Moving Back To Russia

Many forum participants don't seem to speak Russian - some even want to move there or attempt to join the Russian military without speaking the language. Not a good idea. I learned basic Russian years ago when I worked in Moscow, but "unlearned" much of it over twenty years. Recently, I found a very good teacher online who is a native speaker but fluent in English. I have been taking lessons twice a week via Skype. If anyone is interested in her contact info let me know. In my experience, you can't really learn the language using just textbooks or audio. You need a real personal teacher.

I am an American who lived in Russia a long time ago. Recently, the opportunity came up to live in Moscow for a year. I haven't been back since 2013. Just wondering from any Moscow based forum participants - what is life like in Moscow these days? What should rent be for a nice two bedroom flat in the center? What about good private tutoring in science/math for a 14 year old? My wife who is Russian probably needs to find work as an English teacher/interpreter/translator - she is fluent. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

If you are bringing dollars then not much has changed.  If you are taking a job paid in RUB you will have a hard time affording much.

Vladimir79 wrote:If you are bringing dollars then not much has changed.  If you are taking a job paid in RUB you will have a hard time affording much.

Not to hijack this discussion, just out of curiosity.

In that case how are the regular joes in Moscow managing with a ruble salary ?

No, I manage money internationally so I get paid in dollars. Theoretically, I could live anywhere in the world. Just need a computer connection to institutional trading desks and a phone. My wife has an idea of starting a tourist business, kind of like Airbnb, but with guided tours of different places and cities. Not sure how much real demand there is for that as last time I was in Russia I saw very few Western tourists.

I am thinking if she does this I need to rent a pretty big place in the center of Moscow. Should have a niece view or some "wow" factor for tourists.

Vladimir79 wrote:If you are bringing dollars then not much has changed.  If you are taking a job paid in RUB you will have a hard time affording much.

Clearly you have no current contact with Russian reality.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Moscow

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/02/05/moscow-salaries-see-double-digit-growth-2018-official-figures-say-a64402

Average monthly income in Moscow is $1250 but paid in rubles. So he will be making over 120,000 rubles per month since
he is not the average but someone with demanded skills.

Moscow is one of the top most expensive cities on the planet in terms of costs. Higher than Tokyo. A one bedroom
apartment will go for 60,000 R per month in the downtown core and 35,000 outside the core. Salaries for foreigners
who are important to fill high demand jobs will get their salaries padded to account for the costs. So even if one
rents downtown, less than half of the income will go for rent. I am being too restrictive since 120,000 is only
50% higher than the average. Foreign workers make 160,000 R per month easy:

https://teleport.org/cities/moscow/salaries/

A low paid software engineer is earning $25,500 per year or $2,125 per month which is paid in rubles since it is a pain
to pay for food, restaurants and rent in dollars. You have to convert any dollars you are paid (under the table) to
rubles anyway so why bother.

http://folkways.today/russian-labor-regulations-vocabulary/

It is illegal in Russia to pay wages in dollars. The 1990s are long over.

kvs wrote:

Vladimir79 wrote:If you are bringing dollars then not much has changed.  If you are taking a job paid in RUB you will have a hard time affording much.

Clearly you have no current contact with Russian reality.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Moscow

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/02/05/moscow-salaries-see-double-digit-growth-2018-official-figures-say-a64402

Average monthly income in Moscow is $1250 but paid in rubles.   So he will be making over 120,000 rubles per month since
he is not the average but someone with demanded skills.  

Moscow is one of the top most expensive cities on the planet in terms of costs.   Higher than Tokyo.  A one bedroom
apartment will go for 60,000 R per month in the downtown core and 35,000 outside the core.   Salaries for foreigners
who are important to fill high demand jobs will get their salaries padded to account for the costs.   So even if one
rents downtown, less than half of the income will go for rent.    I am being too restrictive since 120,000 is only
50% higher than the average.   Foreign workers make 160,000 R per month easy:

https://teleport.org/cities/moscow/salaries/

A low paid software engineer is earning $25,500 per year or $2,125 per month which is paid in rubles since it is a pain
to pay for food, restaurants and rent in dollars.   You have to convert any dollars you are paid (under the table) to
rubles anyway so why bother.

http://folkways.today/russian-labor-regulations-vocabulary/

It is illegal in Russia to pay wages in dollars.   The 1990s are long over.  

Great post. Dollars would be even less popular than Euro in Russia. Especially in Kaliningrad where poles spend it there.


Especially in Moscow where you can get 30k euro job by finishing SQL courses on Udemy.

Senior oracle programmers usually earn 80k+ in Moscow as well. Not to mention it's super easy to have a side project with crypto, like few years ago it was popular to buy ASIC miners like antminers even for russians who had little clue in crypto. Taxes are super low in Russia, I had to pay 40% in UK.

Being poor in Russia is a choice.

calripson wrote:No, I manage money internationally so I get paid in dollars. Theoretically, I could live anywhere in the world. Just need a computer connection to institutional trading desks and a phone. My wife has an idea of starting a tourist business,  kind of like Airbnb, but with guided tours of different places and cities. Not sure how much real demand there is for that as last time I was in Russia I saw very few Western tourists.

I am thinking if she does this I need to rent a pretty big place in the center of Moscow. Should have a niece view or some "wow" factor for tourists.

