I didn't make it to the TOP 10! But I'm not disappointed at all because through this event, I have met many great bloggers and it means so much more to me than winning the competition.. :-)
However.. Mother made it to the TOP 10! And she is rounding everyone up to vote for her.. well, I AM rounding everyone up to vote for her.. ;-)
By voting for mother's post, you are not only supporting her to win the competition, but also supporting the activities of the Senior Citizens Group 'Dahlia Senja.' Mother always posts activities of the group on the blog. So far, the blog has intrigued the interests of the local government and elderly care support organization. Your visit will spread the interests further and hopefully will bring new and brighter future of elderly care program in our country.
Yes, that's right. This year is Indonesia Visit Museum Year.
It just happened that our sons, Ariq and Aza love going to the museums. There are a lot of museums in Indonesia, you can always start your museum journal with the ones located in your city.
We visited four museums last week and here is the journal of our visit to the first two; The National Museum and The Museum of Jakarta History.
If you are worried that your children will be bored during the visit, you can rest assured that they will not! Children WILL have fun with everything they experience. It always amazes me how my sons are having great times at the museums, as if they were having a field day at Timezone.. ;-)
Here is the link to our journal.. Museum Visit.. :-)
This story was the first time I realized that children were not to be underestimated.. They are as human as we are -adults-, and we learn from them as much as they learn from us. So, we should start listening to them..
I never try to pretend otherwise.. I'm just a regular woman, with all my emotional ways in handling things.. I tend to talk 'too much' when I find my children do something 'unacceptable' -trying to make sure they know that whatever they were doing was not good, and they shouldn't do it again-.
Repeating warnings and advices are never good, especially for children. I heard it often enough, said by experts of children education. However, trying to stop talking when I'm already 'ignited' is not easy.. It was like being torn into two.. Have the children understood of what is expected of them? Alternatively, are they just plain bored listening to me?
I just wanted to make sure that my children would NEVER do the same mistake again.. but I was proven wrong when one day, my 5-year-old talked back in a casual tone, during my steamy 'explaining' of his mistake..
"Mum, whenever you are talking fast and a lot, like this, I don't understand what you are saying. Can you just tell me what it is you want me to do, and I'll do it?"
All in a sudden I lost my words. I closed my mouth and looked at him. He repeated his words, "I mean it, Mum. I don't understand. All I hear is noisy sound coming from you. Just tell me what I have to do."
So many times I heard the advice to talk short and clear sentences to children. So many times I heard the advice to 'direct' children towards what they CAN do, rather than 'forbid' them to do what they CANNOT do. It was not easy to do.. until that time.. when I heard it from my son, in his 'language'..
I never thought that I would hear it coming from a little child.. my own son.. and he was only 5 years old at that time! I didn't have to guess, it must have taken all his courage to say it to me.. Suddenly, I felt something different in me.. a feeling of RESPECT to my son, for saying this difficult thing to me, which opened my mind..
So, I made up my mind to try new ways of communicating with my children..
Was I successful? Well, it didn't happen overnight, but I managed to 'cut myself out' whenever I saw a hint of boredom in my sons' faces during my 'speech.'
Lately, I still remind my sons, to stop whatever mischief they are doing, as soon as I tell them to stop. They can ask me why they can't do it after they have stopped doing it. If they don't stop right away, I might get angry and when it happens, it's hard for me to stop talking.. and they will be tired of listening..
Children will always be children.. and.. I will always be me.. but now, we are in a better understanding. I have learned to talk in shorter sentences to my children -most of the time-, and when I forget, they have learned that they are allowed to say to me, "You're making buzzing sound, Mum! Just tell me what I need to do!"
I'm writing this article in Indonesian. For my English-speaking readers, you can find many interesting and useful articles and tips about 'Me-Time' in About.com. Here is a link to one of the great articles in the website, and this one is an article where my comment was published (yes, I'm happy about it!)
Akhir-akhir ini saya banyak membaca artikel tentang 'Me-Time' untuk ibu rumah tangga.. Juga ada teman yang curhat tentang kurangnya 24 jam dalam sehari untuk bisa punya waktu untuk diri sendiri.. Saya jadi terpikir untuk menuliskan pengalaman saya waktu ikut suami tugas di luar negri dan pembantu hanya datang beberapa jam saja setiap 2-3 hari sekali..
Betapa berharganya 'Me-Time' yang awalnya saya kenal dari suami hanya sebagai satu selingan yang menyenangkan..
Begini ceritanya..
Bangun tidur langsung masukin baju kotor ke mesin cuci.. Sambil nunggu cucian selesai, nyiapin sarapan dan nyuapin si kecil sarapan.. Setelah suami berangkat kerja, mandiin si kecil, jemur cucian, bersih-bersih dapur dan rumah.. dst.. dst.. -terbayang 'kan?.. daripada saya tulis satu-persatu kegiatan saya dari pagi sampai malam..-
Misalnyapun saat itu ada pembantu dan pengasuh anak, tetap aja selalu ada yang harus dikerjakan.. terutama, main dengan anak-anak -bagian dari kehidupan ibu rumah tangga yang saya paling suka-. Intinya, tidak terbayangkan untuk bisa meninggalkan rumah untuk waktu yang lama.
Tiba-tiba saja, pada suatu akhir pekan, suami bilang, "Kemarin, May, adiknya Jeff baru datang dan minta ditemani cari baju. Sekalian kalau kamu mau belanja atau jalan-jalan."
Reaksi pertama saya, "Nanti si kecil berulah gak ya dibawa belanja gitu?"
Suami saya menjawab tenang, "Jangan dibawalah.. Dia biar di rumah sama saya. Kamu aja jalan-jalan.. refreshing.."
Ha?? Jalan-jalan? Refreshing? Ninggalin anak, ninggalin suami, ninggalin rumah.. kok aneh?! Saya 'kan ibu rumah tangga.. kenapa jadi jalan-jalan dan refreshing??!!
Suami saya kayaknya sadar kalau saya bingung. Dia langsung bilang, "Kamu perlu keluar rumah. Ganti suasana supaya tidak jenuh. Sekarang belanja, kapan-kapan nanti ke salon, pokoknya keluar rumah sendiri atau sama teman."
