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The Land of Atoni

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The sun was setting down and the temperature was dropping slightly. It was a different feeling to see the sun setting here at this mountainous range compared to seeing the sunset at Kupang bay. We were camping at Lelogama, a village about a three-hour drive from Kupang city. Kupang is the capital of Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, located in the southwest tip of Timor island, an island shared by both Indonesia and Timor Leste. The silence was a bit eerie. It was so quiet that we could barely hear anything. Our ears had gotten used to all the city sounds, the roaring motorcycles, neighbour kids’ crying, street vegetable vendors blowing their horns and, recently, more frequent ambulance sirene passing by as COVID cases worsened. None of these noises was there for us to hear. I couldn’t help but miss winter in Australia. The sight, smell, cold temperature and similar terrain did remind me of Australia. Lelogama was once a difficult place to reach. Government officials from Kupang had to tra
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Dikalahkan Pasar - 2023 Review

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Kalah lagi, kalah lagi. Ternyata mengalahkan pasar itu tidaklah mudah. Di tahun ketiga ini, IHSG sekali lagi berhasil mengungguli return investasi saya. Yah, begitulah perjalanan investasi saya di tahun ketiga ini. Ini adalah update singkat tentang bagaimana investasi saya berjalan dan apa yang telah saya pelajari sepanjang tahun ini. Tapi sebelum saya membahas perkembangan portofolio saya, mari kita tinjau kondisi pasar di Indonesia dan di seluruh dunia sepanjang tahun 2023. Pada tahun 2023, IHSG mengalami berbagai peristiwa yang cukup signifikan. Meskipun terjadi fluktuasi, pasar saham Indonesia secara umum menunjukkan kinerja yang cukup stabil sepanjang tahun. Pada akhir tahun, IHSG mencatat kenaikan sebesar 3.45%, menunjukkan potensi pertumbuhan yang masih ada. Sementara itu, di Amerika Serikat, S&P 500 juga mengalami perkembangan yang menarik. Meskipun terdapat beberapa gejolak pasar, S&P 500 berhasil mencatat rekor tertinggi baru di akhir tahun, tetapi juga mencatat beber
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Time is a friend and enemy in investing

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I'm writing this article for my good friend, N. I hope to help you by summarising the essential strategies I have learned so far. With the right strategies, it is possible to achieve your financial goals, including building a sufficient retirement fund. I will explore some options for investing and provide tips for managing finances. Firstly, it is important to create a budget to track your income and expenses. Knowing how much you spend and what you spend on is the foundation of good personal finance. One way to do this is to allocate a portion of your monthly income to different categories. For example, you could allocate 50% of your income to living expenses, 30% to savings and investments, and 20% to discretionary spending. Additionally, reducing your living expenses will allow you to save more for retirement. Next, start saving for emergencies. Aim to have three to six months of living expenses saved in a savings account. This will help you avoid going into debt in case of une
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Perjalanan Investasi di Tahun 2022 (Part 4)

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Tidak terasa tahun 2022 hampir berakhir. Tiba saatnya memantau status perjalanan investasi selama tahun ini. Perjalanan investasi saya tahun ini cukup menarik dan tentu saja memberikan banyak pembelajaran.  Tingkat inflasi naik membubung tinggi sepanjang tahun. Pemerintah Amerika harus menaikkan suku bunga untuk menekan dan menurunkan laju inflasi ini. Akibatnya terjadi perpindahan dana dari aset saham ke aset lainnya seperti obligasi jangka pendek, deposito ataupun emas. Pasar saham Amerika pun jatuh cukup drastis. S&P500, Indeks saham gabungan Amerika, saat ini berada -19% dibandingkan awal tahun, dan bahkan pernah turun hingga ke titik -26%.  Pasar Saham Indonesia walaupun cukup resilien tetap saja terpengaruh karena para investor asing melakukan pemindahan aliran dana dari pasar saham kita ke Amerika oleh karena imbal hasil yang lebih menarik dengan kenaikan suku bunga oleh Pemerintah Amerika.  IHSG sendiri masih berada 2.6% lebih tinggi dari titik di awal tahun 2022, tapi kond
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Dennis Tonel

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We were cleaning our house in Catalunan Grande yesterday when I found this note that my sister-in-law, Denise, wrote on the night before Papa was laid to his final resting place. I found the note among all the papers and other things that she hoarded 😁 in her room in the house.   This was supposed to be read before Papa's funeral.   Denise was quite unwell that evening. Long hours and tiring travel from Quetta, Pakistan, lack of sleep, distress of losing Papa, and fighting all the sadness and tears took a toll on her body.  When we took her home to Catalunan from San Pedro funeral home, she couldn't go inside the house because she didn't have the key with her. She had to then ride a taxi back to her condo at around 2AM and still, she managed to find some energy left to write this note for Papa.  She was able to read this note at Cathedral after the funeral mass. Unfortunately, the sound system was terrible, people could hardly hear what she was reading. So I thought, I bet
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Until we meet again coffee shops

