Period Certain Annuity Payout Rates

A period certain annuity (AKA term certain ) is an annuity that lasts for a fixed number of years.    It does not last your lifetime and really has no relation to your age or health.    This arrangement is pretty simple.  You pay the insurance company $100,000 today and buy a 10 year period certain annuity and they pay you $890 a month for 10 years. 


I got the rates right out of the Annuity Shopper Buyers Guide April 2015 posted at ImmediateAnnuities.com

I also then used this calculator to estimate the equivalent interest rate you'd have to earn to equal the annuity payments.

Here is the table for a $100,000 premium :

Period	Monthly	Total	% rate
5	$1,680	$100,800	0.31%
10	$890	$106,800	1.32%
15	$643	$115,740	1.99%
20	$524	$125,760	2.38%
25	$454	$136,200	2.61%
30	$407	$146,520	2.73%

The rates are the average monthly payments and then I summed up the total that you'd get out.

Given the low rates they're quoting there for the shorter term annuities you should really NOT buy a 5 year annuity.   You'd come out ahead just laddering CDs from Ally bank.    You could spend out about $1707 a month if you just bought 4 laddered CDs of 1,2,3,4 years.    I didn't do the math but I am guessing you can beat the 10 year annuity with CD ladders too.    This assumes you don't have tax reasons that make the annuity preferable.



--

Best of Blogs for Week of May 29th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

DQYDJ made A Periodic Reinvestment Calculator (With Dividends!) for the S&P 500

--

Rental Comp Data for May 2015

I haven't done rental comps since August 2014. 


Here is the data from rentometer.com :

	A	B	C	D	E
	3bed	3bed	1bed	1bed	3bed
	house	house	apt	apt	house
10%	$753	$731	$374	$403	$1,014
20%	$844	$812	$411	$444	$1,100
median	$995	$975	$490	$540	$1,225
80%	$1,192	$1,117	$555	$600	$1,425
90%	$1,284	$1,197	$592	$641	$1,510
# prop	34	35	34	35	35
dist	0.5	1.1	0.9	1.8	0.4

and the trends are below :

 

	A	B	C	D	E
Nov-11	$895	$875	$495	$495	$1,095
Jan-13	$900	$995	$510	$460
Aug-13	$905	$925	$500	$480	$1,095
Feb-14	$985	$900	$485	$478	$1,097
Aug-14	$950	$1,025	$485	$565	$1,195
May-15	$995	$975	$490	$540	$1,225
	4.7%	-4.9%	1.0%	-4.4%	2.5%

and a graphic of the trend :

Lastly, I figured the compound growth over the 3.5 years that I've been tracking :

A	3.1%
B	3.1%
C	-0.3%
D	2.5%
E	3.3%

If I sum the rents and look at the CAGR of the sum then that comes out to 2.7%.

--

Is This a Good Deal For Whole LIfe Insurance?

I saw an add in a local news paper offering whole life insurance policies for $10,000 of benefit.   The policy is marketed to people 40-85 years old and talks about paying for your funeral.    The premium rates cited didn't seem too bad to me.  The rates for men and women are listed in the table below for the $10,000 benefit.

This is just the $10,000 benefit.   I've used the best case scenario as far as life expectancy for the age group.  So by that I mean that for the age 45-49 I used the life expectancy for the 45 year old and rounded up.   Life expectancy data is from social security site.

	M	F	M	F	M	F
45-49	$  32.50	$  27.00	34	38	$13,260	$12,312
50-54	$  36.00	$  30.00	29	33	$12,528	$11,880
55-59	$  45.00	$  37.50	25	29	$13,500	$13,050
60-64	$  55.00	$  42.00	21	24	$13,860	$12,096
65-69	$  66.00	$  51.00	18	20	$14,256	$12,240
70-74	$  89.00	$  69.00	14	16	$14,952	$13,248
75-79	$121.00	$  98.00	11	13	$15,972	$15,288
80-85	$166.00	$139.50	8	10	$15,936	$16,740

The first set of columns on the left is the monthly premium.   The middle are the expected life expectancy.   The right hand columns are the total amount you'd pay over the average life expectancy at the given premium cost.

If you simply put the cash into savings the average person would be ahead by $2000 to $6000.

