India – A Personal Experience, A Journey of Faith

Last month I went to India and Nepal with my meditation friends and Buddhist Fellowship Indonesia group. It was a Buddhist pilgrimage so our itinerary was centered on Buddhist holy places in India like Bodhgaya, Sarnath, Kusinara, Sankassya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Vesali, Kapilavatthu and Lumbini in Nepal.

I’ve never been to those places except Lumbini. I went to Lumbini in the year 2000 on a 46-day China-Tibet-Nepal backpacking trip with Beijing school friends. At that time we planned to continue our trip to India, but there was a big flood so we cancelled our trip to India. My journey to India continued a decade later. After 10 years, I finally set foot in India.

Although I was interested in Buddhism, I was not a Buddhist when I went on this pilgrimage. My motivation was to visit India with my meditation friends and hopefully had time to meditate and feel the vibration of those holy places. Therefore, unlike my Buddhist friends who felt inspired, touched and even grieved when we visited Sankassya, Sarnath, Bodhgaya, I did not have any special feelings towards these places.  Please do not get me wrong, I did enjoy the journey and I felt happy with the experience, but I just did not feel the connection and I thought that I would feel this way during the entire trip.

Then…something happened.


Kusinara – India

On November 14th, 2010, we visited Kusinara where Buddha attained Parinibbana and he laid to rest between two sala trees. Our group quietly entered the temple and knelt down to pay respect. I also knelt down and put my palms together in front of my chest in anjali position like everybody else. After a while, our tour guide, Ki Ananda started to chant “Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammā sambuddhassa” (Honour to Him, the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the fully Enlightened One) I followed his cue and started to chant as well. When I chanted “Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammā sambuddhassa” for the third time, suddenly my tears started to flow; I was so overwhelmed by a flood of emotion that I just could not describe. Then when we continued with Tisarana, Buddham saranam gacchāmi, Dhammam saranam gacchāmi, Sangham saranam gacchāmi and so on, I just could not hold myself together, I was sobbing, tears flowed down my face, my breath became very shallow and my body was shaking. At that moment, I remembered something, I remembered a certain feeling, but I really could not describe what it was. I could not remember a specific memory from the past but I knew in my heart it was true and real. I felt that I have found something very precious to me and somehow a faith arisen.

This trip to India has a significant and precious meaning for me and hopefully my BFI friends also have theirs.

May All Beings Be Happy
Inge Santoso, B. Com

Do Positive Feelings Improve Results?

Yesterday I was trying to help my university students to identify their feelings towards learning Chinese language. I asked them to write 10 different feelings they associated with learning Chinese as fast as they can. I also asked them to write two or three reasons for each feeling.

The three dominant feelings are proud, stressed and confused. Learning a second or third language, especially Chinese is not easy, so it is understandable that they often feel confused. Most of them feel stressed due to the number of Chinese characters that they have to memorize. Despite the difficulties in learning Chinese, they feel proud because they are seen as being able to take on a ‘hard’ subject. A lot of people perceive them as smart and they receive a lot of praise. 

One thing that drew my attention was how their feelings towards  learning Chinese influenced their performance in class.

There are two classes, Class A and B, with 17-18 students per class. When I tallied the feelings for each class, I found that in Class A, the students have more negative than positive feelings towards learning Chinese. While in Class B, they have more positive feelings than negative ones. Perhaps it is one of the reasons why Class B consistently outperforms Class A.

Does it mean that if we want to be better in something, then we need to have more positive feelings toward it?

Please share in the comments about what you think.

Learn and Grow

Inge Santoso, B. Com

How We Get Our Belief System and Values

Yesterday when I had breakfast at Diamond Restaurant, Solo, Indonesia, I overheard a family having a conversation with the restaurant manager. The family consisted of a father, a mother and a teenage boy; I assumed he was in high school. The conversation roughly went like this:

The manager asked the boy, “Hi. At this age, learning to speak English is very important. Don’t you want to go overseas to study?”

