HANZKY

On not being blinded by the big names

Thoughts n Trinkets January 10, 2011

This post is written due to the recent antic made by one of our ministers :D. Oki was actually one of the candidates to be on that team. That being the company that's been terrorized by our minister. I think he's had three phone interviews with the people from the regional headquarter and landed a face to face interview with the country manager for Indonesia. Everything looked good, they always said that things were positive but the thing was, hubby couldn't wait any longer because he had an offer that he had to answer. It was a week full of contemplation because ... well it was a tough choice. Both positions obviously have their own plus sides and down sides. But being a graduate of a business school whose dream is to climb up the corporate MNC ladder, you can't just dismiss a chance to work in such company. Especially when the position has country manager title in front of it and you will be supervised by a high caliber individual who has a long list of awe-inspiring experiences.

But anyway, as we grew older (and wiser :D), we realized that it's not just about the big name, the fancy title and the prestige anymore. There were many things that we put into consideration that made him emailed that company and drew himself out of the candidacy. Now fast forward to two months later, there's a possibility that that company operation will be suspended over some stupid regulations. We couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

So far, we seemed to make the right decision, including by crossing Singapore off the list (this is about another company that he had wrapped all of the hiring process). Working with the world most admired company doesn't seem that appealing when you can't bring your whole life there. We were both excited for the first few interviews but the excitement wore down towards the end. It's just not worth it. Now I'm happy that he is happy in his current company (still big, albeit local company). And the fact that we're in the same industry gives it an added bonus. We can update, help and learn from each other :).

So how did the resolution go?

Thoughts n Trinkets January 09, 2011

I know it's only been a week, but I'm planning to evaluate all of them, at least once a month because what's the purpose of having goals if we don't keep them on track, right?

On living a healthier life!
I brought Oki lunch for three times, that's not bad at all although I have to admit that the meal wasn't prepared by me. Two were from his mom while one was especially prepared by Mbak Nur :D. We went grocery shopping today and bought some veggies and fruits for making yummy and healthy smoothies. I haven't prepared the weekly meal, but I did cook today for the family. It was Mac & Cheese for them and sardines with cutup chillies and shallots for me. I even made a homemade spring roll and rolled more than 50 of them. Oki & Jehan love it and I couldn't be happier :D. For dinner, Oki made us spaghetti bolognaise and I made the garlic bread. I think we should do this more often :).

On spending more and save less
Hmm..I've brought home 3 Zara pants (they were on sale and I have no pants aside from jeans), a Tod's bag (again, on sale too and something I'm gonna treasure forever). A pair of Seychelles shoes from Rococo Rack (yes, another sale haul and I swear I need low heeled shoes for everyday wear). I think that's it...it's not too bad if you don't take the Tod's bag into consideration. But hey, I only buy bag every four months or so and this wasn't an impulse..so I think I'm doing Ok..I just need to cut down on my Starbucks visit :D.

Oh and I did hit the treadmill yesterday and ran for 20 minutes. That's like the longest I have ever been on a treadmill :D. I played around with the speed by changing it to high speed for two minutes and then slowed it down for two minutes and then back on a sprint. It suits me more than the regular/steady speed.

On spending more time with the family
Today was quite an accomplishment that we were able to stay at home for the whole day and cooked for everyone :D. I'm going to spend the first half of Tuesday with my mom going to Connex to look up some schools for Ibnu. I had lunch with my friends (in Central Park, no less :D) and went to Startuplocal and dinner with Ella. Need to visit my grandma and arrange something for Jibran's birthday so the whole family can gather together. I'm helping my uncle who lives in Florida by writing him a hardship letter. I also had a quick meeting with my sister and my aunt to talk about the project they are planning. I've been waking up earlier too and I set up an Adzan apps on my phone so I can always be reminded to do the five times everywhere I go.

On exploring new hobby
Sadly I haven't taken pictures at all. I'm planning to get a Lensbaby though to have some fun with the camera. And I'm writing now :)

Overall, it's not too shabby for the first nine days...

There it is...My New Year Resolution

Thoughts n Trinkets January 01, 2011

Jibran's Pledge :D

Family November 18, 2010

WW; Bambino & Bambini

Family October 27, 2010

The Simple White Top..

Fashion n Stuff October 25, 2010

Reevaluating Family Financial Plan

Family October 14, 2010

We recently committed to a very good habit, creating family financial plan and sticking to it :D. It's not like we didn't care about saving before, we always did, but we never put a lot of thought into which saving goes to what, which one is for paying kids' tuition, which one is the vacation fund and all that. We also didn't look closely into investment. So anyway we began to manage it carefully.

- The first thing we did was to determine where we stood financially.

- We checked if we have any debts, we counted our assets, savings and calculated our expenses.

- We calculated our emergency fund (Ligwina said for a family of 2, the safe amount is 12 the times of our monthly expenses, though I think it's a bit conservative it's better to have more than less).

- We calculated how much money is needed for the kids education, all the way to universities (of course we factor in the inflation and all). The numbers obviously turn out to be ugly, but it's an eye opener and at least it helps us to plan better. And if the number one on the priority list is checked, it'll give us a sense of accomplishment and ownership because we know we're gonna do with them.

- After that, we jumped into investment and bought a few Reksadanas that we put on regular installment. We tried forex too. Financial plan, like business plan and other plan has to be reevaluated and revised as needed, especially when there is a change in the income, be it an addition or a reduction. Or maybe there is change in plan because you no longer want that big house in Menteng and want to buy a property in Bali instead..:D..or maybe wanting to add a Hajj fund or something.

Tonight, I'm revising our family financial plan because there's quite a few of things going on. First, Oki just recently received a job offer that will give a pretty little boost of income. But, like what almost happen in everyone, when there's an increase in income, there's usually an increase in the expense too somewhere. Since his office is going to be in Kebon Jeruk area, there's no way we can only use one car. Another car is needed and thankfully it is partially supported by the company. But there still be addition to our monthly expenses like for gas, car insurance and then the yearly expenses like tax and stuff. We also recalculated the school tuition because we want to put the kids into a better school and that school obviously has twice price tag than the other one. But we figure it doesn't hurt to try, if we don't end up achieving it at least we have enough for the second pick. It's always better to fall short from an A++ plan that it is to accomplish a B plan, right?

For universities, our plan is based on the US universities, so the kids can pay resident's fee and maybe apply for a financial aid when needed :D. For this one, I'm not sure if we should invest in IDR or USD. I think I'm just gonna save in USD. You know what's mindboggling? For Jehan 4 year university in Kansas University (excluding the living cost) is only going to cost 1/4 of her 3 year of high school. That's how crazily expensive good schools are in this town. So yep, this is what I'm gonna do tonight.

Well I'm halfway done actually, total for Jibran elementary - universities is IDR 4,000,000,000. Jehan is gonna be more expensive because the inflation will be higher. Oh I'm so having fun with numbers, can't you tell? :D. And I'm pretty sure once I have calculated everything, the number we can invest every month will not be enough for all of these tuition fee. If that's the case, I'm sticking to the previous school :D