For example then if you're a 58 year old woman you'd pay $37.50 a month and the average life expectancy for your age group is about 29 years and I'm summing it up as a total of $13,050 paid over that term.   $37.50 x 12 months x 29 years = $13,050.  

OK but I figure the net present value (NPV) of that at about -$4500.     That isn't good.   Also if you simply take the $37.50 a month or $450 a year and invest that money at just 4% you'd have a total around $25,200 after 29 years.

You can see the total amounts paid in are lowest when you get coverage at a younger age.

The policy does advertise "no medical exam" and "no health questions".   If your life expectancy is below average then this insurance could work out for you.   If you're in poor health or have a family history of significant illness then you could face a lower life expectancy than average.  

This isn't a bad policy as far as whole life goes.    But the average person will come out way better on average if you simply dump money into a savings account.


--

What is Lender Paid Mortgage Insurance (LPMI)?

I'm familiar with PMI or Private Mortgage Insurance.    Thats an extra fee you pay if you don't have a full 20% down to cover the lenders risk of you defaulting.   However I've also recently heard of Lender Paid Mortgage Insurance (LPMI) as an alternative.   The "lender paid" part sounds good, right?    But of course its not free.  

Basically LPMI is handling the same function as PMI by instead paying through an increased mortgage interest rate rather than a separate fee.    You might get a cheaper mortgage payment this way versus going with PMI.   However since PMI should drop off you may pay more in the long run with LPMI.

I'm not going to try and reinvent the wheel here, so here's 3 good articles on the topic :

Bankrate Lender-paid mortgage insurance: Pros, cons
Bigger Pockets  What Is LPMI? Lender Paid Mortgage Insurance
Wells Fargo Lender-Paid Mortgage Insurance (LPMI)

You might want to go with LPMI if you're in a higher tax bracket and you might move or refinance or pay off the loan before the full term of the loan.

PMI is likely better if you plan to stay in the home and keep the original mortgage long term.


--

Best of Blogs for Week of May 22nd

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

Glassdoor compares How 50 Cities Compare for Jobs
If you sort the first column 'hiring opportunity rank' then that will compare the # of jobs versus population.  Note its just based on postings on Glassdoor so it may be skewed but probably pretty good reflection of overall market I'd think.

The Big Picture shares : Stovall: Inflation/Rate Adjusted Stocks Don’t Look Expensive
Of course its just one perspective, but I think it makes some sense.   If inflation is low right now its more likely to be high in the future.  That would, we could assume, mean higher prices and therefore higher revenues in the future.  

Planet Money answers the question Will Your Job Be Done By A Machine?   for a variety of occupations.    I for one welcome our future robot overlords.

--

Fewer People Are Working Two Jobs

I worked two jobs for a few months back in college once.   I didn't have a compelling need to do it but I seemed able to manage it and I guess I just wanted the extra money.   I'm proud to say I got straight A's that quarter in college.   I honestly think having to work that much and go to school full time forced me to be a better student.   With such little free time I had to manage my time better to get my school work done.  When I had more free time I had more of a tendency to goof off more as there was ample time to fill and that just turned into more goofing off and procrastinating and homework didn't always get done when it should.   What... what was I talking about?   Oh... yes having two jobs.   Some people do that and I'm assuming most people working two jobs do it because they need the money.  But only a few people really work two jobs and the numbers have been dropping.


The BLS article Multiple jobholding over the past two decades  has the data in graphic and table form.   You can go to their site to see specific dates if you want details.   But I've copied the graph from their site here so we can see the trend :

(click image for full size)

The rate has been going down mostly for the past 20 years.   The rate peaked at 6.8% in 1995 and was down to just 5% as of the end of 2013.   Doesn't seem like the recession had any substantial impact on the trend either.


--

Best of Blogs for Week of May 15th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

DoughRoller tells us about 10 Personal Finance Myths Busted

TheBigPicture shared Business Booms and Busts which has a graphic showing the economy cycles from 1775 to 1944

Found TheBigPicture, Trulia has an interactive graphic comparing Rent vs. Buy: Which is Cheaper for You?   It determines which is cheaper in general for major cities and has a few variables to play with.

--

16% Cash Back at Lenovo from Ebates - $75 tablet, $167 laptop

One of the 16% cashback deals at Ebates today is Lenovo computers.   There are some potential good computer deals to be had.

