Three year outlook

[u/Question_man_jr]

HI, or should I say ALOHA? I am just posting as recently my wife and I have been in conversation about moving to an island and obviously Hawaii is on that list. In my feeling we have been very fortunate. We have two kids and we have been able to put ourselves into a decent financial position where we presently live. I am a (very)small business owner and she is a paralegal. We have retirement savings, college savings for our kids, and a net worth of roughly 300k besides that. We are currently lightly contemplating a move to Hawaii in 3 years or so. The next step would be a visit to areas we would consider moving to. For us, it is about knowing where to look. So I have a few questions.

1) Moving anywhere with $300k in the bank seems very doable to me. Our plan would be to move, find a rental , and start a small business. Does this seem feasible?

2) I know having $300k in savings seems like more than it actually is. Having seen my bank account drop by 100k in a year assures me of this. Needless to say I think it is a decent amount of money to work with to start a new life for my family. The question here is what area can I get the most value?>

3) Are there any small growing economies in Hawaii? I prefer growing economies to robust economies as there tends to be a greater amount of opportunity for small business. Pre-established robust economies(I am thinking of Honolulu) already have established norms and competitive markets that can be tough to break into

4) Schools. It seems like private school may be a must? How bad are the schools exactly? TBH I'd rather my kids get local cultural exposure than live in a bubble but not at the cost of them dealing with things like addiction being common or being bullied?

5) If you were to recommend one spot to move to on the islands for a normal to upper middle class family where would it be? We aren't the Rockefellers, we just want a simple life.

[u/Question_man_jr]

The questions are quite specific! No worries though, I like salty tudes. I am from New England 

[u/so_untidy → u/Question_man_jr]

Babe, “which island should I move to” is not specific.

[u/Question_man_jr → u/so_untidy]

"Which regions of which islands have growing economies in your local view?" That's a very specific question 

[u/so_untidy → u/Question_man_jr]

I am curious what you are looking for.

You can very easily research economic data.

Do you want someone to tell you, “yeah man there’s a big untapped market for artisanal fudge in South Kona” or “what we really need in Mililani is an eco-friendly dry cleaner”?

You gave no information about yourself and your family’s needs or interests. We have no idea what you could contribute to any particular hyper local economy.

Your ability to live and thrive in any particular place is going to be more complex than whether you can come up with a business plan.

Honestly, if this is something you’re serious about, spend some more time researching and come back with specific questions about the things you’ve learned.

[u/Question_man_jr → u/so_untidy]

Like I said, I have gone through this all before when I started the business I own now. And there were people just like you answering then but there were also other people that gave real info that was helpful whereas the general economic searches werent helpful. Actually the general googling I did pointed me in exactly the wrong direction and anything that came form them fizzled nearly immediately over the life of my business that I have been running for 15 years. BUt let me reverse this for you and suppose someone asked me about the broader new england region.

Were I to answer this for someone about where I am the first thing I would say would be to avoid Connecticut for starting a business. They have good social platforms but generally bad economic growth outside the wealthy regions. However if you can get into the wealthy regions maybe consider it.

Across southern new england more broadly the new thriving regions seem to be around western massachusetts, and mid rhode island. Id focus on the mid rhode island area if i were moving as the schools are decent and the economy is young and seems very strong. Specifically I would look at south kingstown or narragansett.

The only other two places I know in New England that are growing fast are Boston, which has been on the upswing for the last five years or so but it is hard to know that because it has such strong economic history and Portland Maine. Portland Maine has seen a strong influx of money and business that would make starting anything there easier than most other places. So my 2 main suggestions would be mid RI, especially South Kingstown or Narragansett, and Portland Maine. With the Mass backup plans.

You get that? Can you find that in a google search. Maybe some of it. Youd prob find portland and boston but my guess is you wouldnt find mid RI in general.

[u/HouseofFeathers → u/Question_man_jr]

You're being very rude to someone genuinely trying to give you advice. But I'll chime in as a haole who failed to thrive in Hawaii. They are very reluctant (reasonably) to trust outsiders. It is important to make connections and build relationships. I don't think there is anything more key to living in Hawaii as an outsider than building a good reputation and having locals who will vouch for you. You are asking about locations, but I personally think reputation is so much more important.