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  I arrived from the Philippines feeling jittery because of mixed emotions of the recent trauma of losing my father-in-law, anxiousness about starting a new project and trying a new way of living in Jakarta.  We rented an apartment for the past 6 years. While it offered many conveniences and somehow gave a superficial feeling of being at home-away-from-home, it also provided many challenges. So for this time around, I tried the option of staying in a boarding house , or we call " kos" .  I chose a kos that was supposed to be a walking distance to our new office but for the whole two months that I've been here in Jakarta, the so-called office is still elusive and is not yet ready to be occupied.  Because of this, I have to find another place of working conveniently. Kuningan City Mall has been my office space since I arrived. I've been working from some of the coffee shops available in this mall. In the beginning, I chose Coffee beans and Tea leaves on the ground floor
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Bagaimana Cara Mengatur Portfolio Investasi kita?

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  Saat saya menulis blog ini, kondisi bursa saham di Amerika masih terkoreksi, suatu istilah di pasar saham yang berarti harga jatuh drastis dalam waktu yang singkat, dan penurunan harga ini diprediksi masih akan terus berlangsung dalam beberapa waktu ke depan. S&P 500 (SPY), sebuah indeks saham yang terdiri dari  sekitar 500an perusahaan besar di Amerika telah mengalami penurunan sebesar 20% sejak awal tahun. 3 July 2022 Para analist memprediksi penurunan masih akan terus berlangsung dalam waktu yang akan datang mengingat tingkat inflasi per Juni 2022 masih tinggi di angka 8.6%. Secara sederhana, pemerintah Amerika harus terus menaikan suku bunga agar dana pinjaman yang beredar akan berkurang karena berhutang ke lembaga keuangan semakin mahal dan ini akan mengerem roda ekonomi dan diharapkan tingkat inflasi akan menurun.  Kondisi pasar saham Indonesia (IHSG) sendiri masih berwarna hijau. Ada banyak analisa yang mengatakan bahwa pasar Indonesia belum terpengaruh karena kita banyak
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You're stronger than you thought

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  Everyone has his or her own struggle in life. We all had our ups and downs, and that makes life so interesting and inspiring. I have been many times amazed by triumphant stories of people around me who once reached the lowest point in their lives, but then came out even stronger.  My close friend, let's call him Andy, had an inspiring life experience that taught me that we are stronger than we thought and whatever that life throws at us we can always rebuild again.  Andy has a master qualification from an overseas university. He was offered a job even when he was still studying. Immediately after completing his study, he travelled away from his hometown to his new job. Unfortunately, in this first job experience, he had to face a bad character at the office, but he managed it well. He braved through a couple of years working in such a difficult environment and completed his contract.  He was then offered for another job, but it was a position in a project pending for approval to
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Living in a Kos in Jakarta

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  I always see my life divided into various chapters and this is a chapter about living in a rented room of a boarding house in Jakarta or what we call "Kos".   After living a dream life on my wife's family farm in Davao, Philippines for about three months, I had to return to Jakarta, sadly just about a week after my father-in-law was buried.  I had to return to Jakarta because the company that I'm working for just won a new project for another four to eight-year timeframe, and we had to re-establish many systems in the project to be delivered within seven months.   I was lucky that Indonesian technology companies are so far advanced that basically, you can get whatever you need over the internet or online. Our investing companies, financial technologies, banking systems, and online stores are so far ahead compared to the Philippines or even Australia, but maybe my recollection of Australia is no longer updated. Things may have changed.  With the help of a couple of f
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Happy Father's Day in Heaven Pa!

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  Happy Father's Day Pa. I never know about Father's Day because we don't have such celebration here in Indonesia but it's a celebration in the Philippines so here I am greeting you.  On this day, I just wanted to take some time to remember simple things that you like.  You know pa, even until now if I come across all these things when I walk around at the grocery stores or at the stores in malls, I'd automatically think of you.  Black T-shirt with a nice picture of eagle, a bulldog or lion. Yes, this is your favourite kind of t-shirt other than orange or red colours.  This is your forever favourite snacks from Indonesia.  I still remember I have to buy it in big packs to bring home to Davao, sometimes I even finished the whole stocks at Farmer's market grocery store.  "Don't forget nak, to buy the 'ointment'!", you said, while you actually referred to the face soap.  At first, we didn't believe that you actually use this expensive toot
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