Among the huge number of phenomena about which we know nothing, the economy stands out particularly: we do not understand well enough what it is, how it works, whether it is worth panicking during a crisis and, most importantly, what to do with money now. Irina Yasina, an economist and human rights activist, daughter of the former Minister of Economy Yevgeny Yasin, helped us find the answers to these questions.

The society still reigns that we live in the world of victorious equality. We have already told why this is not the case and what problems still have to be dealt with, and now we have decided to dwell on one of them - pay inequality between men and women. We understand why it still exists and what needs to be done to get rid of it.

A year after the sharp collapse of the ruble, we, to the extent possible, calmed down and were forced to live more modestly. Most had to come to terms with the inevitable: to postpone large expenses, redistribute the family budget, learn to re-plan their travels or abandon them altogether and avoid spontaneous spending.

Katya Birger We all gradually came to terms with the euro and the dollar, which a couple of months ago we had our eyes on our forehead, and at the same time we got used to the idea that we would have to save money. There are many options for how to cut costs, and we suggest starting with one of the most expensive items - entertainment.

Elina Chebhoba As a rule, we all want to save money, but we don’t really know how and what we spend. The situation is aggravated by the current economic situation, when the money is rapidly becoming less and those products that yesterday were worth acceptable money now have risen in price by 20% (compare prices, for example, for bread).

On November 28 of this year, on the official “Black Friday”, in Moscow, queues formed in the newly opened shopping center of 230 thousand square meters. This area is about the size of about 37 football fields, where there are 80 restaurants, 17 cinema halls and 500 shops - they sell everything. For the dollar that day, they gave 47 rubles 66 kopecks, but the consumer panic did not extend to the exchange rate - at the retailer, where they sold iPhones at old prices, anxious four hundred people staged a crush and turned over the stroller with the child.

Alexandra Savina Money is a difficult thing: we all dream of spending less and saving for the future, without denying ourselves anything, but dreaming, as they say, is not harmful. Financial problems may have different causes; for example, there is the concept of oniomania - it is an obsessive desire to buy, comparable to any other addiction; in this case, it is better to seek help from a psychotherapist.

How to organize a family budget with benefit and comfort? Each couple resolves this issue in its own way, although there are not so many basic models of the family budget. If partners choose the traditional general budget scheme, they put all their income in a “common pot”, from which they finance all the expenses of the family - both joint and personal.

Alexandra Savina We all dream of living, without denying ourselves anything, and not counting the budget, but in practice everything turns out to be more complicated. We already told you how to understand that it’s time for you to start saving and keeping track of expenses, and now we’ve decided to look at the opposite situation. We collected nine signs that will help you to understand that you treat money too painfully and save where you don’t do it.

Text: Anton Mukhataev LOOKING FOR EASY AND NOT VERY WAYS TO IMPROVE LIFE AND EXPLAIN why they work. Today we understand how to distribute our expenses so that the deposit in the bank grows and the money for entertainment remains. 62% of Russian citizens do not have savings and live from paycheck to paycheck, according to VTsIOM.

Alexandra Savina Desire (or, on the contrary, unwillingness) to spend less is a personal matter for everyone: only you determine how to manage the budget, which purchases have meaning for you, and which ones don’t. But still, it is impossible not to take into account that retailers are making great efforts to make us buy more.

Text: Anton Mukhataev Everybody makes unplanned and useless purchases from time to time. There are reasonable grounds for this: more and more research suggests that you should not deny yourself some small pleasures too often. This does not mean that you should buy everything you want - although sometimes it is very difficult to resist.

Text: Anton Mukhataev We often share tips on how to spend money wisely and not to abuse (it's not us, it's life like that). You can save not only on failed purchases, but also on services that you do not use. A good example: you wake up to the sound of a text message about writing off 12 bucks for a three-month subscription to The New Yorker website, where you have not visited since the beginning of the year.

When the student years with irregular part-time jobs are over, and the income has become more or less stable, we begin to think about how to “save and increase” the available money. Perhaps you were given a bonus, you inherited from your grandmother, or received a round sum as a birthday present - such that you cannot buy an apartment, but you would like to invest it sensibly.