Hmm.. saya pikir-pikir seru juga kali ya.. Akhirnya, saya pergi menemani adiknya teman kantor suami yang baru datang itu. Seharian itu saya merasa senang. Saya jalan-jalan dengan seorang teman yang sama-sama perempuan dan karena saya sudah agak lebih lama tinggal di kota tersebut, saya bisa membantu May mengenalkan tempat-tempat yang mungkin ia perlukan di kemudian hari, seperti pasar, supermarket, dll.
Waktu pulang ke rumah, anak saya cerita kalau ia dan ayahnya makan ayam goreng -seperti KFC gitu- dan mereka main game PS. Rumah lumayan berantakan dan pakaian kotor masih menumpuk.. Hiyaaaa.. mau pingsan rasanya!
Belum sempat pingsan, suami sudah senyum-senyum lagi, "Itu masih ada nasi dan ayam di meja. Nanti malam gak usah masak, nanti kita beli take-away aja."
Saya ngangguk-ngangguk pasrah.. hati memang senang, tapi kaki pegal setelah jalan seharian.. hehehe...
Sambil saya main-main di kamar dengan si kecil, tiba-tiba saya mendengar bunyi mendengung dari arah dapur. Ternyata suami saya mulai mencuci pakaian. Saya cepat berkata, "Besok aja saya cuci, sekarang cape banget."
Suami saya tertawa, "Saya sih gak cape, tadi 'kan cuma main seharian, tapi saya gak bisa seperti kamu, sambil main, sambil nyuci, sambil bersih-bersih. Tapi tenaanngg.. abis ini semua cucian nanti saya jemur, besok kamu tinggal nyetrika."
Saya jadi ikut tertawa. Benar juga.. mencuci dengan mesin cuci sebenarnya tidak melelahkan hanya makan waktu saja. Menjemur pakaian juga ternyata suami saya bisa mengerjakan dengan lebih cepat.. mungkin karena tenaganya lebih besar? Atau mungkin karena saat menjemur dia tidak sambil nyuapin anak atau nungguin masakan matang? Hmm..
Itulah pertama kalinya saya berkenalan dengan 'Me-Time'.. waktu untuk SAYA.. ganti suasana dari rumah ke luar rumah.
Waktu itu, saya tidak terlalu memikirkan seberapa pentingnya 'Me-Time' itu. Baru akhir-akhir ini saya jadi tersadar betapa sesuatu yang begitu sederhana itu sesungguhnya sangat penting. Memang yang sering dibicarakan adalah 'Me-Time' untuk ibu rumah tangga, tapi sesungguhnya semua orang perlu 'Me-Time', yang intinya adalah keluar dari rutinitas -melakukan sesuatu untuk menyenangkan diri sendiri- agar tidak jenuh.
Sekarang, saya sudah terbiasa dengan 'Me-Time' dan saya mulai bisa mengenali tanda-tanda saat saya memerlukan 'Me-Time'. Tanda yang paling jelas adalah, pekerjaan yang sangat sederhanapun bisa terasa amat sangat melelahkan dan kejadian yang biasanya bisa membuat saya tertawa, tiba-tiba saja terasa membosankan atau bahkan mengesalkan.
Berhubung sekarang saya sudah berada di tanah air, 'Me-Time' saya pun jadi lebih bervariasi, tapi perencanaannya harus lebih rapi karena suami saya perlu 'Me-Time' lebih daripada waktu kami di luar negri dulu -berangkat dan pulang kantor naik motor kena asap jalanan sudah cukup untuk membuat setiap pekerja memerlukan 'Me-Time'-.
Langkah awal yang kami ambil adalah mengajarkan anak-anak bahwa tidak setiap saat kita pergi sekeluarga.
Ada saatnya Ibu atau Bapak pergi sendiri, ada saatnya Ibu dan/atau Bapak menemani anak yang punya keperluan sementara anak yang lain tinggal di rumah, ada saatnya Ibu dan Bapak harus pergi berdua sementara anak-anak tinggal di rumah, dan nanti, ada saatnya anak-anak pergi sendiri tanpa Ibu dan Bapak.
Awalnya anak-anak bingung. Anak saya yang tertua -waktu itu umurnya 6 tahun- bilang, "Aku gak mau pergi sendiri, aku mau selalu pergi sama Ibu."
Suami saya tertawa, "Sekarang kamu senang pergi sama Ibu. Coba aja beberapa tahun lagi.."
Anak saya bertanya lagi, "Memangnya aku boleh pergi sendiri?"
Suami saya menjawab cepat, "Sekarang belum boleh, tapi beberapa tahun lagi, kamu juga gak akan suka pergi sama Ibu atau Bapak."
Anak saya diam. Dia belum sepenuhnya mengerti. Tapi, setelah beberapa kali ditinggal dan diberikan kegiatan alternatif, seperti ekstra waktu untuk main game, atau beraktifitas dengan nenek/kakeknya, akhirnya anak-anak mulai mengerti bahwa merekapun harus punya 'Me-Time'.
Setelah beberapa waktu, anak-anak mulai terbiasa dengan konsep ini. Itu berarti saatnya untuk langkah berikutnya, yaitu mengenali diri sendiri dan keluarga kita.
Pada saat kita terbiasa dengan 'Me-Time,' kita akan lebih mengenali apa saja kegiatan yang kita anggap menyenangkan. Di samping itu, kita mulai bisa melihat kegiatan apa saja yang disukai oleh pasangan dan anak-anak kita. Seringkali di antara kegiatan-kegiatan itu ada yang mirip atau sama dan dari situ kita bisa sesekali mengadakan kegiatan bersama -tapi jangan terlalu sering.. kalau terlalu sering tidak jadi 'Me-Time' lagi nanti-.
Jangan lupa bahwa menjadi bagian dari satu kelompok -di rumah maupun di tempat kerja- tidaklah menjadikan kita kehilangan identitas pribadi. Kita tetap memiliki kepribadian unik yang terdiri dari rasa, minat dan bakat yang seharusnya terus kita pelihara sebagai satu pribadi yang utuh.
Diskusikanlah 'Me-Time' ini dengan pasangan dan anak-anak -kalau mereka sudah dapat diajak diskusi- kemudian mulailah lakukan. Jangan tunggu sampai salah satu anggota keluarga terlanjur merasa terlalu jenuh untuk mencoba hal-hal baru.
