"Well the Ukraine Girls really knock me out and leave the West behind.."
Well we have some empirical evidence which shows that Ukrainian Women are not the typical spend thrifts that women from the FSU are often stereotyped as being. Its always good to have a spouse who appreciates the value of money and this article shows that many Ukrainian Women get it.
I love the fact that my wife is also very good when it comes to spending and is always on the prowl for bargains when it comes to things like fashion. But then again she has the magical ability to make almost any clothes she puts on look like it came from a high end designer label.
I’m sure many of these women can do this as well.
Kyiv, October 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian women are more economical than men, according to a study of the culture of saving, which was conducted by IMAS International with the support of Erste Group. Managing Director of IMAS International Angar Lochner presented the results of the study at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Tuesday. He said that 48% of Ukrainian women and only 37% of men considered saving to be very important. Some 67% of respondents save less than UAH 550 per month, and only 6% can replenish their savings by more than UAH 1,100 per month.Ukrainian citizens can on average save UAH 460 per month, which is UAH 48 less than according to the results of a survey conducted in 2010. Among the concerns that prevent Ukrainians from saving more funds or even starting to save money are the possible devaluation of the hryvnia and high inflation. Ukrainians prefer keeping funds in cash (50% of respondents). At the same time, Ukrainians are beginning to use bank products more often, with 32% saving funds on card accounts, 15% using deposit accounts, and only 8% saving money on current accounts. Lochner noted that about 81% of Ukrainians had a neutral or negative attitude to investment in funds, stocks and bonds. The greatest interest in possible investments is observed among the younger generation, with about 74% of Ukrainians aged 15-29 having either a positive or neutral attitude to investments.
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Interesting study. I dare not imagine what a similar study would uncover regarding the saving/spending habits of North Americans, particularly the younger, single people.
My ex wife’s son who just turned 21 this month doesn’t seem to know anybody in his social circles with an active savings account and most of his friends are in already debt well beyond their means.
Of the people that I associate with casually in my area who have adult children between 18 and 25, fully half of those young people still live at home because they can not afford to get their own place. While that may compromise a fairly small number of people in a rather close proximity, it is a pretty good cross section of socio-economic levels. I don’t put it all on the cost of living as much as I see it as being caused by young people wanting to spend what they earn, as fast as they earn it.
Basically, we just have too much here, and people get it too soon in life to fully understand and appreciate the importance of keeping control of their resources.
“I don’t put it all on the cost of living as much as I see it as being caused by young people wanting to spend what they earn, as fast as they earn it.”
Even faster than they earn it, Richard! And how do you like the Occupy Wall Street “kids,” by the way? You know, the ones who demand an upper middle class lifestyle supported by the degree they just got in “queer studies” or theater, or whatever?
Renee,
I think we are probably on the same page regarding the “Occupy” movement that’s going on. You’ve hit it right on the head with all of these spoiled little rich kids “demanding” fairness in distribution of wealth, and not one of them has ever known any lifestyle level below upper-middle class.
They’re texting their buddies on the latest handheld communication device which cost their parents about $500, with a $6 Starbucks latte in the other hand, wearing $150 sneakers, $200 jeans and a $300 designer sweater while they’re complaining about how “little” of a piece of the pie they enjoy. I wonder how much the people in Asia were paid to make the clothes these clowns are wearing or the handheld they are chattering away on.
I say “occupy” Pennsylvania Avenue or the US Congress if you want to see where the financial crisis is out of control. The same loud mouths that are shouting down Wall Street are voting (if they vote at all) for ultra liberal, tax and spend jackasses that are running North America into the dirt. The “Occupy” movement doesn’t have the where-with-all to see that the real problem is inside the halls of government rather than on the streets of corporate America. These big companies are merely utilizing the “tools” which have been made available to them. While many large corporations are surely gouging the populace with their greed and excessive profiteering, it is only because they have bought and paid for politicians to make laws which allow it to happen, while the average person on the street votes for the guy who looks or sounds best in a televised debate. Bad companies are run by bad people who know that the cost of doing business at a profit, must include bribery and subterfuge. The net result is that even legitimate companies pay the same price, as their need to keep up forces aside their desire to operate with integrity. The few companies which fight to maintain their corporate dignity suffer from a marketplace which is no longer operating on a level playing field.