The boy didn’t say a word, but the father answered, “He does not need to go overseas to study. I think Indonesian Universities are good enough. Anyway what’s the point studying overseas if after graduation he still has to come back here and continue the family business?”

The manager said, “There are many advantages of studying overseas. First, you can speak English well. Second, you can meet a lot of people from different countries and have friends from all over the world. Having a lot of contacts can help you expand your business”

The father again said, “Well, I can’t speak English, yet my business is doing well.”

The manager asked, “Sir, don’t you want to expand your business?”

The father answered, “No, I don’t want to expand anymore. I’ve been offered to expand by several of my business partners but I refused. What I have is enough.”

The manager said, “Sir, this is the first time that when I asked that question, the answer is ‘no’. Other people usually answered ‘yes’ when I asked them whether they wanted to expand their business.”

When the food came, the manager left after thanking them for the conversation.

The father continued to ramble about the futility of having the children studying overseas. He even said, “What’s the point if he has an overseas education if I am bankrupt and he has no capital to start a business? Perhaps sending him study overseas makes me bankrupt!”

The mother said, “Don’t speak like that. It is not good to speak about bankruptcy or negative things.”

The father told the mother, “You don’t know anything. I don’t care; I talk what I want to talk about.”

During this conversation, the boy was just nodding his head, agreeing to what the father was saying. The mother looked a bit disturbed because she seemed to want the best for her son.

I know that it is not my place to judge, but the conversation made me feel concerned, especially when I saw the boy kept nodding to what the father was saying. He was agreeing to what the father was saying, taking the father’s belief system and values without realizing or even examining them. Perhaps he even thought the father’s negative attitude was not negative at all.

What I witnessed yesterday is how most people get their belief system and values. They get their beliefs system and values from people who are closest to them, mostly parents, other family members, teachers, coaches or other influential people in their environment.

We rarely question or evaluate what they tell us, we just accept them as truth because that’s what we are taught to do since we are young. We see our parents, our teachers as the ultimate authority, they are ALWAYS RIGHT. There lies the problem, they are NOT ALWAYS RIGHT. That’s why we may need to go back and evaluate whether our belief system and values are helping or hindering us in life.

Lessons:

1. Don’t just believe everything you hear, see, or even what you think and feel. Examine them again; you may see them differently from different perspectives.
2. Listen more closely to what other people are saying to discover their belief system and values. You may discover interesting things in the process.

Please share with me in the comments if you have similar experiences as above or even how you changed your belief systems and values after something happened in your life that shattered your beliefs.

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B.Com

My Meditation Journey Continues… Bali Usada Tapa Brata 2

 

Happy faces after finishing Bali Usada Tapa Brata 2 in Tawangmangu. The course was held for 12 days from 30 March 2010 to 10 April 2010.

This 12 day Bali Usada Tapa Brata 2 course can really transform how you use your mind. The main objective is to train your mind to become a skillful harmonious mind that can be used to proactively heal and maintain good physical, mental and emotional health.

Before attending Tapa Brata 2, I’ve attended Bali Usada Tapa Brata 1 course twice in the last 9 months and I found them very beneficial for my health, especially for my emotional well being. After attending Tapa Brata 1, I feel more relaxed and calm. I become more aware of my feelings and emotions thus I am able to control my emotion better than before.

I used to struggle a lot with the feeling of anger. Before attending Bali Usada Tapa Brata 1, whenever I got angry, other people suffered. After attending Tapa Brata 1, whenever I got angry, I suffered the most. Why? Whenever I was angry, now I could feel my body was burning inside, it felt so hot. I could feel wild energy shooting here and there attacking my inner organs, very uncomfortable! No wonder wise people say that anger is harmful for your health. After that experience, whenever I feel the emotion of anger rising, I do my best to be aware of it, let it go and never let anger run its course.