Some example deals..

If you sign up for their email mailing list then you can get a coupon for $100 off of a computer purchase.   This is only good for first time users and the $100 coupon can't be combined with other coupons or it seems discount prices.


7" Android TAB 2 A7-10 Tablet for $90 with $14.4 cashback = $75.60 net

P190 gray headset for $10 after coupon  USP1MY356632 with $1.60 cashback = $8.40


S21e 11.6'' Micro-Sized and Maximum Power Laptop model 80M40015US for $199 with coupon USPS25US57 with 16% cashback of $31.84 = net $167.16

$10 off $50, $20 off $100, or $40 off $200 and Free shipping on Lenovo Branded Accessories.  using coupon  ACCSAVE.     That would be good to get a laptop docking station or similar for a reasonable discount.


Standard Ebates blurb:To get cash back from Ebates you need to be signed up with Ebates.  Then simply go to Ebates to get the referral to the store before you do your shopping.  I also get a referral bonus if you use my links to sign up with Ebates.  


-- This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Please Stop Paying AOL for Dial-Up

Recently CNN covered news that AOL still has 2.1 million subscribers to their dialup service.    The AOL quarterly report says that the average user is paying $20.83 per month.    Thats over $500 million a year people are paying AOL for dialup.   Wow.

I am betting that a lot of those AOL users basically feel 'stuck' with AOL because they have an AOL email address that they don't want to change.    Maybe, I'm just guessing.   I know that was a problem some people had in the past, but its been so many years I don't know.   Seems from a quick look at the AOL site that you can get free email there with an @aol.com address.  

I'm sure other people are unfortunately not able to get hi speed internet so they only use dialup.   I'm guessing most of those people are covered by some form of cell phone service and would likely be better off just getting a cell phone plan to give them internet at home.          You can get a mobile hotspot from RedPocket for $23 and pay for $10 for 1GB of data.


But there are still homes without cell phone coverage as well.    If there are no cell or high speed internet options available then dialup may be the only cheap option.


Satellite internet should be available across most of the nation.   HughesNet and DISH offer satellite internet services.    If you want fast internet and can't get cable or DSL then this might be a reasonable option for you.   However they do cost $40-50 a month and may have expensive installation and equipment fees in the range of $250 or more.   

You can get free dialup or at least cheaper service.    Juno and Netzero both have free dialup for up to 10 hours a month.   They also have pay service for about $14 monthly which at least is cheaper than AOL.     I see no reason you can't sign up for both Juno and Netzero free plans and get 20 hours total between them.


So this gives a few options:

1. cell phone service from RedPocket for $10 / 1GB
2. satellite internet for $40-50 a month
3. free or cheaper dialup service from Juno or Netzero

Depending on your needs I am sure that one of these is a better option than paying $20 average monthly to AOL.

--

SaveUp Mystery Choice Rewards

* Note that the options have changed after I write this. 

I just got a "Mystery Choice" reward at SaveUp using my rewards stamps.   In fact I did it twice and got the same 4 choices.   Currently the reward options are :

1. $50 restaurant.com eGift card when you make a purchase at Hotwire
2. 40% off basic custom t-shirt from vistaprint
3. $5 Amazon.com egift card for a $1 in store purchase at Peet's Coffee & Tea
4. $10 off at Shoebuy.com

I don't consider #1 much of a deal as it requires buying via Hotwire which isn't something most of us are doing much.   Plus restaurant.com gift cards are easy to get for cheap via promotions.

40% off is the same sale that vistaprint has right now using a promo code so thats nothing special.   Though that promo seems to expire today, they also have 25% off for t-shirts that lasts longer and sales and promotions on vistaprint are the norm.

The last 2 options are OK.

$5 Amazon card for buying a cup of coffee is a good deal.  You do have to synch with a Visa and use your visa for the purchase it seems.

$10 off at Shoebuy.com is OK too.  They have reasonable prices.   But it seems you have to go through their link to use the $10 and it looks like you can't stack promo codes.  Shoebuy.com has a 25% off promo code with free shipping and Ebates has 16% cashback at Shoebuy so I am pretty sure you can usually beat the straight $10 off with other offers.