Kenyamanan dan kelengkapan pilihan di supermarket sering membuat perasaan kita terbagi dua, senang dan takut untuk berbelanja di supermarket.
Senang, karena dengan satu kali kunjungan kita bisa mendapatkan semua (atau paling tidak sebagian besar) barang yang kita perlukan dan kita tidak perlu terlalu khawatir untuk membawa anak-anak saat berbelanja.
Takut, karena banyaknya pilihan seringkali membuat daftar 'keperluan' kita berkembang jauh melebihi yang kita rencanakan di rumah!
Berikut ini, ada beberapa tips yang saya ambil dari artikel di atas, dan saya coba sesuaikan dengan situasi di Indonesia saat ini, agar kegiatan belanja kita di supermarket lebih terasa menyenangkan daripada menakutkan..
1. Hindari supermarket premium (importir)
Perhatikan sekitar kita. Banyak jenis supermarket dengan variasi produk yang sangat luas. Kita tidak perlu terpaku dengan 'mengharuskan' diri berbelanja ke supermarket papan atas.
Supermarket standar seringkali memiliki pilihan produk yang lebih sesuai dengan kebutuhan kita sehari-hari, termasuk bahan-bahan segar yang dipasok (hampir) setiap hari (ayam, daging, ikan, sayuran, dll.)
Supermarket papan atas seringkali membebankan biaya produk impor mereka ke produk-produk lokal untuk menekan harga produk impor mereka. Hasilnya, kita harus membayar lebih tinggi untuk produk-produk yang bisa kita dapatkan dengan harga lebih murah di supermarket standar.
2. Hindari membeli produk setengah jadi
Sekarang ini, supermarket di tanah air mulai menawarkan produk makanan matang atau setengah jadi seperti di luar negri.
Sesekali mencicipi mungkin tak masalah, atau kalau kita memang sedang sibuk dan tak sempat memasak di rumah. Namun untuk jangka panjang, produk setengah jadi ini sebenarnya sudah memuat biaya bumbu dan proses dan markup (profit) yang membuat harganya berbeda jauh dengan apabila kita membeli bahan mentahnya dan membumbui serta memasak sendiri di rumah.
3. Hindari membeli produk yang sudah dikupas/dipotong
Buah-buahan dan sayur-sayuran yang sudah dikupas atau dipotong sudah memuat biaya pengupasan/pemotongan di dalam harganya. Seringkali, kenaikan harga karena 'proses' ini cukup tinggi dan mengakibatkan ekstra pengeluaran yang tidak perlu.
Kalau sulit menemukan sayuran atau buah yang diinginkan yang belum dikupas/dipotong di supermarket, ada baiknya mempertimbangkan untuk membeli di warung atau tukang buah.
4. Membeli dalam jumlah banyak
Untuk produk-produk yang memang rutin dipakai di rumah, selalu pertimbangkan untuk membeli dalam jumlah besar sekaligus (untuk 2 minggu atau 1 bulan). Harga kemasan dan biaya produksi biasanya tidak berbeda untuk setiap produk yang menyebabkan produk-produk dalam satuan lebih kecil akan memiliki harga lebih tinggi (secara prosentase) dibanding harga produk satuan besar.
Contohnya, membeli 1 kemasan minyak goreng 2 liter akan lebih murah daripada membeli 2 kemasan minyak goreng 1 liter. Karena biaya kemasan dan produksi minyak goreng 1 liter dan 2 liter sebenarnya sama, membeli 2 kemasan 1 liter, kita membayar untuk 2 kemasan dan 2 kali produksi. Sementara membeli 1 kemasan 2 liter, kita membayar untuk 1 kemasan dan 1 kali produksi.
Tips ini juga berlaku untuk produk-produk seperti; butter dan selai (ada yang kemasan besar, ada yang kemasan kecil-kecil seperti di hotel).
5. Hindari membeli air kemasan
Kalau tidak terlalu diperlukan, tidak usah membeli air kemasan, apalagi selain yang ukuran galon. Harga airnya sendiri tidak seberapa, namun kita harus membayar jauh lebih besar untuk setiap kemasan yang kita beli.
Jangan lupa juga, setiap kemasan plastik yang kita beli juga merupakan tambahan limbah plastik bagi bumi kita.
Kalau memang diperlukan untuk keperluan minum di rumah atau di jalan, lebih baik membeli air kemasan galon dan sebuah botol air minum yang cukup besar (750ml. atau 1.000ml.). Botol galon akan di-recycle oleh perusahaan air minum, sementara botol air minum yang baik akan bertahan lama untuk pemakaian sehari-hari kita. Pada akhirnya, kita akan berhemat dari membeli kemasan-kemasan botol PET yang sesungguhnya hanya akan menjadi limbah saja.
6. Jangan terpaku pada merek
Di masa sekarang ini, merek-merek baru di berbagai produk kerap bermunculan dengan harga yang bersaing dan kualitas serta rasa yang tidak kalah dengan produk-produk yang sudah kita kenal lama.
Produk lokal juga sangat banyak yang sudah sukses melalui program pendampingan dari produsen-produsen handal internasional, sehingga kualitasnya terjamin dan rasanya tak kalah dengan produk impor.
Bertahanlah dengan produk/merek papan atas yang biasa dikonsumsi, hanya bila memang selera keluarga tidak tergantikan oleh produk lain, daripada produk (baru) yang sudah dibeli tidak habis dikonsumsi.
7. Perhatikan musim
Salah satu keuntungan berbelanja di supermarket dibandingkan dengan berbelanja di pasar tradisional (mungkin) adalah tersedianya produk-produk yang sedang 'tidak musim' (terutama buah-buahan).
Sah-sah saja kalau kita memang sengaja mencari produk-produk yang sedang 'tidak musim' tersebut dan bersedia membayar lebih tinggi karena memerlukannya. Namun demikian, kita perlu selalu mencermati musim yang sedang berlangsung di sekitar kita untuk keperluan berbelanja sehari-hari.
Produk-produk yang sedang 'musim' pastilah sedang panen dan itu berarti harganya lebih murah daripada kalau sedang 'tidak musim'.
