If an average Russian citizen wins a million dollars in a lottery, he or she will spend the money as follows. A lucky winner will spend almost 50 percent of the prize in an instant to buy a car, a flat, a tour to an exotic country, etc. About 27 percent of the winnings will be saved on a bank account as a guarantee in case of a possible black future. About ten percent of the won money will be invested in highly profitable but rather risky projects (shares of developing companies, investment trusts, etc). It is not ruled out that a Russian person may wish to spend a little (eleven percent) on charity.
A recent opinion poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center showed that the above spending structure of imaginary money is typical with all age groups of Russian people. The difference is about a greater interest of young people to invest the funds in highly remunerative projects, whereas Russians of older generations would prefer not to spend the money that way. If a person has money for a certain investment, the income is supposed to be not less than 30 percent a year – this opinion is shared by 36 percent of respondents. Forty-two percent of the polled said they would agree for the annual income of 15 percent.
It is worthy of note that there are only two people in Russia who do not yield to temptation of spending a lot of money. St.Petersburg-based mathematician Grigory Perelman refused to receive the prize of one million dollars, which goes with the Fields Medal – the highest award in the world of maths. A resident of Novosibirsk, Yevgeni Borodin, refused to take possession of a much bigger sum of money. A bank mistakenly wired 20 billion rubles to the man’s account. The man, who worked in the regional police for 30 years, did not take a ruble of such a “prize” and returned all the money to the bank.
Vremya.ru
Translated by Dmitry Sudakov
Pravda.ru
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