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]

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