8. Memasak bersama
Seringkali kita tinggal tidak sendirian. Entah kita tinggal dengan orang tua/keluarga, atau bersama-sama beberapa teman di rumah kontrakan/kos.
Ada baiknya bila memang kita bisa berbelanja dan memasak bersama-sama dengan orang-orang lain, karena seringkali apa yang kita beli dari supermarket tidak akan seluruhnya kita perlukan untuk diri kita sendiri.
Berbelanja dan memasak bersama (kalau seleranya kebetulan sama/mirip) akan sangat membantu usaha kita untuk berhemat dalam berbelanja di supermarket.
9. Perhatikan kupon hadiah dan penawaran dari supermarket
Sekarang ini banyak sekali penawaran diskon dari supermarket dan produsen-produsen. Ada yang berbentuk kupon, hadiah produk dan diskon langsung. Supermarket juga selalu menurunkan harga untuk barang-barang yang sudah mendekati masa kadaluarsa tapi masih aman untuk dikonsumsi.
Ambillah brosur/selebaran supermarket sebelum mulai berbelanja dan perhatikan penawaran apa yang mereka miliki hari itu atau tanyakan pada 'customer service'.
10. Menganalisa berbagai supermarket
Tersedinya berbagai pilihan supermarket di sekitar kita memberikan kita satu kesempatan yang baik untuk bisa meneliti dan menganalisa, yang mana yang paling cocok dengan pilihan selera dan keuangan kita.
Simpanlah bukti belanja untuk dipelajari di rumah. Supermarket mana yang menawarkan harga-harga lebih murah dan supermarket mana yang memiliki paling banyak produk yang sesuai dengan keperluan/selera kita. Pertimbangkan juga jarak masing-masing supermarket dari rumah dan biaya yang perlu dikeluarkan untuk mencapai supermarket tersebut.
Buatlah catatan untuk jadwal belanja berikutnya. Jangan lupa juga untuk mencatat produk apa yang sebaiknya dibeli di pasar atau warung dekat rumah.
Catatan:
berbagi jalur supermarket dengan teman/keluarga/tetangga juga dapat menghemat biaya transportasi, agar kita tidak perlu mendatangi tiap supermarket untuk mendapatkan semua keperluan kita.
First, I would like to apologize for the late posting of this post... :-)
Second, I will get right down to business. As promised, I will talk about insurance from clients' perspective.
What do I mean by that?
Well.. everybody (or family) has specific needs in life, driven by each person's unique situations, opportunities, objectives and choices.
While insurance, as a financial buffer, is simply one of the many financial strategies that can be applied, or added, to a person's (or family's) financial management as a part of the whole financial planning.
When it is carefully and correctly chosen and applied, it can be a great protection and additional investment in the future. However, when it is badly chosen, it can definitely cause further problems.
Hmm.. am I making any sense?
Let's see..
As I mentioned in my previous post about insurance, these days, insurance industry is getting more and more competitive and insurance companies need to make good offers to gain the interests of prospective clients. The most visible part of the competition is, how much return these insurance companies are capable and willing to give back to clients after years of contract.
At the same time..
Prospective clients need to recognize their financial situation as a whole to be able to make the best financial decision on how to structure their financial investment and how they should diversify it.
First, prospective clients need to make a list of properties, they need insurance cover for and for how long.
Second, they need to decide how much of the properties' values they would like to be covered for.
Third, these data need to be cross-calculated against the whole income and other financial strategies applied by the prospective clients or families.
Hmm.. I guess I should give a clear example..
It is something like this..
When you feel the need for an insurance in your family arises (for house, vehicle education or life), start looking around for the type of insurance that fits your needs. Remember to look for:
1. Combined packages: education+health, life+health, house+contents, vehicle+accidents, etc.
2. Additional benefits: how much cash benefit that you can receive from the investment part of the insurance package and after how long.
Then, cross-check it with your current financial situation:
1. How much of your current salary you are prepared to set aside for the insurance (after allocating for daily needs, routine payments and savings).
2. Make a list of dates which you would like to receive the benefits from the investment part of your insurance (children's school entrance payment due dates, family holiday final booking due dates, your retirement expectation year, etc.)
ASK the insurance agent to provide you with TWO or THREE possible choices of premiums that are likely to be met by your calculation.
Remember!
Insurance, even when it is combined with an investment plan, should NEVER be your only or main choice for investment.
Your personal or family investment should consist of a number of diversified choices, such as, savings, short-term and long-term time deposits and/or gold. If possible, properties or land and stock or share can also be considered.
The reason for this is..
Insurance is not savings, although it has an investment part of it. The premiums that you pay each year consist of two parts, insurance cover and investment benefit. Therefore, trying to achieve the full amount of your future needs from an insurance would cause you to pay a high premium, and there is almost no flexibility in regard to the timing of when you can withdraw your benefits.
What you should do..
Secure one-third to half of your future needs with an insurance+investment package, while at the same time, open a new savings account in your bank to achieve the remaining amount of that you aim for.
Whenever you have the enough amount in your saving account to open a time deposit, open one. Time deposit offers higher return than a savings account, so you will benefit more from your money.
Another alternative..
Banks also have programs called 'planned savings', which are aimed to reach a certain goal that you set for a time in the future; school entrance fee, holiday, etc. With this type of saving, the bank will withdraw a planned amount of money from your main account each month for the length of the saving plan.
Savings account, time deposits and planned savings account are good choices to diversify your financial investment (and its risks) and to complement your insurance+investment package.
A good combination of financial strategies applied to your investment can help you secure and grow your wealth for a long time. Not only you can plan your future well, you can also enjoy your life after retirement comfortably.
If you have any additional thought to add to this post, please fill in the comment form below.
Yes, I know.. repetitive calls from insurance agents can be very annoying, especially when the calls are blind calls, and you are not considering taking insurance.. ;-)
However, what if you are thinking about having an insurance policy, but you feel that you don't know enough about it, and you are not sure how to decide about which type of insurance you should choose?
What we need to understand, to begin with, is that insurance is 'transferring part of our future risks to a third party (insurance company)'..
Why do I say 'part'? Because, we still have to pay a regular fee to the third party as a bind. This regular fee is known as a premium.
There are different types of risks that can be covered by insurance, some common examples are: home/building against theft or fire, vehicle (car/motorcycle) against theft, break down or accident, health for hospitalisation or accident, education for future plans, and life in cases of accident or death.
