We often struggle to find financial investment in our lives that make the most sense from a stability, return and overall benefit standpoint. Whether that’s purchasing stocks or bonds, mutual funds, retirement plans, real estate or others, we’re always weighing the options of where to put our money. Sometimes, we overlook common investments that could provide great returns on our investments. Investing in energy upgrades and making our homes more energy efficient may be a great place to look if you find yourself in the position to make a sounds long-term financial investment.
Investing in home energy efficiency projects, installations or upgrades can bring you big savings over the long term. You’ve probably hear the old saying – “A penny saved is a penny earned!” Well, it’s certainly true in the case of saving money on energy bills. Making improvements to your home’s performance can mean you’re paying less month over month, keeping money you’d otherwise be throwing away.
Taking the stock market as an comparative example, energy savings investments can not only bring similar (or greater) return on the dollar investment, but they can provide more of a sure bet on seeing benefit from your initial expenditure. Especially in recent years when the financial market has been volatile, saving a set amount each month on energy costs is perhaps as close to you can get to a guarantee when realizing an ongoing financial return on investment.
Making energy upgrades to your home not only reduces the amount you’re paying on a monthly basis, but it can also greatly increase the overall value of your home. This, of course, can provide big benefits to one of your largest assets. Major upgrades to heating and cooling systems, insulation, windows and doors, roofing, among many others can bring huge additional value to your home and make it much more appealing to home buyers, as well.
It’s important to remember that just like with traditional financial investments, due diligence must be paid and proper research or analysis must be done before making an energy efficiency investment. The same advice should be sought when making energy upgrade decisions.
One thing that is certain is energy costs continue to climb. The best way to avoid getting caught in the trap of the ever-increasing cost of energy is to find ways to use less of it. While you may not see your energy usage measured on a screen on a daily basis like a stock purchase, you can rest assured that these investments are accruing value over the long haul.
