Keith's Blog Continued...
Apr
22
Which Retirement Account to Fund First
Posted by Keith on April 22, 2007 at 12:33 pm | Leave a Comment
Keith,
I have about $500k in investments in four different types of accounts — 401k, IRA, Roth IRA and non retirement Investments. I am looking to retire in about 7 years and am currently saving about $30k per year. My question is: Should I fund my 401k first or my Roth IRA first, or should I pay down my house mortgage to be debt free at retirement?
Regards and best wishes on you adventure.
Richard Wilharm
Apr
22
Video: Approaching Diamondhead
Posted by Keith on April 22, 2007 at 11:54 am | Leave a Comment
Apr
19
“Close Your Eyes, Click Your Heels Twice, and Then Say…
Posted by Keith on April 19, 2007 at 8:10 am | 3 Comments
“…There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”
OK, so I didn’t click my heels twice, but I did catch a red eye Tuesday night/Wednesday morning back to Phoenix. And there really is no place like home! Arrived in Phoenix early yesterday morning, and proceeded to have a great “family day”.
What required 12 days at sea westbound, from San Diego to Honolulu, took six hours eastbound non-stop from Maui to Phoenix (had to fly from Honolulu first). But sitting even for just six hours in a metal tube, 35,000+ feet above it all, with 300 of my closest personal hacking-wheezing-coughing friends, is nowhere near as fun as going anywhere aboard or Nordhavn 55 –The Global Adventure.
Rip and Wolf are busily preparing the ship for departure from Honolulu this Sunday, or as close thereto as possible. Next stop: Majuro, The Marshall Islands.
I’ll meet today with our website gurus to divine ways to provide faster-better-easier content for you, our loyal website visitors, and will fly back to Honolulu tomorrow morning. Stay tuned…
–Keith
Apr
17
Mahalo and Aloha to Kate — and an Update
Posted by Keith on April 17, 2007 at 11:48 am | 2 Comments
Kate Chapman, our intrepid cook and website assistant, has elected to resign as crew and to return to Seattle from Hawaii. We greatly appreciated her hard work and great cooking, and we wish her every success back home. Aloha and Mahalo, Kate!
We still hope to depart from Hawaii for Majuro in the Marshall Islands this Sunday, or within a day or to thereafter. We are delaying our departure slightly from Hawaii because once we leave here, our ability to find parts locally, or to easily resolve minor technical issues will be greatly reduced.
Our Ship, The Global Adventure, has performed splendidly; as has our KVH communications gear. We simply wish to add a few bells and whistles, primarily to our communications capabilities, before we depart Honolulu.
Also, today I will be catching a “red eye” back to Phoenix to squeeze in a two-day visit with my family, and to take care of some business. Captain Wolf and First Mate Rip will be diligently working on the ship in my absence. I will return Friday afternoon. We will broadcast our Sunday show from the beautiful Hawaii Yacht Club in Honolulu. This past week’s show was broadcast from the also-beautiful Halekulani Hotel on Waikiki.
Our thanks to both facilities for their splendid hospitality.
Be sure to catch our Hawaii photos in the Photo Gallery Section of this site, that I’ll be posting in a moment.
–Keith
Apr
15
Keith’s April 15 Global Adventure Radio Show
Posted by Keith on April 15, 2007 at 1:30 pm | 1 Comment
FIRST HOUR:
Segments One and Two: Keith’s description of the crossing, and of Honolulu
Segments Three and Four: Economic and trip news
SECOND HOUR:
Segment One: Hawaii’s Economy
Segment Two: How Japan’s economy affects Hawaii
Segments Three and Four: Interview with Dr. Jerry Finan, East West Center Scholar on:
Marshall Islands, Micronesia , Palau , and the Philippines
THIRD HOUR: Interview with Dr. Jerry Finan, continued
Apr
14
Safe and Sound At the Hawaii Yacht Club in Honolulu
Posted by Keith on April 14, 2007 at 1:17 pm | 4 Comments
Just wanted everyone to know that we did indeed arrive safely in Honolulu yesterday afternoon. Enjoyed a nice celebratory dinner at the Chart House last night. We are docked right next to the Hawaii Yacht Club’s main club house, and last night the band played until midnight.