There are also other types of insurance, but in this post, I will only discuss the common ones.
There are certain aspects that will be taken into consideration to decide the amount of premium we have to pay for the insurance we take, for instance: total value of building and contents, in the case of building/home insurance, age and make of vehicles, in the case of vehicle insurance age and health condition, in the case of health and life insurance age of child(ren) to be insured and how much to be collected at due date, in the case of education insurance.
All these aspects are explicitly stated in the insurance application form, and your insurance agent is able to explain in more detail if you need more information.
Once all your details are collected by the insurance agent, the agent can then tell you (based on the insurance company rule) how much premium you need to pay for each insurance period. Most insurance policies require annual (yearly) premium payments, while others, might present their calculation in an annual amount but allow clients (you) to pay in monthly or quarterly installments.
Referring back to the point where I mentioned that having insurance is 'transferring' part of risks to a third party is the only way to save you the shock of learning about the amount of premiums you have to pay for the insurance you need.
Insurance cannot cover any risks suffered by their clients, unless they accept enough money from clients to re-invest in other businesses to grow their profits. Insurance companies are businesses, and more than that, insurance companies are running a high-risk type of business.
Therefore, if the insurance company who approaches you offers a very low premium for a high coverage that you ask, BEWARE! You really need to check further any relevant details about the insurance company background!
However, in this era, with the strong competition in the insurance industry, insurance companies need to 'manage' their clients' expectation very well and make offers that can benefit their clients more.
This condition, resulted in various packages of insurance that do not only require premium payments by clients for insurance cover as a benefit, but also offer additional benefits, such as, retirement savings or investments.
How is it possible?
Here is how..Insurance companies, as a business entity, must ensure their ability to keep running and paying their clients' insurance covers whenever their clients claim it. At the same time, to stay competitive against other insurance companies, they have to keep the premium they offer as low as possible. Therefore, insurance companies must re-invest some of the money collected from their clients in other businesses after allocating the necessary amount to be placed in another insurance company, to insure their business.
The amount that insurance companies invest in other businesses is aimed to generate ongoing profits to support their main business, which is covering people's assets and lives (clients' insurance policy). From this operation, when successful, insurance companies can do a lot more than simply pay clients' claims. They can also offer some return to clients, at least to give back some (or all) premiums that have been paid by clients after a few years.
These types of packages give better offers when clients choose the long-term insurance policy (10 years or above). Some of the common packages are:
health insurance + retirement package, where you have to pay a premium for the health insurance until the age limit (usually around 55-60 years old), and you can collect the retirement benefits a few years after (usually between 75-90 years old). With this type of packages, you might still be covered for sickness or hospitalization up to the benefit collection age, although not all insurance has the same rules.
health insurance + education savings package,where you have to pay a premium for the health insurance until the age limit (usually around 55-60 years old), and you are entitled for some part of the total benefit payout when your children are entering new stage of education (entering elementary school, junior high school, senior high school and university).
The types of packages offered by each insurance company are different, so you should have a look at more than one company to find the one that suits you the best.
A new development of an insurance package is health insurance + unit link. This type of insurance is directly linked to a set of investment units (shares/stock) that are chosen by the insurance company's investment managers.
This type of insurance is riskier than the saving packages, although whenever the share market is going well, the unit link investment is going well too and clients can reap high profits from their investment linked to the insurance.
Why is it riskier?
Here is why.. by offering a unit link insurance policy, insurance companies are transferring back to clients, some of the risks they are facing when they are re-investing their funds to support their business. So, rather than offering a set amount of money, they will pay clients in later years, insurance companies offer clients the choice of having limited control over their wealth invested in the insurance companies. By doing this, insurance companies are limiting their loss, if the businesses they re-invest in suffer losses or even go bankrupt.
Clients having unit link insurance usually are not allowed to change the units (shares/stock) placements.However, they can choose how much (in percentage) of their premium to be allocated in the share market and/or money market. This gives clients some (limited) control over their money invested in the insurance company.
The fact that clients have some control,means that they need to be in a position to take decisions to protect their own wealth. Therefore,clients must have sufficient knowledge about financial marketsand keep themselves up-to-date with any development in the financial market, in order to ensure the safety of their investment linked to their insurance policy.
Having discussed about various types of common investment policies, I hope this post can provide some useful information for any of you wondering about insurance.
I will discuss more about insurance from clients' perspective in my next post.
I came across a very interesting blog post this morning from a website that I have been following for some time because the owner always presents thought-provoking ideas about life and useful information in the world of technology.
The post was written in Indonesian, but basically it was talking about how the ease of finding information on the internet has made people have less interest and diligence in reading books. The concern of this issue was that information found on the internet is mostly not in the same depth of analysis or width of knowledge as books.
I have to say that I agree with this opinion, although, I have to put forward a slightly varying opinion too.
As a stay-at-home mother, I often feel that the need to find information about various things is more important than learning about one or two major things at a great depth. The reason for this is because the knowledge that I need to acquire is mostly for satisfying my children's curiousity about every thing they come across with every day.
Children's thirst for knowledge is so challenging these days that mothers like me can never turn away from any kind of information, while time constraint in any typical days makes it almost impossible to pursue any particular interest at great depth (it is even difficult to finish reading a book in-between daily routines).
One thing I luckily experience though, my husband likes to read and he forwards to me the important information from the books he reads and he highlights the important points throughout reading. That way, when I do have the time to open the book to search for any information at greater depth, I can do it much faster and right on the spot.
Reading books is VERY IMPORTANT, even in this era of advanced technology. What more important is the spirit of knowledge building and sharing, knowing that after receiving that little bit of information from the internet, we should have the curiousity like our children to always know more, and once we do have the knowledge, to share it with others.
Internet is a great starting point to find any kind of information we need to know at any point of time, even in the tiniest second a stay-at-home mother can spare, however, the process should not stop there. The thirst of learning and love for reading that we have developed from our younger years should be nurtured and passed down to our children.
I know that this is not an easy thing to do, considering the amount of interactivity the internet offers which attract us (and our children) more than books, plus, prices of books are much higher than monthly internet connection, but this is a challenge we need to overcome. One of the ways is by having a spirit of knowledge sharing, which we should start within our own family.
