Articles
Articles
Three topics: personal money, banks from the inside, and a career seen through a manager's eyes. Pick what to read.
8 October 2026
Managers are chosen from those who spent six months leading 3 colleagues without a title or extra pay
I have been choosing sales managers for many years. Here is what tells me someone is a leader, and what to do if you want a promotion.
6 October 2026
The best salesperson is not the best candidate for manager
Why promoting the best salesperson to manager so often ends in their leaving, how I chose a successor 4 months after she joined, two typical mistakes in the first months of a new role, the cost of the first year of up to 30% of income, and four steps for testing a candidate before the appointment.
2 October 2026
35,000 roubles for a summer in Finland. Mum said there was no money, and she was right
A personal story: how my mum saved on everything, why saving has a floor while income has no ceiling, and how that changed my conversation with my manager about income.
30 September 2026
Three metrics in your banker's plan: why the end of the quarter works in your favour
How personal managers' plans are built: inflow of assets, revenue, growth in target clients. What changes in the two weeks before the quarter closes, why the manager comes with the simplest product, when individual terms appear and which question to ask so that you do not buy urgency.
29 September 2026
Key rate 14%, coupon 18%: what the extra 4 points are made of
For every extra percentage point of coupon the buyer pays, and pays with the risk taken on. What makes up the gap between the coupon and the risk-free yield: the OFZ base, maturity, credit spread, liquidity, optionality. G-spread and Z-spread, two thresholds for AAA issuers and four actions before buying.
23 September 2026
«What should I buy now?» is the fourth question, not the first: six steps of managing capital
About 90% of a portfolio's result is explained by the allocation across asset classes, not by the choice of securities. Six steps of professional management, ability and willingness to bear risk, the investment policy, a bond example where breaking the order costs 14% of the price, rebalancing and six actions.
22 September 2026
Premium banking for 35,880 roubles a year: does it pay off for you
A premium package costs 2,990 roubles a month if the balance conditions are not met. What the price is made of and what you get in return, a calculation on a live profile with a result of minus 2,900 roubles for the year, the «rate or limit» fork and five steps for checking your own tariff.
17 September 2026
How much capital you need to live on interest: four calculations of the same goal
The same goal - 200 thousand roubles a month - gives 19.2 million, 39.3 million, 60 million or 80 million, depending on the withdrawal rate. I explain why you cannot calculate from today's deposit rate, how to account for inflation, and what to do if the result is twice what you expected. With a table for four spending profiles.
16 September 2026
0% instalments: when it pays to repay early, and when it does not
An interest-free instalment plan can be set up in two different ways, and to the buyer they look the same. In one, early repayment makes the purchase 16 thousand cheaper than the price tag; in the other, it brings a loss. How to tell them apart from two lines of the contract, with a month-by-month calculation at two rates.
8 September 2026
How to choose a financial adviser: three checks in a single meeting
Three checks that fit into one meeting and need no financial education: what the adviser asks you before making an offer, what he tells you about himself, and how he explains the product. With a breakdown of a real salesman's monologue, three questions that expose everything within a minute, and a table of how a bank adviser differs from an independent one.
1 September 2026
What you actually pay your bank: every fee, including the ones no document shows
A tariff schedule does not show the full cost of being a client. Where else the charge arises, how to see it, and the four questions to ask your banker.