I trade too, started a long time ago. Forex markets mostly these days. Mainly futures before that.
I'm also looking to start similar projects eg general international wealth management and related services.
I'm seriously considering moving to Russia over the next couple of years.
Would have done by now.. if not for unforeseen stuff. I've Russian grandparentage on my father's side.

Do you have much to do with the Russian trading community currently?

It will be nice if/when the planned "offshore" (ie autonomously regulated) financial centre in Moscow happens.


PS I think Chinese tourists might be the big thing currently.

I used to work as a trader years ago in Moscow. I remember going to a Communist rally in the depth of the1998 financial crisis and seeing it totally fizzle out. I went home and told my landlord (who ironically kicked me out) to take all of his money and buy local shares of Gazprom for $.08. The ADRs were trading for like $.60 at the time. He later sold that $10,000 investment when the ADRs became freely convertible into local shares for over $1,000,000. By the way, Bill Browder's Hermitage Fund did the exact same thing which was illegal under Russian law. Those opportunities to make huge money do not exist anymore in Russia, or anywhere else. The speculators and oligarchs made out like bandits while the people suffered immensely.

I haven't followed Russian markets for years. My gut sense is the money to be made in Russian now is in private equity. I have invested in deals coming out of Skolkovo and I am tied into the venture capital community there in high tech and biotech. There is a huge "brain arbitrage" between Russia and the "West". Most people in the West do not appreciate the educational system and intellectual capital in Russia. They have a misplaced sense of superiority.

calripson wrote:I used to work as a trader years ago in Moscow. I remember going to a Communist rally in the depth of the1998 financial crisis and seeing it totally fizzle out. I went home and told my landlord (who ironically kicked me out) to take all of his money and buy local shares of Gazprom for $.08. The ADRs were trading for like $.60 at the time. He later sold that $10,000 investment when the ADRs became freely convertible into local shares for over $1,000,000. By the way, Bill Browder's Hermitage Fund did the exact same thing which was illegal under Russian law. Those opportunities to make huge money do not exist anymore in Russia, or anywhere else. The speculators and oligarchs made out like bandits while the people suffered immensely.

I haven't followed Russian markets for years. My gut sense is the money to be made in Russian now is in private equity. I have invested in deals coming out of Skolkovo and I am tied into the venture capital community there in high tech and biotech. There is a huge "brain arbitrage" between Russia and the "West". Most people in the West do not appreciate the educational system and intellectual capital in Russia. They have a misplaced sense of superiority.

On a smaller scale - crypto trading community is alive and thriving in Russia. Plenty of successful ICOs are from Moscow.
There are always ways how to speculate there and literally burn other people money with your name openly as western juridical reach is out of hands in Russia too.

I know the Russian crypto world well. I gave a presentation at a crypto conference last year and I am familiar with the people running LA Token. The problem with crypto is 95% of it is garbage. The idea and technology behind blockchain will change the world, but the days of easy money crypto scams are probably over.

calripson wrote:I know the Russian crypto world well. I gave a presentation at a crypto conference last year and I am familiar with the people running LA Token. The problem with crypto is 95% of it is garbage. The idea and technology behind blockchain will change the world, but the days of easy money crypto scams are probably over.

The 'problem' with crypto is who owns and operates the fiber-optic cables?

calripson wrote:I am an American who lived in Russia a long time ago. Recently, the opportunity came up to live in Moscow for a year. I haven't been back since 2013. Just wondering from any Moscow based forum participants - what is life like in Moscow these days? What should rent be for a nice two bedroom flat in the center? What about good private tutoring in science/math for a 14 year old? My wife who is Russian probably needs to find work as an English teacher/interpreter/translator - she is fluent. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.


No, I manage money internationally so I get paid in dollars. Theoretically, I could live anywhere in the world. Just need a computer connection to institutional trading desks and a phone. My wife has an idea of starting a tourist business,  kind of like Airbnb, but with guided tours of different places and cities. Not sure how much real demand there is for that as last time I was in Russia I saw very few Western tourists.

I am thinking if she does this I need to rent a pretty big place in the center of Moscow. Should have a niece view or some "wow" factor for tourists.

And therein is your problem. Russia has changed over the years and what you could and/or did do a decade and more ago will not fly today. You are coming across to me as typical of the Americans who came running to Moskau after SSSR died with an intense desire to teach the backwards locals 'western culture' and are nostalgic for 'those good old days'. Today in Moskau you will get short shrift. Privat tutoring is of course available but why do you need that? Russian schools are very good and if you have a 14 year old, the best thing to do is immerse the child in to Russian Culture, not in some insulated privat education curriculum. Or is that how you intend to live, finding your minuscule little piece of 'america' in Moskau? Why? Good luck on that, and if so, please do us an immense favor and don't come down here for your holidays, you won't like it and we won't like you. Two of our 13 children are still in school and while they are educated to speak German and English in addition to Russian, they are in Russian schools and Russian Culture. The other 11 all speak or understand Russian, German and English. How about your child?

Auslander
http://rhauslander.com

Walther von Oldenburg wrote:

auslander wrote:Two of our 13 children are still in school

Wait... How many???

Five with two legs, eight with four legs, and all speak and/or understand Russian, German and English. Three are serving, two still in school although the oldest of the two has reached her majority.