Choice #3 seems to be the winner but is only useful if you'd make a purchase at Peet's & Amazon, but thats not hard to do.  I'd consider $5 at Amazon worth cash (for my uses) and basically amounts to a free coffee at Peet's.


edit : May 14th, I checked again the next day and they had the same set of 4 rewards, so it seems the rewards do not change often if at all.

*second edit : May 18th.  I redeemed a mystery reward again today and found that the reward options had changed.     The 1st and 4th options changed to 20% off at Proflowers and 100 free business cards at Vistaprint.  The 2nd and 3rd options  remained the same.
May 27: I checked again and the rewards were the same as the 18th.

Standard Ebates blurb:To get cash back from Ebates you need to be signed up with Ebates.  Then simply go to Ebates to get the referral to the store before you do your shopping.  I also get a referral bonus if you use my links to sign up with Ebates.  





--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

HP Printer Ink $15 off $75 plus 16% cashback at Ebates

HP.com has 16% cashback at Ebates right now.    Looks like thats good for today only.

They also have a PROMO code for $15 off of $75 or more code : 15LESS75

If you combine these discounts you can get HP printer ink for pretty reasonable prices.

For example :   Normally HP sells the HP 951 color and HP 950 black for $57 and $27 respectively.   That would make them $84 normally.    After the $15 promo code you're down to $69.   Using Ebates and getting 16% cash back on that will you $11 cash back and make your net cost $58 total for the two cartridges.

By comparison Amazon has the 3 color pack HP 951 (CR314FN) for $48 and the black cartridges HP 950 (CN049AN) for $22.  So thats $70 total.



Note you can probably get cheaper ink by using 3rd party compatible cartridges or by using ink refill services.   I have to be honest I don't have any experience with those as I print fairly little and haven't wanted to risk hurting our printers (not that I think thats a high risk).


Standard Ebates blurb:To get cash back from Ebates you need to be signed up with Ebates.  Then simply go to Ebates to get the referral to the store before you do your shopping.  I also get a referral bonus if you use my links to sign up with Ebates.  





--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Entertainment Coupon books for $9.99 and 32% cashback at Ebates = Net $6.79

Entertainment.com has their coupon books on sale for $9.99 each with free shipping.

Ebates has 32% cash back for Entertainment.com right now.

After cash back the net cost on a book is just $6.79.

Thats a good price for Entertainment coupon books.  


You'll want to go look at the Entertainment.com site and review what deals are available in your city before buying one.   They've been fairly hit or miss with me.   Last time I got a couple books dirt cheap for around $5 each but there was only one really useful coupon in them and I think I just came out even.   YMMV.


Standard Ebates blurb:To get cash back from Ebates you need to be signed up with Ebates.  Then simply go to Ebates to get the referral to the store before you do your shopping.  I also get a referral bonus if you use my links to sign up with Ebates.  



--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

16% Cash Back at Ebates

Right now Ebates is giving 16% cash back at many stores to celebrate their 16th anniversary.    The promotion runs May 11-18th 

The following shops all have 16% :

Macy's
Rite Aid
JCPenney
Livingsocial
Bloomingdales
American Eagle OUtfitter
Converse
GoDaddy
Adidas
Spa & Wellness Gift Cards

There are many more offering 16% as well.


Plus theres some at higher rates like : 

Magazines.com 48%
eHarmoney 32%




Standard Ebates blurb:To get cash back from Ebates you need to be signed up with Ebates.  Then simply go to Ebates to get the referral to the store before you do your shopping.  I also get a referral bonus if you use my links to sign up with Ebates.  



--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Wait Till You're 70 To Take Social Security

Lets say you're a single 65 years old right now and you make $60,000 a year.  If you retire at age 66 then your social security benefit would be about $1530.   If you wait until you're 70 to claim social security then you would get $2159 a month.    Now clearly you get a lot more money if you delay till you're 70.    But most people don't want to wait and want to start getting their money as soon as possible and $1530 is quite a bit of money.    

Even with a very simple comparison waiting to age 70 nets you more money.    If you're 66 years old you're likely to live another 17-19 years.    Lets just say 18 years for simplicity.   So claiming at age 66 and living 18 years would get you about $330,000 total without counting for cost of living adjustments (COLA).    Claiming at 70 and living 14 years after that would net you $362,000.      This is roughly 10% more total from delaying benefits till age 70 versus taking them at normal retirement age of 66.