I’ve been meditating every day since I attended Bali Usada Tapa Brata 1. I usually meditate 45-60 minutes a day. Sometimes I meditated for 90 minutes because I wanted to prepare myself to attend Tapa Brata 2. I heard from previous participants of Tapa Brata 2 that it was very challenging.

How did I feel about the course? It was tiring mentally, physically and emotionally. It was definitely a very demanding course in terms of mind training. I’ve never used my mind as intensive as this before. I’ve attended many seminars and programs by Anthony Robbins, T Harv Eker, Silva Method and many others and none of those programs can beat Bali Usada Tapa Brata 2 in terms of mind training.

I thought attending Anthony Robbins’ Date with Destiny was demanding because the seminars went well into the night and we jumped, we screamed, we danced, we did a lot of things there, yet I felt more tired just by sitting and concentrating my mind during TB2.

During the course, I felt many different kinds of sensations, feelings and emotions. Sometimes I remembered things in the past so clearly, I felt that I was there. Sometimes I was even astonished to discover my own subconscious thoughts. It was a very interesting experience!

Although I found the course to be very challenging, it was well worth it. I definitely recommend this course for anyone who wants to transform their mind and life to a whole new level. The transformation is not superficial as I have experienced after attending other courses, it is a real transformation. Once you’ve experienced it, you would know it in your heart.

A bit of warning:

I recommend for anyone who is interested in attending Tapa Brata 2 to at least attend Tapa Brata 1 twice and meditate regularly at home for about 60 minutes every day.

After finishing the course, sometimes there may be some bad reactions lingering for a few days. Do not worry, just keep meditating and it will balance itself.

Finally I want to thank Mr. Merta Ada and his assistants, Mr. Suardika, Mr. Budi Waluyo, Mr. Sutedjo who made the course possible. Thank you for your guidance and support. I also want to thank you my dear father, Mr. Djoko Santiko who allowed us to use the villa in Tawangmangu to hold the course. Last but not least, I want to thank you all my friends who attended the course together, Joseph, Hijau Berlian, Wulan, Tining, Jenny, Juniar, and Cha Cha. Thank you for the friendship, love, and support so that we could successfully finish the course. I hope we have an opportunity to attend another course together again.

May all beings be happy!

Learn and grow,

Inge Santoso, B. Com

The Tallest Building in the World in 2010

Burj Dubai is currently the tallest building in the world at over 800m tall. I had a chance to take this photo when I visited Dubai on Dec 26, 2009. If I visit Dubai again in the future, I’ll go to the observation deck on level 124, then I can tick off my life goal of going to the tallest building in the world.

Learn and Grow

I Took The Wrong Bag – We All Make Mistakes

Yesterday my friend and I flew from Solo to Jakarta. We brought four luggage with us, one of them was the samsonite bag pictured above. While we were waiting for our luggage to come out, we were discussing about passengers who turned on their mobile phones on the plane. Then we saw our bags coming out, so we quickly took them and put them on the trolley. I prepared my luggage tags just in case they asked to see them before leaving the airport. As it happened, no one was there to check the luggage tag, so we just went out to get a taxi. I loaded the bags to the trunk of the taxi and we left the airport.

About 10 minutes after we left the airport by taxi, I received a call from an airport ground staff. He asked me whether I arrived by GA 221 from Solo this morning. I said yes. Then he asked whether I got all my bags because he found my samsonite bag. I confidently said that I’d got everything, I’d taken all my four bags. He asked me to stop and check because I might have taken somebody’s else bag by mistake. I insisted that I couldn’t have mistakenly taken the wrong bag but I asked the driver to stop and check anyway. When I opened the trunk and saw the bag…Aaah the samsonite bag in the trunk was definitely not blue, it was black!! It was not mine! I took the wrong bag!

I told the taxi driver to drive back to the airport to return the bag and get my own bag. This mistake cost me more than Rp.100,000 in taxi fare because we had to exit the highway, turn back and re-enter the highway to the airport.