I believe this is really one dream worth fighting for.. :-)
This was a short conversation between Ariq and his classmates last year (when he was still in KG-B) during the home visit to our house..
"Everyone.. let's watch a film!" Ariq asked his friends to sit in front of the television.
"What is your favourite film?" One of his teacher asked.
"Do you have Ben10?" One of the boys asked.
"No, I don't." Ariq answered.
"What do you have?" One of the girls asked.
"Little Einsteins, My Little Ponies, Strawberry Shortcakes, Diego." Ariq answered again.
Then they decided to put 'Little Einsteins' on. The girls cheered, but of course half of the boys decided that the fish pond was more interesting.. ;-)
Of course this situation did not last forever.. about half a year after that, Ariq started to like Ben10, Transformers and other boys films..
About two weeks ago, he saw a trailer of 'Barbie and The Three Musketeers', and he asked me to buy the DVD for him, so I did.
It turned out that both Ariq and Aza like it.
I asked them why they like the movie, and they answered, "Four beautiful girls in pretty dresses, successfully taking down the bad guys!"
The impression that Aza had was even further, he was really touched with the scene when Corrine (Barbie) was hugging her mother before she left for Paris. During the scene, Aza suddenly hugged me.. :-)
I think back to the choices of girl films that I bought for Ariq, which he really liked.. 'Strawberry Shortcake: the episode when she went camping with her friends', 'Dora: the episode when she rescued the Prince', 'My Little Ponies: the episodes when the ponies helped the boy rescued the princess and the episode when they had to rescue some ponies from the evil circus'.. then I realised something, boys are boys no matter what, but as kids they need and want to see the whole picture of life..
Films like Ben10 and Transformers certainly interest boys with their 'power', 'heroic' and 'strength' sides of life, which are directly attached to all boys.. but, as human beings, boys need to see the other side of life too.. subconsciously, they want to see 'beauty', 'love' and 'colours' as part of their thinking and imagination process..
Boys most probably won't enjoy fairy tales like Cinderella or Snow White much, but they do enjoy other classics like Pinocchio. The same with current films, they might not like ALL Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake or My Little Ponies, but there are some ideas in those films that are not conveyed by boy films in general.
Some things that I notice from Ariq's questions make me sure that he needs to watch both types of movies.
These are some of his questions from watching Ben10:
"Mum, why Ben and Gwen are living with their grandpa instead of their own parents?"
"Mum, are Ben and Gwen friends or cousins? Why do they keep spilling ice cream on each others' head?"
These are some of his questions from watching Strawberry Shortcake:
"When we are camping, we don't need to be afraid, right Mum? Because the shadows are not ghosts.."
"Camping looks fun! Will I go on a camp one day?"
These are some of his questions from watching Barbie and The Three Musketeers:
"So, it's not only boys who can do moves like that, Mum?"
"Why wasn't she allowed to join the Musketeers? That's not fair!"
The ideas conveyed by each type of films are different and the objectives are different too..
I remember when I was younger, my sister and I used to watch boy films like Voltus-V, Kamen Rider, Power Rangers, etc. Watching those type of films gave us the motivation to be strong, and not afraid to face competition in life to become the best in what we liked to do.. also, we liked seeing the good-looking actors in the films (obviously..)
At the same time, we enjoyed watching the fairy tales too, because we liked how the princesses looked like, their dresses and their hairdo.. it all gave us the idea of how being beautiful, graceful and proper were supposed to be.
Yesterday I asked Ariq, "Do you tell your friends that you have the Barbie DVD at home?"
He answered, "The girls are excited, the boys are embarrassed, but I'm not worried! I like the movie."
Now, I can see that boys are just the same.. they can appreciate strength and beauty the same way at the same time if they are given the same chance to learn about both.. Moreover, I'm glad to see that Ariq is confident in doing what he likes despite his friends' opinions.. :-)
"Oh no! The credit card statement is here again! I couldn't pay it in full last month, and now, it seems that my bill hasn't gone down a bit at all!"
That's right! This exact situation has happened to a lot of people. One of the common reason is a family member gets sick and needs immediate medical attention. Fortunately you have a credit card on your name so your unwell relative can receive the needed treatment without delay.
The scary thing is, as can be guessed, THE BILL!! Nothing about medical treatment is cheap these days and not everyone (especially in countries like Indonesia) is covered by medical insurance. It is almost like a death trap.. if you don't pay, you don't get treatment, but if you pay, you might have to live in debt for the rest of your life..
Anyway, most people WILL and DO choose to live in debt rather than live with an illness for most people believe that money can be found easier when we are healthy.. that is true!
So, don't panic if you are forced to use your credit card (or even max it out) to help yourself or your family member in the case of medical emergency. The important points you need to keep in mind is:
1. Discuss the patient situation with the doctor A thorough doctor analysis will help a lot in giving a good idea on the treatment needed by the patient and the budget needed.
2. Discuss it with someone else Another family member or a friend to talk to will be able to give you a different opinion or complete your plan. The more options you have, the better decision you will make.
Some of the options worth considering are the hospital fees, specific treatments (might need transfers to another hospital), the number of specialists needed by the patient, routine medicines, etc.
The other thing to consider is, how many family members are prepared to help out with the bill, both short-term and long term.
3. Make a calculation Once you have the complete information about the patient's treatment needs and the available budget, then you can set a rough payment plan to present to the other family members.
~~ In the case of long-term illness, points 1 to 3 should take place BEFORE the patient is taken to hospital. However, in the case of sudden illness, points 1 to 3 might take place AFTER your credit card is scanned for billing by the hospital, otherwise the hospital will not accept the patient for treatment. ~~
4. Following up with the payments Whatever you decide to do, you will still have the billed amount by your credit card to pay. Some credit cards offer installments while others don't. In the case that your credit card doesn't offer installments, you need to be ready to pay some portion of the bill each month to make sure that the bill goes down (and NOT UP) the next month.
When you receive your credit card statement, you need to have a look at three things: * Total of the bill * Minimum payment * Finance charge
Then, there are a few things you need to remember:
1. NEVER pay for minimum payment amount only, unless you are planning to pay the total bill in full BEFORE the bill due date!
