Re: Living Hawaiian style
Well, Ronin, I've definitely gotten into the North Shore surf-- into my nose, my ears, my shorts, and finally into those old coral heads around the shorebreak. I'm going to be quite happy piddling around at White Plains before I try another North Shore winter. Maybe a shorter board, too. I should go out every day but I barely make it twice a week. ("But waddya DO all day?!?") My daughter is about to start tae kwan do and if it's easier on the joints than judo, then I'll start it too... anything to improve my balance and speed up my turns.
GDER, you'd fit right in here. The "Paradise Tax" is about 25% but much of that is food, healthcare, and housing-- the first two not an issue for military retirees. Military is the third-largest industry (after tourism & civil servants) so our bases won't close. The islands now grow more than 50% of our vegetables & fruits so we're not as dependent on shipping, and if you eat local food (instead of box cereal and Mainland beef) then it's even cheaper. Crippler, I mean Tripler Hospital has mostly sent us retirees out to civilian doctors so I'm much less worried about my health.
Real estate is ludicrous. The typical family home is 3 BR/1600 sq ft shoehorned onto a 4500 sq ft lot (1/10th acre). Prices range from $250K-$650K. Low interest rates have spurred an affordable housing boom but it still chews up a chunk of budget. We bought a decaying fixer-upper on 1/3 acre and it's doubled in price in three years.
But other costs are less. We don't have a heating system and our house doesn't even have insulation or multi-pane windows. In fact, we only close the upstairs windows a couple times a year when the nights get down below 65 (brrrr!!). We use tradewinds & ceiling fans instead of air conditioning; 90% of the morning lows are 70-75 degrees and the afternoon highs are 80-85. I put radiant insulation in the attic rafters to keep the heat OUT. I probably waste a lot of irrigation water on fruit trees but we're moving to drought-tolerant plants & mulch. Electricity is all oil-fired plants so it's about 13 cents/KW, but our monthly electrical bill is below $70 and water/sewer is about the same. We have the nation's highest per-capita use of solar water heating and in the next five or ten years I'm going to buy a couple KW of photovoltaic roof panels. With rainbarrels and "dry" plants we'll get the water bill down to $50.
Gas runs about $1.90-$2/gal (depends how far away you are from the harbor) but I drive less than 3000 miles/year. The hybrid cars are a big hit here since almost all trips are under 40 miles. (When I was working I rode my bicycle more than the car and only put about 1000 mi/yr on the car.) So my car & fuel costs are less than most Mainland areas, and I don't have to worry about winter weather or road salt.
Last year's clothing expenses were under $50. I shop at Goodwill and rotate through about a dozen pairs of shorts & t-shirts. Footwear is rubber slippers, which I wear out to the tune of about $2/year. I've owned one (and only one) sweatshirt since the 1980s and I wear it maybe twice a year. When we pack for a Vegas vacation it's a struggle to find our pants & socks. I don't travel to the Mainland between Nov & Feb.
State taxes are low-- 4% sales and max of 8.75% personal (most pay 5%) and the military pension is tax-free. Our property taxes are ~3.5 mils, only about $1600/year. Schools are ranked much lower than the Mainland because of the multicultural population (over 200 languages) but I think Mainland schools are starting to see the same challenges. Both subjects get lots of negative national press but it's much better than the 1980s. Hawaii is regularly in the top three on weather, healthy lifestyles, and longevity. And did I mention that there's no winter here?
You can hop out anytime you want (it's very easy now with all the logistics flights going between Iraq and the Mainland). We mainly travel to Pacific diving sites, Disneyland, or Vegas but of course my wife's parents live here. A realtor friend used to employ about 30 of his retired Navy friends, and they made a ton of money during the last housing boom, but eventually they gave up the $$ to emigrate to the Mainland to be near their grandkids. Conventional wisdom is that Hawaii has lots of entry-level jobs but few careers, so we'll have to see how my daughter does with that challenge. She's learning that ER is about lifestyle, not net worth.
Culture is all over the map and racism still occasionally rears its ugly head, but now that everyone is a minority it's much less of an issue. Culture's best side effect is that the food is a perpetual feast and entertainment is endless. Politics is no worse than Pennsylvania ever was, and last year the Republicans actually overthrew the governor's five-decade Democratic stranglehold.
I've lived in Great Britain, Spain, the Azores, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Guam, Korea, Monterey (CA), New London (CT), upstate NY, Denver, Orlando, Annapolis, Pittsburgh, Charleston (SC), Norfolk, San Diego, & Bremerton (WA). I've visited Alaska by submarine and I've vacationed through just about every other state in the union & Canadian provinces-- but Hawaii has really grabbed our hearts. I don't get rock fever (must be the sub background), so I can't imagine a more congenial place for the next five or six decades!