It was the first time it ever happened to me and hopefully there won’t be a second time.

It was quite amazing how two set of eyes could get it wrong, then by chance there was no one to check the tags as we went out. One other thing, that bag also had the same broken wheels. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I do not believe in coincidence. Thinking positively about this incident, perhaps the taxi driver needed more money and we had helped him out. There were so many possibilities and I’d rather see this as a part of a master plan and something good has come out of it.

Lessons to learn:

• Do not be arrogant. Mistakes can happen to anyone. We all make mistakes one time or another.
• As we go through life, from one experience to the next, there is always a first time for everything. It is just part of life.
• Next time, ALWAYS check twice that I get the right bag hahaha

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B.Com

Blog Action Day – Climate Change

 

This year Blog Action Day is about climate change.

I live in Solo, Indonesia. I definitely can feel the climate change. In the last few months, the weather was unusually hot. The sun is so bright so that whenever I am outside for too long, I get migraines. The heat of the sun stings my skin. The hot and humid air makes breathing uncomfortable. The effect of global warming can really be felt for real here.

In Indonesia, we used to have a saying that any months ending with “ber” such as September, October, November and December means wet weather with a lot of rain. This year, September has passed without even one drop of rain. This October, I only witnessed three or four days of light rain.  

I try to do my part to reduce my carbon emission and global warming by doing a few things such as:

• Conserving water by taking quicker shower, turning off tap while brushing my teeth.
• Becoming a vegetarian (today is my 18th day). I am not a pure vegetarian yet, but I am on my way there.
• Raising awareness about global warming and climate change in classes that I teach
• Reducing the usage of air-con. Instead of using air-con, I use a fan to improve air-circulation and cool the room
• and other things

From the things that I try to do, the hardest thing is becoming a vegetarian. There are a lot of challenges such as overcoming temptations, adjusting social activities with my friends and getting used to other people’s reaction when I tell them that I don’t eat meat anymore. The last time I went vegan, it was in 2005. It lasted only for 54 days and it was really a struggle for me. This time around, I find it easier to overcome temptations because I’ve been practicing my mind through meditation.

I am only one person. I may not be able to do much, but I hope this Blog Action Day post may raise the awareness about climate change.

My dear readers, I hope not only you are aware of this climate change but you will take action – no matter how small, so that together we can make a difference and save our planet.

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso

Memories from the Past – My Meditation Journey

From August 2nd to 8th, I was attending Bali Usada’s Usada Tapa Brata 1 for one full week. It was a health meditation program. For more information about the program:

A seven-day intensive course where participants are requested to leave all the daily routine to stay isolated from outside world under the Tri-Tapa rules: no talking, no reading, and no writing.

A training to build up concentration, an exercise to develop awareness and mindfulness to strengthen harmonious mind and loving kindness.

You will be trained to understand the healing process through harmonious mind.This meditation is for beginners, also for those having completed the Usada Regular/ Private I.

I was quite proud of myself for being able to follow the Tri-Tapa rules of not talking, reading nor writing during the course. On top of those three rules, we were only provided with two vegetarian meals and one snack a day. At the beginning of the course I was not sure that I would be able to do it, but it became easier with each passing day. At the end of the course, I actually enjoyed it so much and I was reluctant to talk because talking and hearing loud noises gave me headache.

Out of 46 participants, only five of us really adhered to the rules. I was glad that my roommate was also very committed to the rules, otherwise I might not be able to succeed. It shows how important it is to have supportive people around us in order to succeed.

The most amazing thing that happened to me during this course was uncovering a memory buried so deep in my subconscious mind, a memory that I didn’t remember having, yet it surfaced during the course.

This is the story…

On the fourth day when we started to meditate with a purpose of feeling our own body, I felt a pain on my back. It felt like being cut and stabbed with a sword or a saber, it was about 25cm long and located on the left of my spine. When I focused on the pain, it throbbed and became more painful, but the pain was gone when I finished a session. If I didn’t meditate, I felt no pain, but whenever I started meditating, the pain came back.

