May 2026 – ebook in German and solar panels
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May 2026 was weird. The month started with bad weather and ended with a heatwave. But it was a nice month. We had the occasion to invite friends and family over. And we could open the pool thanks to the weather.
For us, the main event of the month was the completion of our solar panel installation. We have started to produce some solar power, and the heatwave was actually nice to see the solar panels in action. With the second installment in our solar panels, we only saved 7% of our income this month.
May 2026
May 2026 was a nice month. We were not too busy and could receive some friends and family over. The weather was weird, with bad weather at the beginning followed by a strong heatwave. The heatwave is strong for a month of May. I hope these are not signs of an insanely hot weather.
It was also time to service and open the pool. We had to replace the electrolysis cell for chlorine and the pH sensor, so we will have some fees next month with that. But normally, the cell should only be changed every 5 years and the sensors every two or three years.
Financially, it was an okay month. We have spent too much money on multiple categories. And then we had to pay the second installment for the solar panels. But we also got some shares vesting from my employer. So we still saved some money, but our savings rate is much lower than usual, at 7%.
Solar panels
The main news for this month is the completion of our solar installation. In total, it took exactly two weeks from the first day until we could use some of the solar energy. The bad weather did not help, and there was some downtime due to illness in the workers.
The installation works well, with the battery apparently covering our needs during the night. Of course, it is too early to draw conclusions, and we will need to adapt our consumption to maximize our self-consumption. It will also be interesting to see peak generation with some sunnier days.
The main installation is complete, and the scaffolding has been removed. They have also changed the power meter to use a smart meter. But not everything is finalized.
- The backup system currently does not work. This is not a big deal for now, but it means that if the grid fails, the battery will not take over. This system is based on a second inverter.
- We have not yet received the subvention for solar panels. But from our research, the delay for payment is not clear.
- The system has not been audited yet.
I am looking forward to seeing this project completed and seeing how it will work in practice.
Expenses
Here are the details of our expenses in May 2026:
| Category | Total | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insurances | 875 | Expected | Health insurance for 3 and life insurance |
| Transportation | 223 | Expected | Traffic fee for the electric car |
| Personal | 3157 | Higher than expected | Holidays for next month, some health bills, many small things |
| Food | 1588 | Higher than expected | Many groceries, multiple meals out |
| Housing | 15040 | Expected | Solar panels and our interest rate |
| Taxes | 2630 | Expected | Only cantonal taxes |
In total, we spent 23,514 CHF this month. If we remove taxes, this amounts to 20,883 CHF. Without solar and taxes, this amounts to 6783 CHF.
A massive expense this month is obviously the second installment of the solar panels, for 14,100 CHF. The last installment will only be due when they are complete with the installation, likely next month.
The personal budget is too high this month. One outlier expense is that we reserved an Airbnb for some vacations next month. This cost us about 800 CHF. The rest is many miscellaneous expenses, as usual. For instance, I had to buy some new batteries for the lawn mower. I also bought some new granite blocks for holding the parasol outside. All these small things are piling up.
On the food side, we spent far too much money. We ate outside more than usual. And we also went to Prodega to give it a try. We got some nice bargains, but since it is farther from our house, I do not think we will go there a lot. We also did multiple barbecues, so the meat from the butcher is adding up.
Overall, I think we are spending too much. Several of the things are us doing things for the new house that need doing. But we are not planning them all carefully. We have become a bit careless.
2026 Goals
Here is the status of our goals by the end of May 2026:
As usual, some goals are doing really well while some others are doing poorly.
Even without the solar panels and taxes, we are still spending significantly more than last year. I was not expecting that. We will see how that changes once our son starts school.
The solar panels are now close to completion, as mentioned before. I am waiting until we pay the last installment and receive the subvention to call it 100% complete. This also means that we have cut our power bill significantly. So we already cut down three bills this year, which is quite nice.
On the workout side of things, I did a good month for strength workouts, but only decent on the cardio side. The schedule was totally disrupted with multiple days off and some special activities during the week. But overall, I think I am doing well here.
As I thought, I cannot walk as much as last year because of not having a treadmill in the office. At home. I am doing well on my treadmill, but at work, it is not possible. But at this point, there is not much I can do about it.
Overall, I feel like our goals are doing well. We only need to watch our spending.
FI Ratio
Here is the progress of our FI ratio as of May 2026:
Our FI ratio jumped to 65%.
We are still seeing significant growth in our FI ratio. This month it was not really fueled by our savings since we barely had any. But it is fueled by the stock market. Our main ETF (VT) did more than 4% in returns this month. And even our secondary ETF (CHSPI) did more than 3% in a month.
The USD/CHF exchange rate has been more or less stable this month, so this did not negatively affect our FI net worth.
Currently, we are spending an average of about 80,000 CHF without any taxes. So we are coming dangerously close to the 100,000 CHF once we had potential taxes in retirement. This will require us either to start spending less or increase our FI threshold. I am hopeful that our expenses will stabilize next year. But we will have to wait until we are fully set up in the house.
Except for the level of spending that is increasing, I am pleased about our path to financial independence. We are making good progress. Of course, this progress is not sustainable. The current growth is fueled by the AI frenzy, on top of a market that was likely already overcharged. But it is fine to enjoy it while it lasts.
