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Living debt free is a nice goal, buying your home or cars with cash. However, sometimes it makes more sense to take a mortgage or make car payments. The freedom of being debt free does have a value. We bought new cars with cash, but looking back on it, it would made more economic sense to have taken out very low interest loans for the cars and left that money in the market. The extra money we would have made in the market would have nearly paid for the cars, and we would still have the principle.
The same might also apply to a mortgage. We paid off our mortgage in 10 years. It would have made more economic sense to put more money in the market and take more time to pay off the mortgage. Although my personal limit would be a 15 year mortgage. I think a 30 year mortgage is just too long to pay off a home mortgage.
Moving to Hawaii is probably more risky than moving to most other places, due to its isolation, high cost of living, and very uncertain employment. You could significantly lower the risk by renting the first year. Renting will add to the long term cost, if you end up staying in on the Big Island for years. But if things don't work out, renting would save you a lot of money. If you buy a property, you probably need to hold that property for at least 5 to 8 years before you sell the property. You're probably going to lose a lot of money if things don't work out, that happens to the majority of people that make the attempt to move to Hawaii. Most people only last a year or two. How do you know you'll beat those odds? It's very risky. Are you prepared to take the financial loss if things don't work out?
Have you saved enough money for retirement? The vast majority of Americans save little to nothing for retirement. Many people feel that $1M to $2M is a good ballpark retirement savings goal, and I agree with that range. But the vast majority of the population retire with much less savings and can survive. You need to keep your long term goals in mind. The cost of living in Hawaii is very high, you'll likely be saving zero while you're living there.
I think a few months buffer is too short and risky. I think you should figure out how much it actually takes to live one year where you currently live. Then multiply that number by how much more the cost of living is in Hawaii. Then add to that you moving expenses. Then add to that another $10K to $20K to setup your household at the rental property. If the rental property has furniture and other household things, then the setup costs will be lower.
When you consider the whole proposal, it is risky. You could be successful and things could work out well for you. Your repeating something that has been attempted by many people before you. Most of those people failed. Many took financial hits that set them back for a decade or more. Some won't ever recover from the financial loss. So you need to be careful, very careful!
I hope things work out well for you, whatever you decide to do.
"Are there any professional drivers on the forum who might have a better sense of the situation?"
I'm not a professional driver but I know a few people who hire box truck and forklift drivers and complain constantly about the inability to find and retain reliable people (both Kona and Hilo side). Granted, I don't know what they PAY but I do know the companies offer some benefits.
Don't listen to the naysayers about finding a job here. The national unemployment rate is 4.9%. Hawaii's unemployment rate is 3.2% (December 2015). The unemployment rate on the BI is 3.7%. If you are willing to work, there is work here. However, there are not a lot of good paying jobs, though I think that has been improving in Hawaii compared to the national average over the last 7 years. (Things aren't getting better here, the rest of the country is slowly getting as crappy as Hawaii has been while things here remain the same).
Getting employment here is a little different than elsewhere. A lot of jobs aren't well advertised and filled by networking. Sometimes a big store opens up and creates lots of advertised jobs (example, Old Navy in Hilo still advertising last I looked).
Tip: Go to Walmart or Kmart or wherever and buy a $15 Tracfone. Activate it with an 808 area code and put 100 minutes on it. Now you have a local kine telephone number. More people will answer/return calls that way. You can call up any of the local post offices and setup a general delivery address.
The 4.9% national employment number is a phony statistic. There are 92 million people out of work in the US. The real national unemployment number is closer to 25% because the people who give up and stop looking for work are considered statically employed, even though they are actually not employed. The national black unemployment is about 52%. The Real BI unemployment may be a lot higher than the number you quoted.
I do not think working for $10 to $15 an hour is viable, especially in Hawaii where the cost of living is so high. If you're over 50, you should be saving at least $2K per month for retirement, especially if you haven't saved much before age 50. If you're only making $10 to $15 an hour, your not going to be saving anything. You have to pay yourself first (save money, store your working years), so you can have a decent retirement in the long term future. If you can't afford to pay yourself first, you aren't making enough money or the cost of living is too high, or both.
I'm not sure why the workers are unreliable in Hawaii, or if that's true. I've heard that many times. Maybe people are just too lazy to work, and have a poor work ethic because the weather is too nice and the pay is too low.
The 4.9% national employment number is a phony statistic. There are 92 million people out of work in the US. The real national unemployment number is closer to 25% because the people who give up and stop looking for work are considered statically employed, even though they are actually not employed. The national black unemployment is about 52%. The Real BI unemployment may be a lot higher than the number you quoted.
I do not think working for $10 to $15 an hour is viable, especially in Hawaii where the cost of living is so high. If you're over 50, you should be saving at least $2K per month for retirement, especially if you haven't saved much before age 50. If you're only making $10 to $15 an hour, your not going to be saving anything. You have to pay yourself first (save money, store your working years), so you can have a decent retirement in the long term future. If you can't afford to pay yourself first, you aren't making enough money or the cost of living is too high, or both.
I'm not sure why the workers are unreliable in Hawaii, or if that's true. I've heard that many times. Maybe people are just too lazy to work, and have a poor work ethic because the weather is too nice and the pay is too low.
As everywhere I looked the numbers range between 13 and 16 percent, I'm going to need a citation for the bolded statement. Oh, and Rush Limbaugh doesn't count.
The population of the USA was ~320 million in 2014. To say that there are 92 million people out of work must include those people who are too young or old to work. A 92 million figure is going to include infants. Those are not people "out of work".
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