I was curious and when I asked the instructor, he told me to keep focusing on the pain. During meditation, I kept focusing on the pain and the more I focused, the pain became smaller until it felt like a small dot next to my spine. Although it became smaller, it also became more painful and unbearable. I felt like being shot or stabbed, it was hot and throbbing. Yet when I finished meditating, I could not feel the pain at all.

During the open meditation session, I was committed to really focus on it and I resolved to meditate until I found the cause of the pain. So I did. I focused, focused and focused on that one extremely painful dot until suddenly I saw in my mind, pictures of my grandmother and me when I was just a baby. I saw her holding me as well as sitting next to my baby crib. I must have been less than a year old because my grandmother passed away in 1977 when I was only one year old. I could feel how she poured her love, her hope and her dream to me. I felt a flood of emotions rushing through me, emotions of love, gentleness, kindness and hope as well as hate, anger and unwillingness to let go. When I felt all these emotions, I could not stop the tears from flowing, I just cried and cried until I could not breathe through my nose.

At that moment I could really feel her love, how she put her hopes and dreams into me…she wanted to leave a legacy through me. Suddenly I understood why I was so driven to make a difference and to leave a legacy. It was not only my desire but it was also my grandmother’s desire that she passed to me before she died.

On the other hand, I also felt her anger, hate, attachment and unwillingness to let go. I could understand her feelings because I would be the only grandchild that she would be able to see and hold because of her illness. She was not ready to let go and I could feel those emotions flooding through my heart.

After all those feelings and memories came rushing through me, I felt a sense of relief, calm and clear-headedness. Suddenly everything seemed to make sense and I understood my life. I felt at peace with a part of me that I didn’t realize I had. It was such a wonderful feeling.

At the end of the course, I was asked to share my experience in front of the class. I did not share this story because I had not verify it with my parents. Therefore when I met my parents a day later in Jakarta, I asked them whether those memories were true and those things really happened. They said that those memories were true and real. Wow…it was simply amazing! Consciously I had no memory of what happened when I was just a baby, but meditation helped me to remember something buried so deep in my subconscious mind. 

One more thing, after those memories surfaced, the pain on my back was almost gone. The pain was completely gone after I told my father this story. Believe it or not, it was like my grandmother wanted me to pass a message to my father.

How do I feel after all this? I feel at peace. I feel so calm, serene. I feel that I know and understand myself better. I feel a sense of relief, a burden lifted. I feel happy.

Finally, I really recommend all of you to take this course. I’d say that this is one of the best courses that I have attended in my whole life and I’ve attended a lot…from Anthony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within and Date with Destiny to T. Harv Eker’s courses, as well as numerous trainings and seminars held in Singapore and Indonesia for the last 18 years.

I would like to end this post with what the founder of Bali Usada, Mr. Merta Ada often says at the end of a meditation session:

“May all beings be happy!”

Inge Santoso, B. Com

Five Rules of Happiness

I got these five rules of happiness from a book by Jose Silva and Burt Goldman “Silva Mind Control Method of Mental Dynamics”.

Five rules of happiness:

1. If you like a thing, enjoy it.
2. If you don’t like a thing, avoid it.
3. If you don’t like a thing and you cannot avoid it, change it.
4. If you don’t like a thing, cannot avoid it, and cannot or will not change it, accept it.
5. You accept a thing by changing your attitude towards it.

If you like a thing, enjoy it. It sounds simple, but sometimes it is one of the hardest things to do. I think it is about being present, fully aware about what you are doing and enjoy every moment of it. For me, it is enjoying a cup of coffee mocha in the morning, reading a good book or writing journal.

If you don’t like a thing, avoid it. If you don’t like a thing and you can avoid it, just avoid it. It is something under your control, but sometimes it also requires courage to say no. For example, if you do not like clubbing and your friends ask you to go, just say no.