2. ALWAYS pay before the bill due date
The reason for the first two tips is because any amount of the bill that is left unpaid after the bill due date WILL be charged an interest or finance charge in the next bill on top of your usage. These interest and charges will very quickly build up into your total bill amount.
3. You can USE THIS simple calculation to help you bring down your next bill (credit card interest in Indonesia is approximately 2.5%-3.5% per month, with cash withdrawal and late payment fees approximately 4%-6% per month):
First, add your minimum payment and finance charge (which most probably come up to around 15% of your total bill).
Second, add some portion of remaining bill to make up for an amount that is roughly around 20%-25% of your total bill (the more portion you can pay each time, the better).
Do this calculation for a few billing periods until you can see the downward pattern of your bill.
4.Try not to use your credit card until you have successfully brought down your total bill to a reasonable level (similar amounts to your regular bills -without the emergency case-). If you really have to use your credit card for some extra expenses, you need to be sure that you can pay these additional expense in full in the next bill (on top of the remaining bill).
These simple tips should help you from suffering a long-term and building up credit card bill as a result of an emergency spending.
I am not giving any tips in 'real' accounting calculations on purpose. I am only trying to share from past experience.. based on a little part of my education :-) .. In any case you would like a complete calculation or you need to set a payment schedule, you need to see a finance expert/finance manager to help you with it.
If you have any suggestions or advice to add, you are more than welcome to put it in the comment form..
I have always meant to put simple family finance tips in this blog but so far I haven't and that is very bad of me.. So now, I will try to do the 'right thing'.. :-)
One of my excuses was that I was waiting for the 'more knowledgeable' author to start posting about finance in this blog, but as he is still swamped with other assignments (the real ones from work), I have to stay patient about his involved in this blog..
My other excuse is that I don't know how far I can help you, since my knowledge is widely based on personal experience, as I am not a finance practitioner -although I do have an accounting degree.
Anyway.. trying to help is always better than doing nothing, and I am confident that you will consult more than one party/source in the process of making a fully-informed decision so, here it comes.. my first family finance tips.. (more will be coming in the future).
Following my last posting, Elinjo has forwarded to me a link to a video about languages of the world.
There are approximately 6,500 languages left in the world and one is disappearing every week (in average).. It is a very sad fact and a terrible loss for our culture (and our world).
For any of you who would like to know more, please follow this link, 'In Languages We Live'
I hope this video can be a wake-up call for all of us to start passing down any knowledge of culture and ethnic language that we have to our children and younger generations.
As my boys are growing bigger, I'm starting to see the chance of them seeking adventures in the future, which I'm sure will happen before I know it!
I never thought much about how my parents coped with my interest in outdoor activities (since neither of them was much of an outdoor person), but now as I think back, I know it must be something that was not totally easy to face as parents.
Since Ariq was 4, he started to be fascinated watching people doing wall climbing on a wall behind a shopping centre near where we lived. He kept asking me if he could go, but the guy there told him that he needed to be at least 5 to try it.
Ariq is quite tall for his age, so when he was 4.5 (and had been coming up to the wall climbing guy every time we went to the mall), the guy finally allowed him to give it a try. I wasn't too worried since I've done abseiling (rappelling) many times myself and I would be able to tell when the safety gear was properly attached to him or not. The wall climbing went well and Ariq was having a great time.
While Aza, since he was 2, every time we took him swimming, his favourite move was to stand on the edge of the pool and jump high into the water (he loves the 1.2m depth instead the shallow children pool) just to have the feeling of being under water.
I'm sure that all of you here, just as I do, believe that curiousity and interest will not stop there. There will be one day when they want to experience various things..
Being a girl, even though I had great interest in outdoor activities, I consider myself pretty tame. Bush-walking up the mountain, horseback riding, abseiling (rappelling) and camping were enough for my adrenaline.
Even so, I remember that to be sure of being able to go on trips, I used to make a note to ask my parents' permission at least 2 days before going. Not because they told me so, but I knew for a fact that my parents would need time to consult my uncle (my mother's younger brother who was truly an outdoor person) about my trip (which my uncle would interview me in detail).
Now, every time Ariq asks me to play with my equipment or walk into an outdoor shop at the mall and starts asking about the name and purposes of equipment there, I realise that outdoor is his interest too, and as a boy, he might want more than I did!
Now, I've started imagining how should I feel and react when one day, Ariq tells me that he is going caving, rock climbing or rafting.. and if Aza tells me that he is going diving, parachuting or sky diving???
Now I understand that letting me go on my trips to places unknown and unfamiliar to my parents, must be hard for them, but their trust has given me the chance to grow more than some other girls.. but, I wouldn't lie to myself, I have secrets from my parents; I fell off a cliff during a bush walk, which I was glad that a group of boys were behind my group and they pulled me up.
I never told my parents either that my reason going abseiling was to overcome my fear of heights, and I slammed onto the board on my first attempt, because I did not realise that my right hand was not able to work as a break (I'm a lefty abseiler).. that's how I found out that I could only use my right hand to do things that I have learned to do with it, otherwise, my strong hand is my left.
During those times, if things had gone terribly wrong, I could've been badly injured, to say the least.. My parents wouldn't be able to imagine the risks, since they never went on an outdoor advanture, but me? I know exactly what my sons would be doing and the risks they would be facing..
Despite my effort to start teaching them that risky activities need triple care and caution to ensure safety, I still wonder, will I ever be ready to let them go?
We were staying at my parents’ for weekend, as we do on most weekends. My husband and our 6-year-old son, Ariq went to see Star Trek. We knew that he wouldn’t fully understand the movie, but he loved spaceships, lasers, and everything else that we would expect to see in a Star Trek movie ;-) .. so, there he went to the mall with his dad.
Around lunch time, my husband called. He told me that Ariq enjoyed the movie (the lightning-speed spaceship, phasers and the spaceships’ weapons), and they were having lunch.
Anyway.. My parents came home from lunch with my auntie and uncle as I was just about to make a cup of coffee when my mobile phone rang. It was about an hour from when my husband called. I looked at the number displayed on the screen and I was certain that I didn’t recognise it. However, something deep in my heart told me to pick it up. So I picked it up.
“Hello.” I greeted whoever was on the other side as I pressed the ‘talk’ button.
