rate increase.  We have a full electric house (gas is not available,  I hate fuel oil, a

If you haven't read Scott Heintzelman's blog today, you should do that.  It's a great story about what one successful family-owned business is doing to fight an attitude of entitlement among their younger generation.  They are giving lessons in leadership, character, and service.  And they are doing that through demonstration (this works) rather than lectures (which people tune out.

Most of you probably know that the new home buyer credit has been extended in several ways. 

More than half of the people who have a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) available for medical costs as an employee benefit don't take advantage of it. That's a costly mistake. While medical expenses are theoretically deductible, in practice they seldom are because a person needs very high medical expenses to meet the cutoff. A FSA saves you taxes from the first dollar. I've had a FSA for at least 15 years, and I've saved at least $500 with it every year. Why do so many people pass by this great opportunity? Because they fear their "Use it or lose it" nature.