If you don’t like a thing and you cannot avoid it, change it. If you do not like something and you are the one who needs to do it, then change it. For example, if someone is overweight and there is no one else who can shed the weight except that person, then change it through better eating habits and doing exercises.

If you don’t like a thing, cannot avoid it, and cannot or will not change it, accept it. You accept a thing by changing your attitude towards it. An excellent example for rule no 4 and 5 is my previous post The Value of Rp. 300,000. I didn’t like to pay that Rp300,000, I couldn’t avoid it because I’ve taken the test, I couldn’t change it, so I accepted it. I accepted it by changing my attitude and perception. Instead of looking at it as a loss, I am now able to see it as a valuable lesson and a great learning experience. By changing my attitude, my perception, I feel happier.

Learn and Grow!

The Value of Rp.300,000

On Saturday I was informed that there would be an examination entrance for Mandarin Course from a university in Guang Zhou, China on Sunday. Since I didn’t have time to prepare and I was not too interested in taking the course, I didn’t want to go but I also felt guilty if I didn’t show up. Finally I decided to go there just to say in person that I did not want to take the exam. When I got there, I met a friend and she asked me to take the exam. She also told me that it was not expensive, only Rp. 30,000 (USD 3). I thought, if it’s only USD 3, then I’d take the exam to accompany her.

There were three papers. The first paper was quite easy. It had some vocabulary, grammar and short answer. The second paper was mostly about geography, history and culture. I could not do the second paper at all because I knew almost nothing on these subjects. Apparently the other people who did the exam already had some material to study on these subjects so they were quite prepared. The third paper was writing composition. One of the topics was “My Unforgettable Friend” and we were supposed to write 500-800 words. I wrote about 200-300 words.

While I was writing the composition, the exam supervisor asked us to pay for the examination fee. She said it was Rp. 300,000 (USD 30)!!! My reaction was WHHHHAAAATTTTT?????? Three hundred thousand?? Not thirty thousand?? If I were to describe my feeling at that moment, it was anger, regret, guilt, all mixed together. The most dominant emotion was anger at myself! The little voice in my head kept saying, "Stupid! Why didn’t you just stick to your goal in the first place? Why did you do that exam? Why did you let your friend drag you into doing it? It was your fault! You brought this on yourself!”

At the height of my negative emotions, my intelligence started to drop. I said stupid things in that room that I later regret. I asked whether I could withdraw, but the supervisor said I already did the exam and there was no refund. Finally, I took Rp. 300,000 out of my wallet and put the money under the paper and I simply walked out of the room.

After those feelings subsided and my intelligence came back up, I was able to think more clearly. I started to have a feeling of regret for saying those stupid things in class. I also felt regret for being disrespectful to those older teachers in the classroom by walking out of the room like that. Then I started to ask myself better questions and I got better answers.

Question: What can I learn from this?

• I learned that I value exchanging money for something of value and I do not like to waste it. Although Rp.300,000 was not a big amount for me, I felt I had wasted that money for nothing. I do not mind paying a high price for something that I value, but I do not want to waste even a small amount for nothing.
• It is true that when emotion goes up, intelligence goes down. It’s better to say nothing and do nothing rather than regretting it later.
• I learned that asking “What can I learn from this?” or “What good things come out of this?” really help me to feel better. The first time I learned to ask these questions was from Anthony Robbins, then from Blair Singer. I’ve taught this method to other people but I’ve never truly felt how effective it is until now. Now I am convinced that this method really helps me to get rid of those feelings of guilt/regret/hurt that I often feel. I also feel a sense of courage and optimism because I have a powerful weapon to face my fear of failure. It is not failure but a learning experience. I’ve heard a lot of people say those words in many books and seminars, but now I finally have it imprinted in my heart and mind.
• I learned that I want to feel a sense of calm and peace no matter what happens. I believe that this feeling of peace can only come from faith in God and trust that everything happens for a reason and it is always for good.
• I learned that when you choose and decide to do something, accept the consequences. If it is good, be glad. If it is not so good, learn from it.

