Because my hobby is reading, one of my biggest expenses is related to books, magazines, and other readings. I enjoy books with various topics, ranging from management, military, intelligence, and business to story books. When I was still a child, I enjoyed spending hours in the library reading various books. The benefit is that, unconsciously, I am driven to have a strong memory related to a story, ranging from the comic story of Petruk Gareng Tatang S, Bobo magazine stories, silat stories of Wiro Sableng, Twin Warriors, and novels like Musashi and Taiko.
After working and having my own income, I set aside a budget for buying books. I might choose to reduce my food or snack allowance rather than reduce my book-purchasing budget. Sometimes I also go to some places that sell secondhand books and magazines that are still readable.
The development of technology makes me able to choose to buy e-books. I mostly read them through Google Play, but I also buy them via Kindle, or some use PDF readers (for e-books that provide pdf files). Currently, I also subscribe to the Indonesian version of National Geographic magazine because I like its content.
Lastly, I subscribe to articles from the Nikkei Asia Review. Here I get used to following updates on business and politics in the Asia region and their impact on the world. Currently, the business I run might still be in a limited scope, but it doesn’t hurt for me to invest costs to understand the culture and business development outside of Indonesia.
One of my favorite series of articles in Nikkei is My Personal History (Watashi no Rirekisho) which contains the stories of famous business people or politicians. The ones I’ve read are about Carlos Ghosn, boss of Nissan Motor, Sakichi Toyoda, Dhanin Chearavanont (founder of Charoen Phokpand), and from Indonesia, Mochtar Riyadi (Lippo Group).
Actually, I could also read similar articles separately through Google search, but if the intention is to invest in knowledge, the costs I spend will be more worthwhile because I also don’t want to lose by not reading them. Because I spend money, I try to maximize the benefit as much as possible by reading various articles and getting information on business and business development.
I can gain insight or enlightenment from the information obtained, including new business ideas or an understanding of other investment schemes I undertake.
So, don’t worry about investing not being in cash if we realize that it does have benefits and goodness for ourselves and our environment.
