You’re born short power, just like you’re born short housing (assuming no inheritance). Buying panels and buying a house makes you net zero on your exposure to power and housing prices. It is not fair to compare a hedge (solar) which reduces your exposure to risk (covering a short position on power) to a risky investment like stocks, which does not cover a position and increases your correlated risk.
Just comparing expected value is fine as a stopping point in your thought process if you are risk neutral — in that case, you should buy leveraged stock funds to maximize your expected value.
If you are like most people and assign some internal cost to risk, then covering your innate short position on power while also getting 9% return on investment after inflation is a no-brainer.
Just comparing expected value is fine as a stopping point in your thought process if you are risk neutral — in that case, you should buy leveraged stock funds to maximize your expected value.
If you are like most people and assign some internal cost to risk, then covering your innate short position on power while also getting 9% return on investment after inflation is a no-brainer.