Slightly more than half of all Russians think that real estate is the most reliable form of investment, according to a recent survey conducted by the polling center VTsIOM.
A third of those surveyed, however, also considered opening accounts with state-owned Sberbank to be a useful way of investing money, marking an increase from the last time the question was asked in the fourth quarter of 2013, when only 25 percent of Russians chose this option. The survey asked respondents to list their top three choices for investing money from a list of options prepared by VTsIOM.
About 20 percent identified gold or jewels as the most reliable form of investment. Sixteen percent responded that rubles were a good option for saving, while 11 percent said that they preferred to stockpile foreign cash.
As a whole respondents were uninterested in investment strategies common in the West. Only 4 percent of respondents were interested in pensions and 3 percent interested in mutual funds. About 7 percent of respondents said that opening commercial bank accounts made for a good investment, while a mere 6 percent would opt for purchasing shares in companies.
The poll was conducted from April 12 to 13, surveying 1,600 people across 42 Russian regions. The margin of error was 3.4 percent.
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