Find yourself

My vacation ended last week and I flew back to Phoenix, Arizona to stay with family there. There are many options for me at this time, such as going back to school for further education, trying to get a job, staying in Arizona, moving somewhere else, on and on. My future is open and I am in a very flexible situation.
Fortunately, a special opportunity came up in Hawaii with a good friend that I met back in 2001. My friend is launching an Far-east Asia focused investment fund and needs some help. With our trust built from working together before, my language skills and background in business and finance as a base, I think I was a good candidate to help him and he asked me to join him.

The fund will be launched in Honolulu, Hawaii. The time difference between Far-east Asia and Hawaii is only a few hours compared to the US mainland and Asia. I will know soon if I need be there in mid-september or the 1st of October. I am looking for apartments in advance so that I can settle in right away.

I discovered the prices of apartments around Hawaii have gone up quite a bit since I was last there. Maybe about 30% or more. I think the recent housing market crash and problems in the stock market will help me get a better price than what it might have been a few months ago.

My goal this time in Hawaii is to buy my own home. Maybe not a house, but at least a condo. I don't want all my money going into rent and not get anything in return. At least with mortgage payments, I will be buying into something that I own (paying myself) rather than all my money going to someone else.