Customer Reviews

Living and Retiring in Hawaii: The 50th State in the 21st Century

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The authors of this book obviously conducted a lot of research and cared a great deal about their subject. As other reviewers have said, it does contain a lot of useful information for someone thinking about retiring to Islands. Unfortunately, however, the book suffers greatly from two serious flaws. First, it is incredibly poorly proofread; it is replete with distracting and annoying spelling and typographical errors. (One wonders what the publisher was doing!) Second, large portions of the book provide information about matters that change very quickly. In particular, the prices cited are already wildly out of date. I think it would be great if the authors, perhaps with some help from an editor, updated the information and cleaned up the text.

This book is worth reading for people seriously interested in moving to Hawaii for retirement. The authors provide lots of economic data on how much it costs to live in Hawaii but it is accurate for about the year 2000. It is a thoughtful book written like an academic paper (with footnotes all the way to clxxxv!).

The author(s) tend to say about 200 words for about 50 words of information. We've been researching our retirement (ten years away) for about six years and three vacations to the Big Island. We found a few good tips and some helpful information, those the material is somewhat intentionally generic. I guess the best thing for us was the confirmation our information was correct and our strategy fairly sound. I'd say excellent for someone with no information, less for those who have been researching.

We loved this book and are finding it a great help as we explore this option. If you are looking for fluff or feel good prose to help you make your decision this is not the place to look. The author shows Hawaii as it is both good and bad. Highly recommended.

After making the choice to move to Hawaii, started looking for reference material. Although the book is a little outdated, it is filled with great information. After arriving, realized how important many topics were.

What is the net worth required of a retiree couple in order to purchase the minimum 800 sq ft STARTER home in the volcano-prone zone of the Big Island? The STARTER homes there are listed at $500,000. How much of a multi-millionnaire must one be to move to Hawaii?

If you are over 80 and prefer the large type Readers digest, this is the book for you. Really nothing new or informative in this book for a young person or family looking to move and work in hawaii. The Polancy book was more informative for someone more interested in getting a job versus finding a hospice.