For this week's blog post, I'd like to see if there are any other monkeys out here in the Hawaiian islands. If there's enough response, I'll be putting together a meet up sometime in the following weeks.
I expect this post will bring a lot of hate along the lines of "You work in Hawaii, you suck" type of thing, but hey, it's not all paradise.
Respond on here or message me and I'll put something together. Hopefully there's a few of us out here.
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are you from there or did you move there for your job?
how often do you go surfing?
you're in Honolulu right? how is the cost of living? how does your salary match with the cost of living?
what are the downsides of living there?
I came out here for school (yes, I'm from a non-target but hey it was a great four years out here) and ended up staying after graduation.
When I was in school and had a lot more free time, I'd surf a lot, during summers sometimes even every day. Nowadays I'm in the office every day but still try to get out on the water now and then. But there's a lot of guys at the bank that wake up at dawn to get a short session in before work or use the occasional sick day when the waves are big.
Honolulu's a fun city, but it's definitely not for those on a tight budget. Rent is pretty high (not as bad as New York but still up there) and food/gas/utilities are also high. Since were the most isolated inhabited pieces of land in the world and everything has to be shipped here, you'll be paying more at the grocery store, at the gas station, and on your monthly electric bill. Compound the fact that the average salary out here doesn't account for that (most match national standards) and it puts more of a strain on your budget than most places. I guess it's part of the trade off for living out here. We also recently received the award for worst place for traffic, so if you have to commute very far to work it can be a pain.
On the bright side though, I live within walking distance of Waikiki beach, my office itself is only a block away from the ocean and the weathers never as horrible as most places on the mainland. There's also plenty of beautiful local women and there's always new tourist women arriving daily. Probably the best part about the islands is that the best things to do (the beaches, hiking, surfing, etc) are free.
Other than the downside of the high cost of living, the only downside I can think of is that there's a sort of reverse racism in the islands most people won't experience on the mainland. Some of the local people resent "haoles" (white people), although it's usually more of the ignorant, head up his a** white person that brings this out. On Oahu it's not as bad as some of the other islands that have more of a "Born here, not flown here" mentality (to be fair we did kind of illegally take over their land way back when). But if you're the kind of person that has basic common sense and knows how to respect people and their cultures, you probably won't experience any of this darker side of Hawaii.
But overall, I love living and working here. The work environment is great, as you can only be so stressed in a place like this. Not to say there aren't beautiful days when you're stuck in the office thinking, "man, I wish I was out surfing" but for me, it provides a good balance of work and play, which is important to me.
not to thread jack, but id be interested to hear what kind of finance opportunities there are in Hawaii? I just found out one of my boys that I graduated with is going to be doing big 4 in Bermuda which I thought was really weird and/or cool*
*kinda feel like it would be the coolest thing in the world for like 3 months at which point you'd start to hate yourself... could be wrong
Wow you graduated with your boy? Did you just recently go back to school?
What kind of finance scene do you have in Hawaii?
I know you have some PWM and HF's. Are those the main groups?
.
Well, the thread was definitely jacked a little but thanks a lot for the information. I never imagined Hawaii to be a finance destination but it sounds incredible!
definatley concur with the reverse racism. If you are dealing with a native police officer, beg for a ticket and mercy, otherwise prepare for a beatdown.
Simply walk around with a BJ Penn t-shirt and you'll be ok.
Negative, I inseminated a woman at -3 months old by pushing my penis out of my mother's belly button. My twins were then born when I was 6 months old. One went to my UG with me, the other did not.
Did you find a job yet?
I travel out to Hawaii pretty regularly, lived out there for most of last year. I was over in Pacific Heights. If you know where that is, look into the mountains for a giant giraffe- thats my spot ;-) I can echo everything MailManBitesDog has said- 100% accurate information. Definitely an awesome place to live, but like the OP said, it is not for those on a budget. I hope to go back again next spring, and I hope to live there permanentlywithin the next few years. When I go back I will send you a message!
A few things:
I only surfed on the South Shore, the mellower the better... Diamond Head and whatnot. So nice.
Some other points I would like to add about the cultural aspect: There is a strong military presence on the island... Most white people are in the military lol. Also, there is alot of drug use, particularly meth, although I hear it is getting better.
I miss the women the most. I miss sexy Asian girls with tattoos being in my vicinity at all times.
Its a relief to know that if my life doesn't work out, I can always just be a bum in Hawaii.
I find it funny that the first thing everyone asks me when they find out I lived out there is if I ever saw Dog the Bountyhunter. "Yo man did you see DOG??" "YES, shut the fuck up"........ Every time.
Abdel, I will answer your question in one sentence which will contain one true, and one false statement: No, but I think I'm close.
You better get that farming degree.
Realistically, how many banking jobs are available there? Are the deals typically just for local Hawaiian companies or would a company on the mainland actually seek out a Hawaiian rainmaker? Seems like it could be a pretty cool place to work.
I was actually looking up Alexander & Baldwin as that seems like it would be a kickass fucking job.
This would be a dream come true.
I'm a monkey in Hawaii shaka
Late reply to this post but I'm in Hawaii too.
To answer some of the previous users comments - there is NO real IB/PE presence here, anything that does come in is imported (yes I'm talking people) from the CA/NY offices of the bulge-brackets. We have Merrill, UBS, Morgan Stanley from the BBs and 3 major local banks but they're all focused on PWM and institutional asset management. They do well selling mutual funds and asset allocation schemes all day if that's what you're looking for. However, it is relatively easy to get into a Big 4 accounting firm here and make a lateral jump to another location if that's your route.
Weather and scenery are great, opportunity to jump to IB/PE are horrendous.
I'm guessing you're Oahu based?
UFO, you should do it... It's a totally different way of living. I would help you out any way I can.
I hope to move back sometime early next year.
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