Strategic countermeasures to overcome crisis in Russia
You could of course request payment in EUR or USD, maybe keep a PayPal account and just leave the funds in PayPal unless you need to withdraw the money in local currency? Either currency would be fine because the problem you are trying to overcome is the instability in the ruble. EUR and USD both accomplish that. If you can get local clients to pay in EUR or USD (again, PayPal seems like an easy way to accomplish that) you avoid the ruble, but at the risk that your services become more expensive to local clients because they have to convert a weaker currency to a stronger one. You should also solicit some international clients! You are obviously perfectly fluent in English and that's a significant advantage. And they'll be happy to pay in dollars and euros. If you have significant assets, such as a large deposit, then diversification of risks such as currency risk is good practice - there are many good options, but keeping 100% of it in roubles is definitely not a good idea, nor is keeping 100% of it in a single foreign currency.  Of course, it would be much more beneficial to have done it yesterday, and moments of extreme volatility generally are a bad time to make large uninformed trades, but if the deposit is sufficiently large (say, equal to annual expenses) then it would make sense to split it among different currencies and also different types of assets as well (deposit/stocks/precious metals/bonds). The rate of rouble may go up and down, but you also have to keep in mind that future events such as fluctuating oil price may risk a much deeper crisis than now, and you can look to experiences of the 1998 crisis as an example of what may happen if the situation continues to deteriorate. "You could do nothing for a while longer. Foreign exchange simply means your services are cheaper and imports and more expensive, local transactions are otherwise unaffected. Your main worry is whether the government's attempts to revert these issues will create inflation within Russia.  Local clients will likely not care to pay you in Euros, Dollars, or Pounds (as it will cost them significantly more, they'd have to acquire the currency to pay you with) but does it matter if they pay in Roubles? The financial crisis in more an international thing, not a local one. Now it is possible there will be inflation setting in but I doubt the powers that be will allow that to happen... If you are concerned about it, buying non-liquid assets are the thing to do - a house will still be worth ""1 house"" no matter what a 1-million rouble note will buy you in a year's time. Similarly, you can invest in 'blue-chip' stocks that should be a good hedge against any further inflation (the rich don't tend to turn poor in difficult times!) In the meantime, get some international clients - as the Rouble is so low, relatively speaking, your services are very competitive. The rest of the time, is to wait it out a little - nobody knows what will happen, but in my knowledge of history interest rates like this drop back to something much closer to normal quite quickly." The ruble was, is and will be very unstable because of unstable political situation in Russia and the economy strongly dependent of the export of raw resources. What you can do? I assume, you want to minimize risk. The best way to achieve that is to make your savings in some stable currency. Euro and Swiss Franc are currently very stable currencies, so storing your surpluses in them is a very good option if you want to keep your money safe. To prevent political risk, you should keep your money in countries with stable political regime, which are unlikely to 'nationalize' the savings of the citizens in predictable future. As for your existing savings in rubles, it's a hard deal. I assume, as the web developer, you have a plenty of money, which have lost a lot of value. If you convert them to euro or francs, you will preserver the current value (after the loss). You'll safe them agaist ruble falling down, but in case the ruble will return to previous value, you'll loose.  Keeping savings in instable currencies is, however, speculation, like investing in gold etc. So if you can mentally accept the loss and want to sleep good, convert them. You have also option to invest in properties, for example buy an extra appartment. It's a good way to deal with financial surplus in Europe in US, however you should be aware, in Russland it's connected with the political risk. The real estates can be confiscated in any moment by the state and you can't run away with it (the savings can also be confiscated, but there's a fair chance you'll manage to rescue them if you act quickly). Bitcoins are very liquid.  They can be sold or spent very easily.  And you don't depend on the banks being solvent to keep your Bitcoin funds, since you can keep them yourself in an offline wallet. I'm not sure what's the legality of Bitcoin in Russia, though.
