Hi Chris, I have been talking with David Presson at Sungevity, but I forgot about the referral code. I will get back to David on Monday as I want to change the terms for my lease. With no down payment, the lease payment is $152 a month, but with a $7500 down payment, the lease payment is $61 a month. Do you have any comments on this proposal?

The difference between $152 and $61 is $91. If I take the $7500 and divide by 10, my cost is $750 a year. $750 divided by 12 gives me the monthly amount related to the down payment ($62.50) or almost an additional $29 a month in savings. The down payment would not be a problem since my investments usually change by that much or more per day.

I would welcome any comments,
Dave

MyOnlineTeam Daily Statistics for 04/09 - Active Members

Active team members report
==========================

                                                     Current          Points
Active member name            Rank      Change       Points        This Period
=========================     =====     ======     ===========     ===========
RT                                1          0      85,973,076         179,918
GeraldRube                        2          0      61,067,338          75,860
Coingames                         3          0      46,476,761          51,164
judson Somerville MD              4          0      29,097,630         189,072
parmesian                         5          0      28,308,337          23,712
NiceMedTexMD                      6          0      23,921,742          27,738
brown chris                       7          0      17,541,152          23,462
keithhenry                        8          0      16,074,697           9,993
nl59056                           9          0      15,603,898             951
Esteban69                        10          0      13,099,638           2,833
xroule                           11          0      12,633,277          21,845
Vuj                              12          0      11,208,182          12,193
finman                           13          0       8,709,371          43,887
Fanie                            14          0       7,676,394          22,432
David Autumns                    15          0       7,568,396          36,936
PohSoon                          16          0       7,038,717           3,125
frans6nl                         17          0       6,985,646           6,146
darth_vader                      18          0       6,293,940          18,775
lawrencehardin                   19          0       4,349,868           6,718
Rene Punt                        20          0       4,041,241          12,065
Alain Bryden                     21          0       3,831,486          14,817
Tomwp                            22          0       3,372,892           3,603
dkt                              23          0       2,931,911          37,907
smcclarigan                      24          0       2,822,479           3,641
Sunny L. Kae                     25          0       2,548,499           3,482
Mike OSullivan                   26          0       2,396,098          15,939
johng                            27          0       2,368,122           1,603
Wunderwuzzi                      28          0       2,074,979           2,730
Jockin                           29          0       1,961,919               0
imin                             30          0       1,583,027           1,968
Daeloan                          31          0       1,527,912           1,835
Bon Kuhlman                      32          0       1,502,525           2,202
elpe                             33          0       1,275,528           1,040
newtod                           34          0         957,950             540
pramodp                          35          0         897,013           4,383
Barramundi                       36          0         707,859               0
Mechanical                       37          0         659,359           2,701
barney15c                        38          0         554,198               0
jpenning                         39         +1         507,928           9,795
madambaster                      40         -1         501,252             796
Natalino                         41          0         454,350               0
hne12359                         42          0         414,506             155
Momentary Lapse of Reason        43          0         394,813             710
Lanscader                        44          0         389,398           1,247
dubhain                          45          0         372,775           6,393
Hintsala                         46          0         367,078           1,510
mapplebeck                       47          0         313,810               0
Harry de Swart                   48          0         174,683               0
sm217144                         49          0          17,799               0
Hesham Abdullah                  50          0           5,517               0

Note: Active members are those who earned points in the prior 30 days.

Top Twenty active members returning points today:
01: judson Somerville MD - 189,072 points
02: RT - 179,918 points
03: GeraldRube - 75,860 points
04: Coingames - 51,164 points
05: finman - 43,887 points
06: dkt - 37,907 points
07: David Autumns - 36,936 points
08: NiceMedTexMD - 27,738 points
09: parmesian - 23,712 points
10: brown chris - 23,462 points
11: Fanie - 22,432 points
12: xroule - 21,845 points
13: darth_vader - 18,775 points
14: Mike OSullivan - 15,939 points
15: Alain Bryden - 14,817 points
16: Vuj - 12,193 points
17: Rene Punt - 12,065 points
18: keithhenry - 9,993 points
19: jpenning - 9,795 points
20: lawrencehardin - 6,718 points

Total points returned today: 887,822
Active members returning points today: 42
Average points per member active today: 21,138.61905

.................CONGRATULATIONS judson Somerville MD ON REACHING 29,000,000 MOT POINTS !!!.................

I expect you'll see some but not a huge drop.

Dave, you'd want to adjust things to take into account the time value of money if you wanted to be precise but I really doubt that would offset the $29 a month savings. Given that you can afford the down payment, I'd go with it just from a cash flow viewpoint. If something major happens financially, $61 is much preferable to $152. In fact, if you can swing getting another $7320, I'd do that and set it aside where it's liquid but making money for you. That would mean you'd start out the lease with enough "cash" on hand to make the lease payments with no impact on your monthly cash flow. True, if you get the additional money from selling an investment, you have to factor that in but, when you're retired, minimizing your fixed expenses is at least good for peace of mind as compost will happen sooner or later. With decent estimating and budgeting for your variable expenses and having enough cash on hand to cover 24 months, you get some flexibility in withdrawing from your retirement funds and being better able to weather a market downturn (less the withdrawals you're forced to make from things like traditional IRAs).