In my opinion, nearly all of these “wanna-be heroes” of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement are less productive than any previous generation of protesters the world has ever seen. While I might (on some level) admire their passion, I abhor their misguided direction. They offer no concrete solution to any problem, whether real or imagined. They don’t think companies should succeed, so they cry “foul” and suggest only that the profits be doled out to people who are unwilling to work for the food they wish to eat.
There are numerous ways to stop the flow of billions of dollars in excessive profiteering to a tiny handful of companies that operate on the razor’s edge of being illegal monopolies. However, none of those solutions come from waving fists at the corporate leaders from the sidewalks outside their headquarters.
Democratic governments were never intended to be run by career politicians. It defies the very senses of freedom in both logic and design. We are at a point where NO ONE should ever be re-elected, for any reason. Term limits will never exist (and consequently reforms will never be instituted) until we, the people, force the change, one vote at a time.
(my, my, how easily I climb the soap box before me)
Yes, the young people today want it all. And they want it all now, or even yesterday, to be more accurate. The entitlement mentality flourishes in any place where individual freedoms outweigh individual responsibilities.
Thus IS the North American continent of today.
Ironically, the so called tax breaks for the rich that they’re protesting are the same tax breaks they coudl take advantage of if they even took a few minutes to do a bit of planning, and set themselves up in a certain way to do that kind of ‘detaxing’. Now, if the tax agencies were refusing to give them these tax breaks while giving them to the rich, they should be rioting outside the tax agencies’ offices, not city halls…
“(my, my, how easily I climb the soap box before me)”
LOL
I had an educated derelict tell me once to never let anyone hold it against me that I never graduated from college. I told him that’s great advice, now get back to work. What I’m gathering from this occupy movement is they are protesting reality. They’ve been taught to choose a job they love, and they will never have to work a day in their lives. All I hear in the news is there are no jobs but what they are really saying is there are no jobs to their liking. Here’s a thought, they might actually have to work for a living and for this there is no shortage, work that is, skill and work ethic that’s another story.
The problem with the system we’ve devolved into is it disenfranchises masters and servants in order to stabilize a middle class for the “betterment of our country”. Better for who? I view it as more of an equal distribution of misery. What these occupiers need to understand is there is nothing wrong with being a servant. As I mentioned before, there is no shortage of work to be done. We need more maids, butlers, gardeners and all the work necessary they claim is beneath them. However, if all they are working for is food, clothing and shelter in these makeshift villages, why not just work for food, clothing and shelter. By all means they are welcome to camp in my yard as long as they can cook, clean, wash, sweep, dust, mow, garden, etc. Just look for the SERVANTS WANTED sign posted.
Here’s an interesting article on MSN this morning.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45246594/ns/business-us_business/t/why-americans-wont-do-dirty-jobs/
Mick,
That is a very good article and highlights a few key points which many Americans are distressed over.
The reality is this; if an employer wants workers in a “fair market” economy, he must meet a “fair market” wage. In NA we no longer offer a reasonable wage for much of the work that needs to be done, because (as the article says) “most Americans feel that the work is beneath them”.
Companies here are unable to compete with overseas companies and they try to lower wages (which protects their profits) to meet their competition. That is the wrong way to succeed.
However, while available workers try to determine the level of dignity a given job offers, they collect unemployment benefits, food stamps, housing credits and other social welfare perks that working families often can’t afford. These healthy but “picky” little prima donnas seem to have no qualms about their dignity suffering while living off of the taxes paid by real workers, yet an honest effort for pay scenario is not “good enough” for them.
I am not in the job market. At this point in my life I have left myself in a reasonably good position financially. However, as someone who has been self employed for nearly my entire adult life, or else has worked numerous “menial” jobs to make ends meet, I find myself in middle age with absolutely no benefit plan to protect me in the coming years.
I would consider working for someone right now for no other reason or wage than to acquire a full benefit plan. Seriously, there is a real problem with the cost of benefits verses the wages available to certain segments of our society.