Waiting an extra 4 years give or take to claim your social security may be easier said than done.   Most people want to retire earlier than 70 and want an income to support themselves.  If you're in this situation then drawing down your IRA funds for a few years till you hit 70 can make sense.   There are a couple articles discussing that strategy from Kiplingers and USNews.

If you're married then the equation gets a lot more complicated.    Choosing when to take social security will depend on the benefits for each spouse and their ages. 

If you're in poor health or have a history of low life expectancy in your family then taking social security earlier can make good sense.   That may seem morbid but it is what it is.

--

Best of Blogs for Week of May 8th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

 DoughRoller lists 8 Ways to Avoid Emotional Investing

--

Amazon Subscribe and Save FIller Items Under $2.00 for May 2015

Updated list of items under $2 eligible for Amazon Subscribe & Save :



BC Analgesic Powder, 6 Count  (aspirin) = $1.26

DEWALT DW4518 4-1/2-Inch by 1/8-Inch by 7/8-Inch General Purpose Metal Cutting Wheel = $1.29

Pac-Kit 1-009 Fabric Adhesive Light Woven Flexible Knuckle Bandage, 3" Length x 1-1/2" Width (Box of 8) = $1.33

Curad Rolled Gauze, 4 Inches X 4.1 Yards = $1.46


Barilla Protein Plus Spaghetti Pasta, 14.5 Ounce = $1.65

Keebler Fudge Shoppe Grasshopper Cookies, Mint, 10 Ounce = $1.68



PureBites Beef Liver Cat Treats, 0.85-Ounce = $1.69


Wilton Red Sprinkles = $1.69

Lipton Pyramids, Bavarian Wild Berry 20 ct = $1.80

Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Naturals Popcorn, Classic Butter and Sea Salt, 76.3g Bags, 3 Count = $1.85

Palmolive Tropical Tango Dish Liquid, 12.6 Ounce = $1.89

I'm citing the price for each item including the 15% discount that you'd get with 5 items which is the point here.

I try to list a variety of items so you'll have a better chance of seeing something on this list that you'd actually get use out of so its not just bought and wasted.

Warning :  If you use items off this list then make sure to watch them and cancel your subscription if you no longer want them or if the prices go up.   The cheap items I find seem to change pretty quickly so they may have large price hikes or be removed from the subscribe and save program. 

Note the list will get out of date within months or days.   I'll probably post a newer list before all of the above items are gone or have price increases.  But if you can't find something good here you can always go to Amazon and search for Subscribe & Save and sort based on prices and poke around to find something cheap to use as a filler.

I've discussed before how you can get a  better discount on Amazon Subscribe and Save purchases if you order 5 items at once.  However if you don't buy a lot of stuff then it can be hard to come up with a 5 item order.   However if your products are worth enough then it can be worth it to add some filler items to get up to 5 items to get the 15% discount. 

Say for example, you want to buy a couple cases of Pampers Swaddlers Diapers  that run $45.97 each with a normal purchase.   With Subscribe and save you'd get a 5% discount.to get the price down to $43.67.    But if you have 5 items in your S&S order then it is only $36.78 or a $6.89 savings.   And if you're buying two of those then thats double or $13.78.    Adding the 4 cheapest items listed here to the S&S order would only cost you $4.99 total with the 5 item discount so its worth buying those items to get you a net savings of $8.79.

Note if you don't want the filler items and only use them to get a 5 item discount then you can of course always give away the food items to someone you know or donate them to the local food bank.


--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.
 

I've Paid About 48¢ Per Mile to Drive My Car

I've owned my car now for over 8 years.    In that time I've just now hit 70,000 miles total.   I paid a little over $14,000 for it in 2007 and its worth around $4000 today.

I'm estimating my expenses but I'm probably pretty close in my estimates.    I figure this is likely correct within 10%.    I just don't have detailed accurate records of everything I've spent for 8 years, so I'll have to estimate.

The depreciation I figured using the current private party sales estimate value from Edmunds versus what I paid originally 8 years ago.

