Glossary

A workplace retirement account. Many employers match part of what you save, which is free money.

Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed: households that earn above the poverty line but below what basics cost.

41% of Hawaiʻi households were below the ALICE threshold in 2024.

Something you own that has value or produces income.

A fall of 20% or more from a recent high.

A loan you make to a government or company in exchange for regular interest payments.

The State of Hawaiʻi sells bonds to pay for roads, schools and the Honolulu rail line.

The sales level where revenue exactly covers costs.

A plan for where each dollar of income goes before you spend it.

On Oʻahu, rent alone can take half of a young worker's paycheck, so budgeting starts with housing.

A long stretch of rising stock prices.

The money moving in and out of a business or household over a period.

A Waikīkī surf shop's cash flow swings with visitor seasons and airfare prices.

Earning returns on your past returns, so growth speeds up over time.

$100 a month from age 16 at 7% a year grows to about $500,000 by 65. Starting at 30 instead gives about $180,000.

A household that spends more than 30% of its income on housing.

39% of Hawaiʻi households were cost burdened in 2024, compared with 33% nationally.

What it costs to cover housing, food, transport, healthcare and other basics in a place.

Hawaiʻi has the highest cost of living of any U.S. state, about 87% above the national average.

A revolving loan. Paid in full each month it is free; carried over it often costs over 20% a year.

A three-digit number (300 to 850) that tells lenders how reliably you repay debt.

Money you owe. Low-rate debt for things that grow in value can help; high-rate debt for spending usually hurts.

Spreading money across many investments so one bad outcome cannot sink you.

Hawaiʻi's economy leans on tourism. A portfolio of only local stocks carries that same concentrated risk.

A share of company profits paid to stockholders, usually every quarter.

The share of a home's price you pay up front, often 3% to 20%.

The drop from an investment's high point to its low point before it recovers.

Yearly profit per share divided by share price. The P/E ratio flipped upside down.

Cash set aside for surprises, usually three to six months of essential expenses.

After the 2023 Maui fires and the 2020 tourism shutdown, families with savings had time to recover. Many had none.

A large pool of invested money whose returns fund an organization forever.

Kamehameha Schools manages about $15.8 billion, spending around 4% a year so the trust can last for generations.

Someone who starts a business and takes on its risk in hope of profit.

Hawaiʻi founders often start at farmers markets and pop-ups before opening a storefront.

The 7.65% payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare, taken from every paycheck.

A cost that stays the same no matter how much you sell, like rent.

Hawaiʻi's tax on business activity, 4% plus a 0.5% county surcharge, usually passed on to shoppers. It applies to groceries too.

A fund that holds every stock in an index, such as the S&P 500, so you own the whole market cheaply.

The general rise in prices over time, which shrinks what a dollar can buy.

Hawaiʻi imports about 90% of its food, so shipping and fuel costs flow straight into grocery prices.

The price of borrowing money, or the reward for lending it, as a yearly percentage.

A 1920 federal law requiring goods shipped between U.S. ports to travel on U.S.-built, U.S.-crewed ships.

Critics say it raises Hawaiʻi prices; supporters say it protects jobs and security. Estimates of its cost vary widely.

Something you owe.

A company's total stock market value: share price times number of shares.

A long-term loan to buy a home, repaid monthly with interest over 15 to 30 years.

The median Oʻahu single-family home sold for $1,139,000 in 2025.

When money spent locally is re-spent by the people who receive it, multiplying its impact.

The theme of Saving Paradise's episode The Second Life of a Dollar.

Assets minus liabilities. Your financial scorecard.

What you give up by choosing one option over another.

Gross pay is what you earn; net pay is what lands after taxes and deductions.

Hawaiʻi's top income tax rate is 11%, one of the highest in the country, though recent cuts lower taxes for working families.

Share price divided by yearly profit per share. It shows how much investors pay for each dollar of earnings.

What is left after a business pays all its costs.

A broad decline in economic activity lasting months, with rising unemployment.

In April 2020 Hawaiʻi's unemployment reached 23.5%, among the highest in the nation.

All the money a business takes in from sales, before any costs.

How much an investment's value swings. Higher expected returns usually come with bigger swings.

A retirement account funded with after-tax money. Growth and withdrawals in retirement are tax free.

Teens with a summer job, at a plate lunch spot or a hotel, can open one with earned income.

Divide 72 by a yearly growth rate to estimate how many years it takes to double.

An index of about 500 of the largest U.S. companies, used as the benchmark for the U.S. stock market.

The share of an endowment spent each year, often around 4%, set so the fund can last.

Kamehameha Schools spent about 3.8% of its endowment in fiscal 2025.

The money a new business needs before it earns any revenue.

A small slice of ownership in a company. You share in its profits and its losses.

Bank of Hawaii (BOH) and Matson (MATX) are local companies anyone can own a piece of.

Prices rise when people want more of something than is available, and fall when there is more than people want.

Limited land and strong demand from residents, the military and second-home buyers push island home prices up.

An investment's price change plus any dividends or interest it paid.

A cost that grows with each sale, like ingredients.