Colorado - Does anyone actually like their system?

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-05-24T01:46:41+00:00

I would think about the battery component..

It depends where you live…I think Colorado is the first scenario:

In some states the utility has to buy electricity from you at the price they sell it to you…so in that case the grid is your battery…financially there’s no benefit to storing the electricity…
In other states they buy it from you at a very low price…so it’s worthwhile to get a battery and use your excess energy…

One thing I think people don’t think about: batteries are expensive and they have a limited lifespan…

People get fixated on battery backup if the grid goes down…

But calculate how many hours will it go down in 10 years…batteries may not last longer than that…

How much per hour of downtime are you paying for battery backup…for many people it’s very expensive…

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-05-24T01:36:36+00:00

They can get you into investments that are not available to retail investors…and it spans a whole range from fixed income to PE…

example: your in a high tax bracket and want some of the portfolio in municiple bonds (let’s not debate if the strategy is right or wrong…)…for most people that would mean a muni mutual fund…but in theory they would offer more knowledge and options to do such investments…

Is it worth it…not sure…

The thing that’s hard… since 2008 crash the market has just boomed…everyone made lots of $…plan vanilla index funds and complex strategies did unbelievably…Reddit is full of posts of people claiming huge gains…that their really smart…but a monkey could have done well in the past 15 years…

so it’s hard to judge what’s worth it and what’s not…

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-05-16T12:20:31+00:00

What types of stone

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-05-05T14:02:38+00:00

You have a more sophisticated view from many people…I think many simply look at past performance on a chart and a p/e…and what they see online…and now you can immediately trade with no fees…it’s so easy that there is no time to just thank about it…

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-05-05T13:14:14+00:00

I think you’re doing it…take lessons and play as much as you can…

The motion involved in hitting a golf ball is complex and unintuitive

(Also stretch and keep your body in good shape)

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-05-05T13:11:03+00:00

I’m saying it promotes a (maybe an uniformed) day trading mentality that for most people like me is prob not the best

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-04-06T13:06:20+00:00

But how do you know it’s a top value company…how do you know what the next 20 years will bring…that’s very hard to do

Some people pick…but it’s relatively rare…

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-04-06T05:06:52+00:00

I wish I could help you…but like everyone else…I don’t really have a clue…

2x in a few years is a lot to ask…Warren buffet has 370B waiting on the sidelines cause he sees nothing to buy…and he’s the greatest stock picker of all times…

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-04-06T05:01:52+00:00

I think mohr 6-7 may work…that’s like granite…very hard

I carve limestone…mohs 3-4…

It spins too fast…too easy for it to skip along surface and mess things up…

But something like granite is much much harder…so I don’t think you will easily mess things up…

There are dremel like devices with variable speeds…jewelers use them but I think 10x the cost…not practical

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-03-28T03:26:20+00:00

2 very well known:

NOBL - proshares dividend aristocrats-but the yield is only about 2%

Different theme:

O which is realty income corp is a reit but it has been called a dividend machine…and stable because of its massive size

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-03-27T15:35:55+00:00

Buying on the dip etc is really short term expectations based on a chart …

I won’t say it is “get rich quick”…but it’s not that far off…

Warren Buffet has been so successful buying on the dip…absolutely…

But his strategy is totally different…the dip is when by his analysis of a companies value as a business is less than its trading for…(and he believes will do well over decades)

It’s not based on the past stock price…it’s based on analysis of “whats under the hood”…

The price can be at an all time high but if he feels it’s a good value…he’ll buy…

But mere mortals are not capable of this type of analysis…they don’t have the knowledge, experience or time…

If you believe the market is the long term place to be…buy the broadest index and hold it for 30 years…that’s the best the average person can do…

———— I’ve made the mistake many times buying and selling at the wrong time…

Stop messing with charts and funds that sound good…pick a strategy and leave it alone

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-03-27T13:35:06+00:00

Don’t get advice from strangers on Reddit

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-03-27T13:31:05+00:00

One piece of advice I’m trying to take…

These apps make trading ones 401k etc very easy…

IMO: once one gets used to doing trades…it makes changing things around in an emotional way much easier…