I figured gasoline costs based on using historical numbers for our city off of Gasbuddy.com     Those numbers are going to be a bit inflated since they're using the city average value and I pay below average prices for my gas.    For example right now the city average is about $2.90 and the station I go to has gas for $2.71.   

The costs for insurance, oil changes, tires, repairs & maintenance and taxes are all estimates based on my memory and there is more margin for error in these categories.  

Lastly I added a figure for the opportunity cost which is based on figuring 4% interest on the original ~$14,000 purchase price over 8 years.  I'm pretty sure I could have made 4% with that money.

Here's the summary of costs over the years and the totals :

depreciation	$     10,000
insurance	$       5,600
gas	$     10,182
oil changes	$          560
tires	$          500
repairs/maint	$       1,500
tax	$          400
opportunity cost	$       4,544
TOTAL	$33,286
per mile	$0.476

So the total cost there is $0.476 per mile or roughly 48¢.

Thats more than I'd have guessed.      

If I'd done a very quick almost off the top of my head calculation I think I'd have come up with about 30¢ per mile cost.   That would have been based on the $10,000 in depreciation, figuring "a couple thousand more for other stuff" and then guessing a price of $2.70 for gasoline.      I would have underestimated the cost of insurance and the opportunity cost.   And I apparently remembered the price of gas wrong over the past eight years, most likely because my memory is biased towards what I paid last week for gas more than 7 years ago.

--

Is a Tesla Powerwall Worth Buying Just To Avoid Paying Peak Electricity Rates?

Tesla recently announced a home battery system called Powerwall.       One of the selling points they made was :

"Avoid Paying Peak Rates Power companies often charge a higher price for electricity during peak evening hours than overnight when demand is low. Powerwall can reduce your power bill by storing electricity when rates are low and powering your home when rates are high"

That intgrigued me.     If you're not familiar with the idea of peak rates, this is how it works.   Electric companies may have a rate system setup that charges you a higher cost during peak rates and a lower cost during off peak rates.   They may do this to try and shift usage off peak and even out their loads better.   For example a utility might have a normal base rate of 10¢ per kWh but if you have the peak rate system then they charge you 15¢ during peak and 5¢ in off peak.      If you had a battery you could charge the battery at night for 5¢ and then use the power during the day and basically save yourself 5¢ per kWh versus the normal rates.


Would a Tesla Powerwall pay for itself simply by shifting your electricity usage to off peak times? 

The Powerwall comes in 2 models a 10kWH unit and a 7.7 kWh model.    The 10kWh version is for weekly cycle and apparently more for emergency backup.   The 7.7kWh model has a daily cycle.    They run $3000 for the daily 7.7 and $3500 for the weekly 10.    We'd be looking at he 7.7kWh model for daily use at $3000.    These costs do not include an inverter or installation.   I'll ignore those costs for now and get back to that later.

The 7.7 kWh daily cycle Powerwall costs $3000.    It has a 10 year warranty.   They also mention a 10 year extension.   If I used 7.7 kWh every day for 10 years then that would be a total of 28,105 kWh.      With a $3000 cost that comes to about 10.7¢ per kWh based on a 10 year life.   Lets assume a 20 year life to be generous for the battery.   That gets us down to 5.3¢ per kWh cost for the battery alone. 

If your off peak energy costs more than 5¢ kWh more than on peak then this is getting close to feasible.    However you'd also have the costs of the installation and possibly a AC-DC inverter too.    I don't know what those cost.     I believe that home PV solar systems will have a AC-DC inverter in them but I"m not sure if that is what you need for the Power wall exactly.    I'd take a wild guess that installation will run you $500-$1000.   But thats really just a wild guess.

I'm going to conclude that a Powerwall isn't financially practical for most people just to avoid paying off peak power rates.      I suppose if you have particularly high difference between peak and off peak rates it might make sense but from what I see a max 5¢ difference between normal charges and off peak seems typical.   But my numbers still assume a 20 year life for the battery and I haven't calculated in the installation costs.    You might need to see more like 10-15¢ per kWh between peak and normal to make these practical just to save off peak electricity charges.

Bottom Line : NO I really don't think that a Powerwall is worth it financially just to take advantage of low off peak electricity rates.

--

Best of Blogs for Week of May 1st

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week


MyMoneyBlog says that Your Homeowner’s Insurance Deductible Should Be Catastrophically High



--