Finansoviye Izvestiya analysts and experts from the law-enforcement agencies made a list of places Russians tend to use for hiding their money; ironically, it is in these places that burglars find this money most often. People usually keep their savings in wardrobes, dressers, drawers, writing desks, or on the bookshelves .

One can, however, protect one’s money quite painlessly by simply making a bank deposit, SKB-Bank’s Deposit Director Denis Belogurov believes.

‘A bank deposit is a guarantee of safety. Any sum ranging between 1 RUR and 400,000 RUR that is placed with a bank is protected and insured by the state. A bank account keeps your money away from both burglars and growing prices, as the interest rates offered outstrip the inflation rates greatly. Besides, storing the foreign currency you’ve got somewhere at home is particularly unreasonable, since the banknotes get soiled and battered and a bank will charge a fee for this later on. This is why foreign currency simply must be placed with a bank,’ Mr. Belogurov says.

'It’s good to know that Russian people’s financial literacy is getting better and better: over 4 trillion RUR worth of deposits have been made by individuals by April 1, 2007, whereas the figure only came to 2.9 trillion a year earlier,’ SKB-Bank’s press release states.