Money by the Rules Telegram channel
Personal finance expert

Rafail Kasymov

“Manage your personal money by Private Banking standards*”

For executives, entrepreneurs and salaried professionals who have the money but no personal financial system to manage it.

Practices of a Senior Managing Director in the Private Banking division of one of Russia's largest banks. I explain and show how to apply to your own money the approaches banks use when they work with the capital of wealthy clients.

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* Private Banking - a bespoke service model for a bank's wealthy and key clients.

Rafail Kasymov - personal finance expert
  • 10+ years
    in finance, more than five of them in private banking
  • Senior managing director
    in Private Banking, I lead a unit of about 60 people
  • AWM®
    international qualification from AZEK, Switzerland
  • SFAA and AIWM
    membership in international professional associations
What most people miss

Costly financial mistakes begin in the mind

01

Cognitive traps. “It has fallen, so it must be worth buying”, “everyone is buying, so I will too”. A bonus is spent more easily than a salary. Substantial capital is lost this way as readily as any other.

02

Income is not capital. High earnings do not make you wealthier. Without a system, money simply passes through.

03

No consolidated picture. Few people can state three figures: total assets, how much of that is working, and how long it would last without income.

One answer applies - a framework for financial decisions.

What I write about

In plain terms

I see how private clients manage capital every day. The same principles apply to ordinary personal finances - they are simply rarely discussed outside the bank. Hence this channel: how to bring order to your finances and manage them as private clients do.

Competence level 1

Knowledge

“I do not understand what I am buying” → “I can see how it works”
What we cover: deposits, credit, equities, bonds, property - what is substance and what is marketing.
Competence level 2

Application

“I am afraid of getting it wrong” → “I can run the numbers and choose”
Cases we examine: the mistakes made in managing personal finances, and where particular decisions lead.
Competence level 3

Practice

“I hope it will be enough” → “I know it will be enough”
The system we build: records, reserves, objectives, capital - and confidence about what comes next.
Foundation

Convictions

Knowledge, application and practice do not hold without an answer to “why”. Convictions are a matter of thinking: understanding what order in your finances is for, so that you want it yourself. As in “Atomic Habits”, a system rests on internal motivation - and is then not abandoned within a week.

From the inside

How a bank and private banking actually operate - what clients are not usually shown. Once the logic is visible, it becomes credible and usable.

In dialogue

Subscribers' questions and real situations, examined with figures and without padding, so that the decisions become yours.

Three posts to start with

Knowledge

Official inflation and the average dish: why the figure does not match what you feel

One basket holds cabbage, another holds meat, and the statistics report the average. Why the statistical office is not misleading you but is not measuring your basket - and how to calculate your own rate.

Read in the channel → Application

How to establish how much capital is “enough” to live on passive income

A figure most people have never calculated, though they have considered it for years. The arithmetic is simple: required income divided by the yield - and your position becomes clear.

Read in the channel → Convictions

A market fall is not a loss for everyone: for some it brings the objective closer

If you are still accumulating, a decline works in your favour: future income is acquired at a discount. The arithmetic that undoes the usual reaction.

Read in the channel →

All posts - the channel feed in your browser →

Open the channel →
About the author

Who I am

I am a personal finance expert. My path began not in a bank but with personal bankruptcy cases: I handled them, helped people climb out of a debt trap and saw what leads them into it.

Then I joined a bank. I started as a representative: I met clients on location and set them up with the bank's products. I worked my way up to managing the capital of VIP clients, with no connections and no favours. So I understand both sides: how people lose control of their money and how large capital is structured. My conclusion is one: financial resilience rests on a system, not on luck or willpower.

“No one will put your finances in order for you. Neither the state nor your employer. Resilience begins where you stop waiting and take control yourself. Put another way, “do not stand with your hand out” is the principle I live by.”

Rafail Kasymov
Path

From personal bankruptcy to managing capital

Principles

What I do and what I do not

Topic 1

Personal finance

  • Deposits, loans, bonds and other financial instruments in plain language
  • A personal financial system: records, safety cushion, goals, capital
  • Calculations in real figures, so you can apply them to yourself and your own budget
Topic 2

Banks from the inside

  • Fees: the kinds there are, including the less obvious ones
  • A banker's sales target and bonus: how they shape the advice a client receives
  • Private Banking in plain words: what a bank does for wealthy clients
Topic 3

A leader's career

  • How to select people for leadership roles
  • Onboarding, adaptation and training in a large team
  • Developing a leader's career in a bank

What I do not do

  • I do not give individual investment recommendations: the materials are educational
  • I do not speak for my employer: everything said is my personal opinion
  • I do not promise returns or urge anyone to “invest in everything at once”
  • I do not write about transfers, account blocks or the bank's operational matters: that is not my area
Credentials

What can be verified

AWM®
Associate Wealth Manager. International qualification from AZEK, Switzerland
The certificate is publicly availableOpen the certificate →
SFAA
Swiss Financial Analysts Association
The register is not public: the association's secretariat can confirm membershipWrite to SFAA →
AIWM
Association of International Wealth Management
The register is not public. AIWM also issues the AWM®, so it can confirm both the membership and the certificateWrite to AIWM →
Platforms

Where to read and watch

Telegram ↗the “Money by the Rules” channel («Деньги по правилам»), daily breakdowns, in Russian VC ↗the same materials for VC readers (in Russian) Dzen ↗the rafinance10 channel (in Russian) LinkedIn ↗professional profile Articles on the site ↗long-form analyses with calculations and diagrams
For the press
Photos, biography and contact for editors
Open the press page →

Read the “Money by the Rules” channel

Personal finance, banks from the inside and a leader's career - in plain terms. The channel is in Russian.

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