I stand behind any effort to reduce or eliminate illegal immigrants from NA. If those people believe so much in what our country stands for, then they should cross our borders legally and apply for their papers legally and go to work legally. They might still be starting out in exactly the same jobs, but the fear of deportation is removed and they can be a part of the system that they claim to support so vehemently.
What’s worse in my mind is that the US immigration policy is clear and enforceable, but the federal government leaves that enforcement almost entirely to each state to handle for themselves. Yet when any of those states choose a hard line on upholding the existing federal laws, they are chastised and condemned by the federal government for “over stepping” their authority. That is a far worse problem than the immigrants themselves.
British people are just as bad, the amount of times I’ve heard comments like I wouldn’t do that job or I trained to be a ****** & that’s the job I want to do, or I wouldn’t get out of bed for that etc, well I trained as a mechanic in the early 80′s, since then I have worked in a drawing office equipment firm, a cheapskate furniture manufacturers, a shoe factory, a bathroom company, I have laboured on building sites, dug holes & trenches, done gardening jobs, now I’m a truck driver, when I was made redundant 3 years ago, I signed on an agency, I was refuse collecting for a smaller wage packet than I had when I was 16 years old, my wages now are the equivalent to what I was earning in the early 90′s, but as much as I dislike my job, I do it as when the jobs market picks up, hopefully it will be easier to find a job.
The UK has a large foreign population, most of them work, they do the jobs that the British people won’t do, they will work long hours, British people won’t, yet the times I hear the British people moaning that the foreigners are taking our jobs……it’s not just Americans who don’t want to get their hands dirty, I’d rather work than sit on my backside all day even though I have less than most of those who don’t work, I’d rather keep myself occupied.
With the workers I’ve hired, I feel they should be paying me. Even minimum wage is too much. None of them bring any marketable skills to the table and more significantly they’re not willing to learn. They just show up to put in their time so they have enough cash for cigarettes and beer for weekend. Two weeks is about all they last before becoming too familiar and start figuring out when and where they can slide. What America needs is a good old fashioned Depression and cut all the safety nets so labor is hungry again.
I tend to agree with you Mick. Not only do many “workers” refuse to put in any real work time, they are defiant about not following directions and learning the job. Mostly, I’m sure, because as you’ve said they don’t plan on staying any longer than it takes to refill their pocket with some spending money.
I agree, Mick. College has been vastly over sold, for one thing, with a bunch of unrealistic expecations about stepping right into a white-collar job with an upper-middle class level salary and benefits, AND plenty of time off to “do what you love.” Along with this, adolescence has been way extended, with people in their mid 20s still being seen as “kids.”
I live in an older part of town that has seen better days. The neighborhood is a National Historical District and there is a continuous need for rehabilitation of these formerly magnificent homes, it’s a viscous cycle. Young couples with disposable income, many of them homosexual, will purchase these impressive homes that were subdivided after WWII to make room for the GIs returning from overseas and convert them back to single “family” dwellings. It’s beyond me why queers would need such large spaces that once inhabited families of up and around 10 children but I digress. They quickly discover why these homes are described as money pits and after they run out of steam, they move away. The homes are abandoned and will set vacant for years, leaving all progress to deteriorate until the next change of hands and the rotation continues. Twice a year the Neighborhood Association will sponsor walking tours to promote interest and after going on several of these I’ve noticed one thing in common. All of them had servants quarters and for this alone these homes were able to function. This is also the resistance when some of us want to “go back” 100 years to a simpler time of structure because no one wants to be the servant, the hired man. They would rather rule in hell with an equal distribution of misery than serve in heaven.
Here is a link to a glimpse of hell on earth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QZlp3eGMNI
God forbid if this is the future of America. This quasi-equal, lukewarm and clearly demonic bulls**t they call democracy never works. Without being demeaning, most people are only fit to follow orders.
Ukranian women have always been in charge of family’s finances.
FSU women are generally very thrifry with their own money. And not so much with someone’s else.