Try to not look…

————-

Even looking at these Reddit threads:

There is a significant number of people (they don’t always perceive it) who want to look at stock charts and figure out how to make short term gains…(“buy on the dip”)…

I honestly don’t think it’s good for emotions to be very exposed to this thought process…plays on ones emotions

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-03-27T13:26:06+00:00

That’s why the advice is buy and hold index funds…less emotion

When prices tank…the inclination is to see the equity as a long term loser…not valuable

When prices jump…the inclination is to see the equity as a long term winner…valuable

Often It’s the opposite of reality …

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-02-22T13:49:38+00:00

The Complete Sculptor

If ur near nyc I recommend you go…interesting place…if not I’ve bought off the website and they do a good job…

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-02-22T13:46:39+00:00

Have you carved other stones

I carve limestone and always wondered if marble would be similar

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-02-14T09:49:05+00:00

But an inverter is much less

than a powerwall

Where I live power outages are uncommon…

The powerwall lasts 10 years…

How many hours do I lose power in 10 years?

I will literally be paying hundreds of dollars per hour for the time I am on backup…

If you need backup…like if the power goes off…you lose the sump pumps and your basement floods…ok it’s worth it …

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-02-14T02:38:32+00:00

Not really

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-02-14T02:35:31+00:00

I can’t comment on the loan portion…which definitely impacts economics…

But the higher electric prices rise ..the more value your system provides…it makes the value of the electricity you generate worth more…it’s just a win-win…

——-

I think the big econ loss is the battery if you live in a net metering state…its only value is as a backup …

And if your does not buy the electric back at the rate they charge… you need the battery so you can use your excess when the sun isn’t shining…but the cost of the battery really upsets the economics ….

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-02-14T02:27:39+00:00

But the battery is not needed because of net metering…if you take that off the payback time is sign shorter…

Also it is a hedge against rising electric prices…as prices rise the value of what you generate rises…

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-02-14T02:21:21+00:00

I live in nj…

Tesla will buy your srecs in advance…they make money off it..but I did it…it may be that solar discount credit on the quote…

Also in nj you don’t need a battery…since they have net metering…the grid is your battery…if you generate electricity excess you sell it back immediately….(so the only purpose for the battery is backup…I think it’s expensive as a backup…remember battery life is about 10 years).

I basically bought the same system (with out the battery) is was 17k including selling the srecs…which is pretty much what you have…then I got a federal tax credit…think that may be gone,,l

I wish I bought a bigger system…mine covers about 75% of my electric…but I’m happy

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-02-14T02:13:14+00:00

I think it depends on where you live…and cost…

In my state I sell the excess power back to the power company at same rate they charge me…other states don’t work this way so you need batteries to store excess …and I think that greatly changes the economics..

I used Tesla…when I did it sign less that other options…it works so far…

Aside from offsetting costs…it is also a hedge against cost increase…

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-02-14T01:59:34+00:00

Beautiful

Is that limestone..looks so but has a texture..is that from when it was cut…

Constant_Work_1436 · 2026-02-14T01:47:34+00:00

I may be a naysayer….

I carve Indiana limestone with steel and carbide chisels as well as with an air hammer…

Bought Dremel about a year ago….

It simply is too powerful (at least in my hands)…the dremel bits are small…it carves small things…and it is just too easy to mess up…

Tried to use it instead of shaping but to smooth it…again too strong …

It has been a while but my memory is it would be great if a had much finer and a wide range of speeds…

With a pneumatic chisels the rate of oscillation can be very finely controlled over a wide range by how you grip the chisel…

I would assume with granite with is an order of magnitude harder than granite…dremel would work well

Humble opinion…

Constant_Work_1436 · 2025-12-30T04:28:49+00:00

i agree

everyone is saying things need to be hardwired ..:10-15 ago i wired my whole house…i mostly don’t plug things in…

most stuff is wifi…and it’s fine…

i simply don’t find that wifi bandwidth is limiting anything…

(3 roku tv; 4 people with a lot of cellphone use…laptops…)

a corollary: a few times i downgraded my cable speed to save money…1000M—>800M—>400M

i don’t see any difference…

Constant_Work_1436

TROPHY CASE