Why is rent so high in Kihei now? (Kahului, Wailuku: foreclosures, neighborhood)

[72andsunny]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

My dad worked hard and had a successful career in the oil industry, and was frugal to a fault. We never went on vacations or anything like that. But he died poor, thousands of miles from home and without having gone fishing or even seen a beach for a decade.

You can plan and make all the right decisions and have nothing to show for it in the end. If you don't realize how short life is and how important it is to make the most of it, well you probably will at some point.

My mother also worked hard her whole life (well she was an elementary school teacher, which isn't quite like digging holes or building things, but still hard work); not frugal to a fault, but she rarely spent money on non-necessities. Her greatest fear was that she would become ill and end up in a nursing home, so she made plans to have enough long term insurance that would keep her in her own home if that ever happened. She died with more money than she could have easily spent in had she lived 20 more years. I am grateful every day for what was left to me (and her grandchildren who never knew her will be as well when they are old enough to understand), but I wish she had spent more of it on herself.

Bottom line: plan for the worst case stuff. Buy a little insurance to take care of yourself in the event you can no longer work (which statistically is much more likely than an untimely death), but do not work yourself to death just so that you will have x dollars in retirement.

[winkosmosis]

I just went to the goodbye party for Shaggy Jenkins, the guy who started the reggae station (the only one in the whole country) and it was awesome. I got to meet DJ Irie Dole and he introduced me to two Jamaican girls-- somehow there is a decent number of people from the Caribbean here. One of the performers, Lambsbread, has a Trinidadian wife (I'm from Trinidad). One of the bouncers was a paniolo who competes in rodeos.

It's very strange but Maui is probably the perfect place for somebody like me with cultural ties to the Caribbean and the American West. I can hang out with cowboys at a freaking reggae show.

[Travlin'grl]

Sounds perfectly reasonable; I'm Bahamian living in Northern California and Hawaii appeals to me far more than the Bahamas.

[Rido]

Originally Posted by lanormun

These days even with a degree you are not necessarily going to have an easy time getting a job. Many new grads don't get jobs in their field of study. It is true though that no one is going to just hand you a job. You do have to pursue it and networking is very important as well.

you have to get a useful degree first....

[smarino]

You can't eat the view though.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by smarino

You can't eat the view though.

While I was visiting HiIo I saw a homeless man eating from a garbage can. I felt like maybe I should have bought him some food. The homeless people I saw never asked for money. The homeless people were friendly, like the others in Hawaii, although I don't think they much of a life, living below the edge. Keep that in mind when you want to live in a very expensive place without enough money. You need to make sure you don't fall below the edge into despair.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

So rents used to be $800 and $900 and now they are $1,200 and $1,500 a month? That does not sound too high in price. Apartments around here are renting for a similar rate. Maybe it depends on where you come from. Maybe when the kids are bigger my wife and I could rent out our home on the mainland and rent a place in Hawaii. LOL

[MauiPartTimer]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

So rents used to be $800 and $900 and now they are $1,200 and $1,500 a month? That does not sound too high in price. Apartments around here are renting for a similar rate. Maybe it depends on where you come from. Maybe when the kids are bigger my wife and I could rent out our home on the mainland and rent a place in Hawaii. LOL

$1200-1500 might not sound like much, until you understand how incomes/wages on the island are so much lower than, say California.

[MauiPartTimer]

Originally Posted by davephan

While I was visiting HiIo I saw a homeless man eating from a garbage can. I felt like maybe I should have bought him some food. The homeless people I saw never asked for money. The homeless people were friendly, like the others in Hawaii, although I don't think they much of a life, living below the edge. Keep that in mind when you want to live in a very expensive place without enough money. You need to make sure you don't fall below the edge into despair.

Dave,
I know you're doing your best to impress your advice about financial well-being, as have I. There's a point where it goes from friendly advice, to a lecture, to outright hyperbole. Warning people that they'll be homeless and eating garbage probably crosses at least one of those lines. I'm right there with you on the financial priorities, but we also have to realize that people are going to think differently and have other priorities .

Rather than thinking of ways to make it scarrier and scarrier to make your point and turning the conversation negative, it might be time to say "I've done my best to share my experience/wisdom and it's not sinking in. Good luck to him."

Peace,
MPT

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by MauiPartTimer

$1200-1500 might not sound like much, until you understand how incomes/wages on the island are so much lower than, say California.

That sounds fair. So for someone that does not need the income it would work just fine then? I would not plan on doing that move till our house is paid off and the kids are grown. LOL