There was no reply, only distant buzzing noises, like in a busy place. It’s very possible the caller couldn’t hear my voice clearly, so I repeated myself.
“Hello.”
Still, there was no reply, but after a few seconds there was a distant voice, “Go on, talk.”
Then, I heard a soft growl. A very familiar voice, which made my heart stopped for a few seconds and I couldn’t feel my knees anymore. It was Ariq who made the soft growling sound, just like every time he refused to do something that I asked him to do.
I could sense panic rising in my heart. Why is Ariq using someone else’s phone? Where is my husband? Are they alright? Who was the man talking to Ariq on the background? My mind was already all over the place, but I knew I had to stay calm to be able to talk properly to Ariq.
“Ariq.. are you still at the mall? Whose phone are you using?”
“Mum.. I got separated from Dad. I can’t see him anywhere.”
Ouch! I knew exactly how the mall always was on Saturday night, my husband could just look away for a second, at the wrong time (as Ariq was interested in something else in, say, one metre away), they would easily be separated, and unable to find each other again..
“Alright, honey.. who are you with now? Whose phone are you using?”
“Mr. Security Guard, Mum. Would you quickly come, please?”
I hadn’t completely come back to earth, but at least I had started breathing.
“Is Mr. Security Guard with you?”
“Yes.”
“Can I please speak with him?”
“Yes.” Then I heard distant voices, “It’s my mum.”
“Hello, Ma’am.”
“Hello. Thank you for watching my son, Sir. Where can I find you?”
“It’s alright, Ma’am. We’re in front of the chemist on 1st floor.”
“Alright. I’ll be there shortly.”
After I hang up, I called my husband’s mobile phone for so many times as I was getting changed, but the endless calling tone would only meant two things; he forgot to un-‘silent’ the phone or, he had lost the phone in the mall.
I kept thinking about what I should do, as I ran out of the house towards the row of bajajs (motorised rickshaw –exactly the same with the ones you find in India, where they originally came from before Indonesians started making them).
As I sat myself in one of the bajajs, I made up my mind. First, I decided to send a message to my parents.
Then, after weighing between the probability of the phone being in ‘silent’ mode or lost/stolen, I decided that it was more likely to be the earlier and I should leave a message to my husband about where Ariq was, so that he could get to him as soon as possible. I kept my message short and sound non-urgent. I only said, “Ariq is in front of the chemist on 1st floor.”
I thought that even if the phone was lost or stolen and the thief read the message, he/she would only think that the owner of the phone was supposed to meet someone at the mall.
Finally, the bajaj I was on reached the mall, right after my mum called to tell me that my dad had gone after me by car and I sent him the same message I sent my husband. I got off the bajaj and quickly ran to the entrance door where a security guard was standing. I asked her the direction to the chemist, which turned out to be pretty much right across the escalator which I went on.
Right away I saw Ariq with a stressed face next to a security guard, who was talking on his mobile phone. I ran to Ariq as I was calling him. When he saw me, he ran to me and gave me a big hug.
Then I greeted the security guard who had been staying with him.
“Had you gone far when I called you, Ma’am?”
“No, Sir. My son was actually here with his father. I was at home.”
“Oh.. That’s what your son meant. He was panicked and stressed. He only said he couldn’t see his dad and he didn’t know where his mum was. I asked if he knew his dad’s number, he said he only remembered his mum’s.”
I thanked the security guard many times before we finally went downstairs to meet my dad. Then we tried to find my husband. Which we did short after and, his phone was still on ‘silent’ mode.
The rest of the afternoon, I kept asking my son (little bit each time) about how he lost his dad and ended up with the security guard.
“I walked too fast ahead of Dad (my husband was putting his belongings at the deposit counter -we are not allowed to bring bags into bookshops in Indonesia). I went around the bookshop many times, but I couldn’t see him.”
“Then, what did you do?”
“Then, I remembered Dad said he wanted to go to the toilet, so I went to look there, but there was noone there. So I went back to the bookshop, but he was still nowhere to find.”
“Was that when you decided to go to the security guard?”
“No. Someone took me to security guard. In fact, I was taken to THREE security guards.” Despite his fear, he felt proud of being attended by that many security guards.
“Was the person taking you also a security guard?”
“No.”
Then I teased him a little, “Did you cry?”
He grinned, “Yes, I cried. That’s why the man took me to the security guards.”
“What did the security guard asked you? Did they asked you name?”
“No they didn’t ask my name. He asked where Dad and you were. I said I was lost and I didn’t kow where you were. Then he asked if I wanted to call Dad or you. So I told him I didn’t remember Dad’s number, I only remembered yours. Then, he let me use his phone to call you.”
I also asked him, “Whenever you were going to places with me, and you couldn’t see me, you always shouted my name (He calls me ‘Ibu Indri’ – Ibu means Mum). Why didn’t you do the same with Dad when you realised for the first time you couldn’t see him?”
He want silent for a second, then answered with a cushion on his forehead, “I was embarrassed.”
I was a little surprised with his answer. I’m guessing it’s a guy thing, but I didn’t pursue further, as embarrassment for a 6-year-old wouldn’t be something easy to explain (I might have assumed wrong, but I think I can wait a while until he could figure out what he meant by that).
There are some things that I keep thinking about this incident..
I remembered how he was always calling me on my mobile phone, every time he was at home and he thought I had gone out too long, just because he knew my mobile phone numbers by heart. I used to think that his calls could be really annoying sometimes. Now, I’m glad he called me so often that those numbers stayed in his mind even in his most confused moments.
I also remembered that I often left unfamiliar incoming calls unanswered. Now, I’m glad that I decided to answer that one call that was made by my son using the security guard’s mobile phone.
When you are pursuing a dream, don't give up! Because you never know.. you might be so close from the thing you are looking for.. it might just be behind the big rock, so you cannot see it yet before you climb over it!
I love simplicity, so I used to love instant things. However, the fact proofs that there is no thing such as an instant thing. Everything needs process, even the simplest thing, including managing our Heart & Mind, which is the key of this life. Heart & Mind need to be trained to reach its purity, to reach the real goal. Any form of training or learning starts from here:
Training (Learning) process = handbook + trust + genuine + patience + continuity
The way human thinks with different grip of faith will come up with the different result. The right grip has been told. Keep holding on to it and never ever let go.
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