Ehm, the 2008 crisis was effectively a debt crisis. Debt levels are  higher now than in 2008 and default rates are on the rise. Furthermore the ability for monetary policy to absorb has been spent. What helped in 2008 was the high savings rate of China. Now even china is in a debt bubble.  Stocks are beyond expensive in a historical context, and the reason is, with money so cheap where else do you stand to get some return? This crash is coming... not sure when as market timing is impossible, but i would advise you to take a big crisis into account in your planning..., This crisis just shows why the dollar has no chance in my lifetime of loding it's dominance.  Russia is a major world player, were taking what seemed right steps to move forward economically, socially, politically.  Yet this crisis shows the truth.  Media controlled by the kremlin.  Taking actions in other countries.  No fear of economic hardships due to political issues.    Who else could supplant the US dollar? China is in the same boat as Russia.  Still not a free society.  SO what's left? The Euro.  But it's got a long way to go to show it can remain stable.  Give it 50 years and get back to me. You should also mention that the maidan was very unpopular in east ukraine and seen as encouraged by the west, as a possible expansion of NATO into the neutral zone. The situation is not easily distilled into pure Russian aggression. Many of them actually prefer authoritarian govt. Use other currencies, if available. I'm not familiar with the banking system in South Africa; if they haven't placed any currency freezes or restrictions, you might want to do this sooner than later.  In full crises, like Russian and Ukraine, once the crisis worsened, they started limiting purchases of foreign currencies. PayPal might allow currency swaps (it implies that it does at the bottom of this page); if not, I know Uphold does. Short the currency Brokerage in the US allow us to short the US Dollar.  If banks allow you to short the ZAR, you can always use that for protection.  I looked at the interest rates in the ZAR to see how the central bank is offsetting this currency crisis - WOW - I'd be running, not walking toward the nearest exit.  A USA analogy during the late 70s/early 80s would be Paul Volcker holding interest rates at 2.5%, thinking that would contain 10% inflation. Bitcoin Comes with significant risks itself, but if you use it as a temporary medium of exchange for swaps - like Uphold or with some bitcoin exchanges like BTC-e - you can get other currencies by converting to bitcoin then swapping for other assets.  Bitcoin's strength is remitting and swapping; holding on to it is high risk. Commodities I think these are higher risk right now as part of the ZAR's problem is that it's heavily reliant on commodities.  I looked at your stock market to see how well it's done, and I also see that it's done poorly too and I think the commodity bloodbath has something to do with that.  If you know of any commodity that can stay stable during uncertainty, like food that doesn't expire, you can at least buy without worrying about costs rising in the future.  I always joke that if hyperinflation happened in the United States, everyone would wish they lived in Utah. SECTION | CONTENT :--|:-- Title | NEW Майнинг FLEEX!Бонус 100 ГХС при регистрации!Регистрируйся и собирай сатоши биткоина на автомате! Description | ¦ Ссылка на регистрацию в проектах: | Fleex: https://goo.gl/D3M9eO =========================================== ¦ Бинарные опционы Олимп Трейд https://goo.gl/DKryBH ====== Вступайте в Мою команду! =============== ¦? Моя группа https://vk.com/criptovaluta2016 ====== Как связаться со мной =============== ¦? Я в VK №1: https://vk.com/a.alex81 ¦? Я в Одноклассниках: https://ok.ru/alex6373 ¦? Я в Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Alex6373 ¦? Мой Skype: samara77221 ( добавляйтесь с пометкой от канала ... Length | 0:02:58           ****   ^(I am a bot, this is an auto-generated reply | )^[Info](https://www.reddit.com/u/video_descriptionbot) ^| ^[Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=video_descriptionbot&amp;subject=Feedback) ^| ^(Reply STOP to opt out permanently) Al-Jazeera is a bit more complicated as they are state-funded by Qatar, but Qatar has a more complex internal power structure than Putin's virtual domibance if Russia and a far more complex regional situation having recently become ostracized by its neighbors. Again, plenty of decent articles but the real agenda is not necessarily journalism. Qatar, like Russia, very much wants to be considered a peer of the rest of the developed, primarily Western, world. Unsurprisingly, the next two World Cups (of football/soccer) of 2018 and 2022 are scheduled to be held in Russia and Qatar respectively. So news media is just one tool of this push for influence and soft-power. Oh I don't think its about money, though Saudi's show the middle finger to US sanctions opens the way for many more countries to do business with Russia and the economic benefits thereof. It the world telling America its opinion no longer matters  This is about Russia exposing an American Israeli nexus in the Middle east and spreading terrorism and wars because of Israeli influence. That is far more damaging because when its just America and the Fed and Israel left and no one to buy those funny money US treasuries, because a confused America and an Apartheid Israel can't sell US $ 20 trillion of debt to each other &gt; What exactly does Russia get from us, if anything, that they can't get somewhere else?  Food, capital and human capital.  &gt; And if they get something I guarantee Putin has found a substitute source  E.U. and the US produces some of the worlds best produce in terms of quality and quantity. Russia has no problem feeding their population. If they're cool with eating nothing but wheat and corn.  &gt; IMHO this is not as bad as the media wants you to believe.  Actually it's gonna be pretty fucking bad for the Russian people. They are already suffering from inflation and GDP stagnation from the previous years sanctions. "This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-03/putin-is-now-mr-middle-east-a-job-no-one-ever-succeeds-at) reduced by 92%. (I'm a bot) ***** &gt; &amp;quot;Putin has succeeded in making Russia a factor in the Middle East. That&amp;#039;s why you see a constant stream of Middle Eastern visitors going to Moscow.""  &gt; Russia has succeeded in keeping open channels of communication to all sides, from Iran to Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian radical Islamist group Hamas to Israel, said Ayham Kamel, Middle East and North Africa director at Eurasia Group.  &gt; While economics are a limiting factor for Russia, Putin also enjoys several advantages over American presidents, according to Paul Salem, vice president of the Middle East Institute in Washington.   ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/745wta/while_the_us_investigates_the_israelis_and_turks/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ ""Version 1.65, ~221615 tl;drs so far."") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr ""PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome."") | *Top* *keywords*: **Russia**^#1 **Middle**^#2 **Syria**^#3 **Putin**^#4 **East**^#5" There are many different things that can happen, all or some. Taking Russia and Argentina as precedence - you may not be able to withdraw funds from your bank for some period of time. Not because your accounts will be drained, but because the cash supply will be restricted. Similar thing has also happened recently in Cyprus. However, the fact that the governments of Russia and Argentina limited the use of cash for a period of time doesn't mean that the US government will have to do the same, it my choose some other means of restraint. What's for sure is that nothing good will happen. Nothing will probably happen to your balance in the bank (Although Cyprus has shown that that is not a given either). But I'm not so sure about FDIC maintaining it's insurance if the bank fails (meaning if the bank defaults as a result of the chain effect - you may lose your money). If the government is defaulting, it might not have enough cash to take over the bank deposits. After the default the currency value will probably drop sharply (devaluation) which will lead to inflation. Meaning your same balance will be worth much less than it is now. So there's something to worry about for everyone. Winter is coming... and Ukraine's gas bill is due.  Don't expect the IMF backed plan to win over the currently sympathetic Ukrainians... when they are freezing to death and are being asked to take Greece like austerity measures.  Don't expect EU voters to subsidize Ukraines gas bill.  By march of next year... expect a full blown grand exodus of support for a western plan, especially in Ukraine. Let's stop right there. Are you implying that the Ukrainian military shot down MH17 and made it look as if Russia was involved, as well as enlisting the U.S. intelligence community in their coverup of murdering of a couple hundred citizens of an allied nation and member of NATO? Russia is ruled by a tyrannical psychopath. Putin, being KGB/FSB just does a good job of hiding the author of his terrorist acts, mostly against other Russians. As well, the government has alliances with organized crime so that *favors* are repaid in less obvious ways, like not arresting someone known guilty or pressuring (on pain of death) journalists not to reveal certain facts and alliances.  Putin has allied himself with anyone who will further his agenda. Currently he is allying with US fundamentalist, evangelist Christians and homophobes. He allows police to stand by as gays are terrorized and abducted and tortured through his *patriotic* Putin Youth.  These idiots come from the depths of the human soul after everything decent and humane has been sold off for hard cash. I don't but you sounded like a close minded Jesus loving teenage redneck couch-potato from bible belt who only watches FoxTV. I am aware that RT is an official Russian government channel but that doesn't change the fact that dollar is in trouble. But i don't blame you. US high schools probably not gonna teach you that ;)   Here, you can read from a variety of other 'trusted' sources:   http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703907004576279321350926848  http://business.financialpost.com/2013/10/15/us-dollar-supremacy-decline/  http://www.cnbc.com/id/101650260#. http://www.thenational.ae/business/industry-insights/markets/us-federal-reserve-powerless-to-halt-dollars-decline It really is dependent upon your goals.  What are your short term needs?  Do you need a car/clothing/high cost apartment/equipment when you start your career?  For those kinds of things, a savings account might be best as you will need to have quick access to cash. Many have said that people need two careers, the one they work in and being an investor.  You can start on that second career now.  Open up some small accounts to get the feel for investing.  This can be index funds, or something more specialized.  I would put money earmarked for a home purchase in funds with a lower beta (fluctuation) and some in index funds.  You probably would want to get a feel for what and where you will actually be doing in your career prior to making a leap into a home purchase.  So figure you have about 5 years.  That gives you time to ride out the waves in the market. BTW, good job on your financial situation.  You are set up to succeed.