Special eid mubarak

In early stage of lockdown, over two months ago, still keep hoping that I can go home to celebrate this special day. Day after day passed, I did not buy airplane ticket yet. I almost never bought ticket in advance anyway, as impromptu team. Until flight schedule has been restricted from or to red zone area, I even got wild suggestion, to go home by ship from Semarang. Of course I did not take it.

"If you hear of an outbreak of plague in a land, do not enter it; but if the plague breaks out in a place while you are in it, do not leave that place."- Prophet Muhammad said

This too shall pass. Sabr, we were choosen to face this global pandemic, hopefully we can overcome this challenge, physically and mentally healthy. Alhamdulillah, even for little things. We are not laid off or (forced) unpaid leave or hardly earn daily income. Everbody struggling. Thanks for surviving and fighting so far. Keep it up.

I really like the working from home idea before. Thanks to this pandemic, I tasted the bittersweet. First two weeks still excited, tried virtual meeting till predawn with friends. In the third week, I even asked how to get day-off during wfh, to practically doing nothing, halfly joking wkwk. Recently, I just knew it can't be done, except you're sick.

I managed stay at home somehow, just went out to fill my weekly logistic. Everyone has their own coping mechanism anyway, such as gardening, cooking, baking, learning, creating any content or online shopping (?) Haha. Sometimes, I choose cooking (healthy food), joined webinar and career class. I need to make my self busier with other than work, to keep me sane :p

Since last week, I realized how I missed real chit chat with human. I decided to spend Eid with my friends, eat opor ayam, sambel goreng kentang, rendang and other eid food signature. Surely, it felt different, especially when you can only met your family virtually. I am already on acceptance mode. But, it still little bit hurt when read text contain something like "salam untuk keluarga di rumah".

Taqabbalallahu minna wa minkum taqabbal yaa kariim.
Mohon maaf lahir dan batin.
Hope we meet Ramadan again with better conditions.

Wfh is almost lifted, maybe this week will be the last week. People talked about new normal idea, when number of positive cases has not been decreased. Most are worried, including me. We need to think again if using public transportation during wfo, physical distancing seems hard to do. Herd immunity seems to be an illusion. Stay alert, obey healthy protocol, wash hand often, reduce touching face and use mask. Maximize ikhtiar and dua'. May Allah immediately revoke this pandemic.

“I’m so tired of love songs, tired of love songs. Just wanna go home, wanna go home." - Lauv & Troye Sivan on I'm so tired

Stay healthy, stay sane everyone. Thanks for reading. 

Sharia investment that I ever tried

I start to write this because someone drop "sharia investment" topic in my question box five days ago. Haha. Truthfully, I still learning about investment, especially sharia investment. Disclaimer, I didn't have any Economics background, so the story onward will be my personal experience. Don't get your expectation high :p

First thing first, before you start to invest somewhere, make sure you have prepared emergency fund and insurance according to your needs. Then, specify your financial goals and know your risk profile: your risk appetite and risk tolerance. Simply, seberapa ingin menerima resiko (personality, experience, knowledge) dan seberapa besar kapasitas menanggung resiko tersebut (assets, liquidity, number of dependents).

You can choose any investment instruments based on your short or long financial goals and your risk profile. From my basic knowledge of sharia investment, the purpose of its investment to earn halal profits in strict conformity with the precepts of Islamic sharia. The investments must free from riba', uncertainty (gharar) and gambling (maisir).

Don't worry to much as a beginner, there are already custodians to help you review some sharia investment instruments, such as Dewan Syariah Nasional MUI, OJK, Dewan Pengawas Syariah, and Bapepam. Yet, you still need to learn sharia investment terms (e.g. mudharabah-profit sharing, musyarakah-partnership, murabahah-cost plus). In addition, maybe you need to know how to read financial statements.

Learning need a process, step by step. Do not rush, take your time. Better knowing first, before start an investment. Before I started, I learn from many sources, almost six months before my very first investment. Haha. Mostly, from so well-known financial advisor account @jouska_id. I also try to read books, read news about Economics or Business. Recently, I like to listen some podcasts and following @bigalphaid. You can explore and getting insight from everywhere, if you want.

For short financial goals, I try a very low risk investment: governments bonds, called Sukuk Tabungan and Sukuk Ritel. You can go to Kemenkeu website to explore what it is, what akad being used, etc. or explore accounts that I mentioned before. They have already discussed the topic. Be curious, please. I started from small amount, but I feel happy every month got (small) coupon share this past year, even that only cover my phone bills. Haha. Growing mindset of investment that matter the most, beside to help government :p

Next, one level above, you can try some called sharia mutual fund (reksadana). You entrust your investment to investment managers. I never tried it before, there is nothing I can tell you. I will skip it into sharia stock. There are many emitens, you can explore the list on Daftar Efek Syariah OJK, will be updated every semester. I am a type of saving in stock. In this pandemic period, I paused. I am on "wait and see" mode. Poor my bleeding portfolio. I will see you later, when the season changed maybe, when everything seems better. Wkwk. If you are trading person, you can utilize Sharia Online Trading System (SOTS). Stock investment offers high return, but remember it's full of high risk. Don't try it, if you can not bear that risk, especially with the possibility of a recession.

Last, I've tried some agriculture investments on tanijoy.id. Purely because my personal reason, I like agriculture sector, partly come from my childhood. The story to help farmers impressed me. There are some projects that you can choose to invest, go check their website if you are interested. Investment period varies depend on commodities you want to invest. Return of investment will be divided, mostly for farmers. You can check the expected ROI in every investment details.

Okay, that's all from me. Let me remind you, this posting not part of any endorsement haha just sharing my little experieces. Hopefully, it will be usefull for you that wanna to start sharia investments. If you have any questions, comments or any experiences related, just drop it in comment  below or feel free to contact me. Thanks for reading.