The blog – e-book in German
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We are finally done with the translation and review of the e-book in German. It is fully translated, has a proper cover, and is fully available on the blog. So far, it has not sold many copies, but we are glad that the e-book is now available for more people. Now, all our resources are available in the three languages of the blog: English, French, and German.
Other than that, I have some infrastructure work on the blog, but nothing really visible.
Next month, I want to invest some time trying to do some videos for YouTube. I have been wanting to try that for a long time, and it looks like I may have the time necessary to attempt it. I am doing that as an experiment. If there is value for people, I will continue later, but otherwise, I will stop.
Other than that, the blog has been quiet this month. I have not had much time this month, with other projects on the way.
Next Month – June 2026
Next month, we will go on a vacation for a week in France. I am really looking forward to that; it has been too long since I had more than a few days off in a row. We have a few other things planned as well during the weekends. I wish they would finish the installation of the solar panels with the audit and backup system.
Financially, we expect a few more bills in June. We have to service the pool and service the water softener. And we need one electric change as well. So, this will add expenses. But we still expect a good month unless we have to pay the last installment of the solar panels already.
What about you? How was May 2026?
More reading
April 2022 – A good month
April 2022 was a good month, with pleasant events with friends and family. The finances were great, with more than 70% of our income saved!
May 2023 – Good month and small vacation
May 2023 was a good month, with a short vacation to Annecy and had great time with friends and family. We saved a large portion of our income.
August 2022 Update – An expensive month
August 2022 was a very tiring yet good month. We spent significantly more than usual and had to organize many things.
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Hello
What is the installed power for you ?
And can you give us the name of the company which realise you solar PV installation ? or quote two companies you asked a price ?
Thank you in advance
Sincerely yours
Hi Kenny
We have a peak power of 19kWp. But since it’s on two sides of the roof, we can’t reach that. From what I have seen so far, the peak power is closer to 16kWp.
Groupe E did our installation.
That “spend less” goal is really running away from you, huh? :D
Could it be you are experiencing typical “lifestyle inflation” with the constant this month we spent more on eating out, this month we spent more on vacation?
Yes, that goal is running away :)
Indeed, some of it is due to lifestyle inflation. I would say it’s mostly due to the new lifestyle in the house. But to be fair, it started to increase already last year.
Some lifestyle inflation is fair, but I want to keep it in control.
Thanks Baptiste.
I’m currently evaluating a smaller PV plus battery setup and the economics seem extremely sensitive to the assumptions. Some quotes effectively value each self-consumed kWh at ~0.32 CHF, but if you plug in the actual current tariff breakdowns, the “avoidable” variable cost can be closer to ~0.21–0.22 CHF/kWh, and exported energy is typically paid at well under half of the import value. Just correcting that kind of assumption can move payback from roughly 6 years to roughly 9–11 years, depending on whether you assume an optimistic ~8 MWh/year or a more conservative ~7 MWh/year and on real self-consumption.
On top of that, batteries aren’t “set and forget”: capacity degrades over time, which reduces self-consumption and annual savings, and you should plan for potential maintenance/replacement costs around the 10-year mark (or at least model a degraded performance scenario).
So for me the simple framing is: you’re prepaying electricity upfront. That can hedge against big price increases, but it’s not a guaranteed financial win, especially if tariffs fall year-to-year. Versus that, even a modest passive return (say 5% compounded) can end up economically superior over a 10–15 year horizon.
Out of curiosity, what self-consumption percentage do you actually achieve with 19 kWp and 21 kWh, what export price do you get?
Hi Wave
Thanks for sharing!
The economics are very sensitive to small details indeed.
I would not compare any 5% investment with solar; solar will almost always fail. I see solar as an investment for the future and for the house. But compared to the stock market, it’s a bad investment, I think. If you are looking for a true investment, that is probably not it.
On a very sunny day, we achieve 100% self-sufficiency (great) and about 30% self-consumption (too little). Currently, the export price is about 0.11 CHF I believe.
Thanks for the transparency – this really helps me in the decision to postpone solar panels installation and keep the money in VT for as long as possible:)
Thanks, that’s exactly how I’m landing too.
Tech wise I love it, and as a “future proofing” upgrade for the house it makes sense. But every time I go deeper into the numbers, the pure ROI isn’t compelling, especially where I live because incentives are low and they push break even out a lot.
The only argument that still keeps me thinking is resilience, being more independent in extreme scenarios. But in most setups today, if the grid goes down the PV often shuts off unless you have proper islanding/backup wiring and a critical loads panel, so it’s not true off grid.
Also on resale, I’m not convinced you reliably recover the capex. In my canton the low incentives plus battery degradation and potential replacement around year 10 make the economics even harder (battery replacement and so on)
I think you nailed it; it’s a house improvement more than an investment.
Indeed, we paid a premium to get a backup solution.
In a canton like Fribourg, with very high taxes, I think it’s a decent investment in the end because of the tax reduction, but it won’t beat stocks. You can also see it as a lower-risk investment.
Thanks for this article!
I’m surprised by how low the cost of a solar installation with a battery is. How many kWp do you have, and what’s the size of your battery?
Here in the canton of Fribourg, back in 2024, I installed 13 kWp with a 15 kWh battery for 39k.
Hi Alexdess
This is only the second installment; the total cost is 47k :)
We have a 19 kWp installation with a 21 kWh battery.
Are you happy with your installation?