However, I must confess that I heard nothing after 9 PM Hawaii time, having fallen asleep, for the first time in 12 days, while my bed was not moving!
The Hawaii Yacht Club is everything a club of this sort should be. The staff and members here are just wonderful; and it’s ideal location right next to Waikiki beach makes it one of the most unique facilities in the world.
Today we are cleaning the boat, making lists of various matters that must be attended to, and generally getting organized. Tomorrow, I will broadcast the radio show from The Halekulani Hotel — and, yes, taking the rest of the day off.
–Keith
Apr
13
Hawaii Snapshot
Posted by Keith on April 13, 2007 at 7:03 am | 1 Comment
The Aloha State is home to about 1,300,000 people — less than 40 percent as many people as live in the greater Phoenix ( Maricopa County ) area. Hawaii extends across the Pacific for 1,523 miles and contains eight main islands, and many islets. Two years ago President Bush declared Hawaii’s outlying areas a protected national preserve – the largest in the United States .
First settled by Polynesians between A.D. 300 and 600, and physically closer to Pacific locations such as the Marshall Islands than to the mainland, today only 9.4% of Hawaii’s population is entirely Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Surprisingly, 41 percent of the population is of Asian descent.
Sugarcane (Did someone say “ethanol”?), pineapples, and flowers and nursery products are its chief products, along with coffee, bananas and macadamia nuts. But tourism, by far, is Hawaii’s largest industry.
More than 900,000 people live in Honolulu County alone. About a third of those folks live in the City of Honolulu ,
One of the great books about Hawaii is actually a novel by the same name: James Michener’s Hawaii. In it, Michener devotes the first 400 truly wonderful pages describing how titanic volcanic forces thrust Hawaii from the Pacific, and how it developed soil, flora and fauna. He also tells the story of the profound role Christian missionaries from Maine played in the state’s history.
Hawaii became a U.S. territory in 1900, and, along with Alaska , became a state in 1959. The state’s deep ties to the mainland were sealed on December 7, 1941 – the “Day of Infamy” – when the U.S. fleet was attacked at Pearl Harbor. The U.S.S. Arizona still lies just beneath the surface there, now part of the Pearl Harbor Memorial, as a grim reminder of the sacrifice made by America’s “Greatest Generation” – including many Hawaiians.
–Keith
Apr
12
Should You Pay Off the Mortgage?
Posted by Keith on April 12, 2007 at 9:25 pm | 1 Comment
Keith,
Should we pay off our mortgage? We sold stock options and the money is sitting in a bank account earning 6% for the next 5 months.
Should we use it to pay off the $270,000 we owe on our mortgage (at 7.5% interest)? Would you suggest some other, more beneficial use of this money? My husband is 55 and I am 50. We have no other debts and we have maxed out our 401k.
Thanks,
Debra
Apr
12
Dad’s (Grown) Girl: The Power of DCA
Posted by Keith on April 12, 2007 at 9:46 am | Leave a Comment
Keith,
Our daughter will start her teaching career next fall. I am encouraging her to consider living at home for 3-4 years to save most of her salary. That way she might be able to purchase a home. If she were to do this what strategy would you recommend for saving/investing an annual amount of about $25K.
Enjoy the fresh fish dinner. Smooth sailing,
Matt
Read more
Apr
11
Potpourri at Sea
Posted by Keith on April 11, 2007 at 9:55 pm | 1 Comment
23.18N 150.19W
379 Miles NW of Honolulu
Life on this tenth day at sea
- Catching two Dorado. Kate planning our first fish dinner. Twenty-knot south-easterlies on our port quarter. Sledding toward Hawaii.
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