At the end, I felt that I had not wasted Rp. 300,000 at all. I learned so many valuable lessons from this experience. Not only I have deeper understanding about myself, I also have a new conviction. It is really worth it!

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B.Com   

Some Lessons from My Car’s Dead Battery Incident

Last night I went to attend Mandiri Prioritas Customer Gathering. I learned a lot from the market update and asset allocation presentation. I really enjoyed the chance to network and meet new people yesterday. Everything was great until it was time to go home.

When I got into my car and started the engine…Aaaah I could not get it to start. The battery was completely dead! There was no warning whatsoever because when I started the car a few hours before, there was no sign that the battery had weakened. There I was, in the dark parking lot by myself.

I called home and dad came to pick me up (thank you my dear dad). He also called two drivers from the factory to bring another car and jumper cables. When they arrived 15 minutes later, everything went smoothly. We jumped start the car and the driver brought it back to the factory, while I came home with dad.

Today I have the battery replaced and life should be back to normal.

Lessons:

• Sometimes there is no warning so always be prepared for emergency. Today I’ll buy jumper cables and put them in my trunk.
• Do not panic. It helps in finding a solution to your problem. I did not panic because I knew that help was near.
• It’s wonderful to have friends who care. When I posted my car trouble in Facebook, a lot of friends expressed their concerns and even offered to help.

PS. I dreamed of having a car accident a few days ago, but I was alright. I don’t know whether the dream was a warning for me or because I thought about the dream, then it came true. What do you think?

Learn and Grow!

Pay Insurance Premium Monthly and Get Double Protection

A few days ago I attended an interesting presentation from an insurance company (Sequislife Indonesia). Some details of the illustration:

• The sum assured for life insurance is Rp.100,000,000 (USD 10,000) and there is an additional investment in mutual fund managed by Schroder. It is assumed that the return of the investment is around 17% a year.
• There is also a health coverage for critical illness, hospital expenses up to Rp.220,000,000 per year.
• The annual premium is Rp.15,000,000 (around USD 1,500)
• The payment premium period is 8 years

Although it is a very good program, the considerably high annual premium payment may deter some people to take this program. The insurance company offers a monthly payment program but there is better alternative.

The solution is to use an automatic saving plan offered by some banks. In this case, I’ll use Mandiri Tabungan Rencana (MTR) offered by Bank Mandiri. Some details of MTR:

• The minimum term is one year (it can be up to 20 years)
• The minimum monthly saving is Rp.100,000 (USD 10)
• The interest is 0.5% higher than the bank saving rate. At the time of writing, the interest is 4.25% p.a
• There is an insurance coverage from PT AJ Manulife up to Rp.5,000,000 (USD 500) per month in case of death or total permanent disability. The insurance premium is basically free because it is paid by the Bank.

How can you use this?

1. If you decide to take the program illustrated above this month, you need to pay the first annual payment, Rp.15,000,000 in full.
2. In the same month, open an account in Bank Mandiri and start an MTR program.
3. Choose one year term and monthly saving of Rp.1,250,000. It will be automatically debited from your account every month so you do not need to worry about missing any payments.
4. At the end of the one year term, use the collected amount of Rp.15,000,000 to pay for the insurance premium.
5. Repeat Step 3

What are the benefits of using this method?

• Pay monthly instead of annually
• Get additional protection for free
• Earn interest on your monthly saving that’s even higher than the interest in regular saving account

You may be able to use this method with any insurance company or banks of your choosing that may offer similar programs. Please check thoroughly with your insurance company or bank before making any decision.

Learn and Grow!

Disclaimer:

All information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. This blog post is not meant as a financial advice. I’m only sharing my experience.