The rain that falls on the windward side has left it lush and green

The rain that falls on the windward side has left it lush and green. Trade winds blow in from the north-east for most of the year leaving the south-west - or leeward - side of each island with a dry and sunny climate. The privately owned island of Niihau off the west coast of Kauai is a Hawaiian reserve closed to outsiders. And Kahoolawe, a little island off Maui, has been undergoing restoration since the US military handed it back to the State of Hawaii in 1994 after using it for target practice for 50 years.What's the weather like?It's a long way to go to sit on a beach but every year thousands of Britons make the 7,000-mile journey to the Hawaiian Islands to enjoy the balmy year-round climate.Temperatures along the coast generally hover between 70 to 80F (21 to 25C), although whether you will see rain or shine depends where you are on the islands.

Perhaps you should raise your game, play safe and make the target pounds 10 million.... Where exactly are they? The eight major islands that make up the State of Hawaii lie smack in the middle of the Pacific, 2,500 miles south-west of the rest of the United States, and part of a 122-island archipelago strung in a 1,500-mile arc across the Pacific. The islands are the tips of a chain of giant volcanoes that began forming along a split in the earth's crust 25 million years ago. Most are extinct, but the youngest islands are still growing (Kilauea on the Big Island has been erupting for the last 14 years) and there is even a new island growing 30 miles south-east of Kilauea, although Loihi is still 10,000 feet below the sea.Of the eight isles, Kauai, Maui, Oahu, Lanai, Molokai and the Big Island (Hawaii) are open for business to visitors. What kind of pension annuity would that buy you in today's terms?The answer is, it would get you an income worth just pounds 10,000 a year in today's money Not exactly a jackpot to look forward to. Say you are aged 25 today and on a salary of pounds 25,000 pa. If you invest pounds 300 per month at nine per cent you will get your million at age 60.

But you will be hit by the costs of insurance, storage, and no income.The sting in the tale is, a million won't be worth what it is today when you do hit 60, even in an era of low inflation. You get no income so, overall, you get "a pretty awful return" Mr Tracey says.How about great works of art? Railplan, the old British Rail pension fund, had a go at investing in paintings in the 1970s, and didn't do too badly. We believe the high inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s was an anomaly."With factors such as Internet commerce and globalisation driving down inflation, you should be looking at investments which will grow in value despite low inflation, he says.What about gold? Again, a great hedge against inflation, but not so useful while price rises are low. "Residential property has been a good hedge against inflation over the last 30 years - but you would probably still have done better with equities.