Is adding solar pv to your home a pension pot power-up for small business owners?

The weather has been on my mind and a few weeks in as I write this and I can report that the climate in the UK didn’t do “dry January” and Feb is a full on pub crawl. So the sun has been on my mind a lot, but for other reasons too, because I have also been thinking about solar PV. 

Whatever the weather’s doing, solar panels generate electricity, it may be a smaller amounts on overcast days, but as the large grocer says, every little helps (when you use 12000kWh pa).

This gives us just 6 year ROI at current prices, and we’re saving £250pm at least. Our monthly energy bill of almost £386 is a notable entry in the household budget.

Therefore eliminating, or vastly reducing, our electricity bill using the sun has long been on my “tech wish list” since I visieed the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales 17+ years ago. Being completely “off grid” in a town seems less “crunchy” than a smallholding in Wiltshire, but is doable.

Too many business owners get “lifestyle inflation”, which I’ve been guilty of too. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a more comfortable life, but at what cost? Time is Money and as you age, you gain more of one and less of the other, and no amount of money buys you more time or replaces the time you spend working.

As I age and head towards “retirement”; TBH I feel pretty much like I retired when I left full time employment in the mid nineties, kinda been doing my own thing ever since – 30+ years as a self-employed business owner teaches you vital surival skills and how to adapt or die. 

So, as I head towards some serious “box time”, it makes sense to live a frugal lifestyle and save time to enjoy the stuff and people you love. Balancing income and lifestyle is challenging, so when I find a way to maximise time AND money, I “lean in”.

Solar might be a retirement “shortcut”, a “hack”, and here’s my thinking. With debt recovery plans you pay down the highest interest first, once cleared use the savings to paydown your next debt and so on, until debt is gone. Monthly payments compound and eat the debt quicker and this principle is core to my plan – If I save £250 a month on LX bills, I can add this to mortgage DD and take several years off repayment. Then roll LX bill and mortgage monthly savings into pension payments, BOOM!

This leveraging effect is better “bang for buck” than interest on capital, or current risks of locking in the pension and the economies of the G7 imploding.

Payback timeline is clear, even without ANY feed in tariff, or energy hikes, the path to financial freedom is paved with solar panels!

Smarter thinking, and planning is paramount to staying ahead and afloat.  If you need someone in your corner who generates these sorts of strategic ideas, book a call.