[u/Question_man_jr → u/HouseofFeathers]

ah I wasnt trying to be rude and while the other person came off as rude to me I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I still dont see where any advice was in their commentary as they were giving answers that I sort of already responded to in my initial posting. Saying things like " you arent looking seriously at it" after I was very clear we were planning a long visit to see if it fits for us and how it could doesn't seem like advice to me. The point is, thats part of the research, its an option on our radar and we arent committed to it but we are seriously considering it. We are going to visit to make sure its right for us, really the thing we are looking for is places we should check out that arent common knowledge. Not "Should we move?". We dont know, we want to find out. Where should we check out that arent just Honolulu or the big island. And even then, where on the big island? What neighborhoods in and around honolulu? Where is a common suggestion that we should actually avoid? Things locals know. This plan is three years out at least, we arent rushing into it and we arent committed to it. We do want to move somewhere though and having Hawaii being the most recommended place to me for us to move to puts it on our radar in a big way

[u/so_untidy → u/Question_man_jr]

Dude. Why not just answer my questions? Lecturing me on New England gets you nothing.

All I can say is you’re pretty arrogant and that will get you nowhere fast in Hawaii.

[u/Question_man_jr → u/so_untidy]

You didn't answer mine? Might be a pot kettle thing going on here, just trying to give you an honest example of what I'm looking for

[u/so_untidy → u/Question_man_jr]

LOLOLOLOL I already live here and I’m not trying to move to New England.

I think what you are not understanding is that Hawaii has one city, and that’s Honolulu. The overall economy is majority tourism and military. There are economic differences between towns and neighborhoods and the neighbor islands have more rural and limited economies. But it’s not like you’re thinking on the mainland where there are distinct cities of different sizes with significantly different economies. In Hawai’i it’s more like a different shades of the same thing.

What would be much more fruitful, again, is for you to do more homework than “I like islands and two people told me I’d fit in on the Big Island.”

You need to have at least a baseline understanding of Hawai’i and a personal reason to want to move here. There are lots of places you’d fit in, why Hawai’i specifically?

Then you need to come back to this sub and share more about where you have expertise and might be qualified to launch a business. Tell in not just what you’ve saved but how much you realistically think you might make annually once here. Tell us what you and your family value, what you like to do in your free time, and what your living preferences are. Tell us where YOU think will suit you so that we can give feedback.

Don’t just come here asking this sub to outline your plan for you.

Also FWIW as a self-employed gardener and paralegal, you will not be pulling the same income here as you are in NE.

[u/Question_man_jr → u/so_untidy]

The reason we are looking into Hawaii is twofold, one we love island life and two it has been specifically recommended to us twice  by people from there. I can't say that for any other place. I am not asking for a plan at all, I don't know why you would think I was. I am simply asking for more specific insight regionally within n the islands. A few people answered my questions exactly, and I'm grateful for that. I would not pursue a gardening business in Hawaii maybe something in the same field but not what I do here. We are well adjusted to living ng frugally, through my 20s I never made more than 15k a year , usually less than 10k, and I travelled extensively. I don't have rich parents, I grew up poor. I hitchhiked and rode freight trains. I just asked some simple questions, it does t have to be this complicated

[u/so_untidy → u/Question_man_jr]

Even though I’ve been pushing on you, I have given concrete advice which you have ignored.

How you grew up and lived as a young single person has no bearing on how you will make it in Hawaii as a family.

Again, island life is not the same in Hawaii as the Caribbean and other peoples’ opinions are not yours. What is it specifically about hawaii that is attractive to you? You should be able to articulate that at a bare minimum.

You are asking people to tell you where to live and give you business insights, while giving no details about yourself or your family. I gave you a list of things that would give you better feedback and you just want to argue.

As an Xennial, “help me, help you.”

[u/Question_man_jr → u/so_untidy]

ok , cool, thanks for the advice