My wife from Moscow is excellent with money. Very careful, always getting bargains, refuses to pay retail unless it is an absolute necessity. I earn good money, but her care with money means we have savings and assets and will do OK even through a 5 year economic depression. She always has nice clothes, not all expensive designer by any means but people always compliment her.
Great feeling isn’t it Greg..
Yes, I certainly feel fortunate. I look at who my peers have married and I always wonder how I managed to get such a great catch. I am a damned lucky fella.
As if I needed another reason to get myself a Ukrainian wife.
I just found out there is a Russian/ Ukrainian version of the Bachelor, Holostyak. If nothing else, watch for the fashion which is to die for…;p
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvKSQEN2cEA&feature=related
Happy Thanksgiving, fellow American readers!
Anna M.
Oh, my! I thought it was bad enough hearing young Ukrainian and Russian kids chatting about Justin Bieber, 50 cent and their version of “Dancing with the Stars”! Now, I see that we’ve inflicted more pain on a foreign culture. I don’t know which is worse, watching girls with broken hearts cry or seeing Hollywood creep forward!
Hah, just kidding, of course. Anna, the fashion is lovely. Happy Thanksgiving to you.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/world/europe/virgin-mary-belt-relic-draws-crowds-in-moscow.html?hp
This article about a relic that purportedly belonged to the Virgin Mary touches on several things that we Americans hear over and over again about Russia; they include: many people just miles from Moscow are living without indoor plumbing, that males are drunks, that the health system is broken and that decent care demands under-the-table payments, that those considered religious are highly superstitious and that people are looking for substance. Times are hard worldwide, so the same could be said for many of our countries. Health care costs are literally bankrupting the United States, for example. I want to emphasize that I am not attempting to denigrate Russia by any means, and that I am well aware of America’s problems, but I am interested in reading what other people have to say about the article and the problems mentioned.
Couldn’t help to notice the Mila Kunis look-alike in the montage image above.
Funny how I have seen photos of Russian women who look as good as Pam Anderson,
Angelina Jolie and Jessica Alba.
I’m guessing if you place these same celebrities in Russia, they would have a much harder time getting modeling and acting jobs from the long line of beauties in competition.
Or if FSU girls had as easy access geographically to Hollywood, then Angelina and Pam and Mila would probably never have made it in show business.
@sean:
That is Mila Kunis. She’s Ukrainian.
Wow i was totally ignorant to that fact about Mila. But having just read about her on wiki, she came here when she was nine. So she’s really more american than ukrainian. Ukrainain born but american bred.
An interesting fact about another ukrainian celebrityh(both born and bred in ukraine)Dasha Astafieva, the Ukrainian playboy plamate. Apparently she is the
recent spokeswoman for Anastasia Date. A girl running around posing for nude mags is a pretty poor choice as a spokeswoman for marriage-minded women.
I don’t think i know anyone with any real savings here. Some of my friends manage to save upto $1000 from time to time but thats about it. One has $1000 in savings. Everyone else has non. I’ve got a decent amount myself. I’ve been saving my money to get through college with no debt. Almost done with community college and then i’m off to a state school. Really helps to keep the cost down and I’ve gotten a excellent education. I’ve also worked in my field of my choice already for 4+ years. The world owes me nothing and i was never given a thing by my parents.
I have heard that Ukrainian ladies are more wise when it comes to cash, the few Ukrainian ladies I have met, they looked very smartly dressed, the clothes they had on, none of them were what Western people would buy, purely because they didn’t have a well known label on them, one Ukrainian I met, she only ever bought the materials, she always made her own clothes, mainly because she was around 4’7″ tall, she always looked immaculate, her friend was married to a security guard that I worked with, he liked a bit more than the average tipple, security guards not being well paid, it must have cut into the family budget, but the kids never wanted for anything & were always smartly dressed, she wasn’t a shop snob who only shopped in the main supermarkets.
Over here in the UK, British people have a thing about not shopping in a market, it has to be an undercover supermarket or they won’t go there, Ukrainian women love open air markets. The British on that score are snobs, I have even seen British people shop in a cheap German supermarket & put their shopping into carrier bags labelled from one of the larger non budget supermarkets.