Posts by MrComric

MrComric

12 Jan 2018

Work / The big step: moving to Warsaw and taking everything with me to Poland [4]

Sorry for the double post, but all of a sudden I can't edit my message anymore. Anyway, I wanted also to get the following question answered. It is not that much of an important question however, but knowing the answer to it can spare me a lot of trouble in the future.

I collect national honors, i.e.: medals, grand crosses, orders and sashes; as a hobby. I've heard already that some countries have laws on this, prohibiting trade in these objects. So I wondered if for instance having (bought/exchanged) and thus not wearing the Order Orła Białego, would be illegal in Poland or not.

MrComric

12 Jan 2018

Work / The big step: moving to Warsaw and taking everything with me to Poland [4]

Dear all,

Last year, I posted on this forum with question related to studies at Kozminski University, SGH etc... It was there, that a certain DominicB advised me against any of these studies so, among other, this encouraged me to look out for internships. After a lengthy discussion, I got accepted for an internship at UBS in Lugano, Switzerland. Yet, given the high cost of living, I thanked for it in the end. So to finally deal with the dilemma between working and studying, I attended SGH summer school last summer and was most displeased by its low level of professionalism and education compared to the university I attended during my year of graduation.

Since that time, I started a small bicycle company, getting myself around with a few thousand euros a month and worked on getting my CFA Level I as I graduated last year as a Financial Economist. With internships and short term projects done for Deloitte and the European Investment Bank, it appeared to me that the taxes in my country are over the top. Not only was I paying too much in terms of income tax, but the state also demanded more than 25% of my corporate revenue. I was searching for a way out but I didn't want to leave my home empty-handed: without a job, without a house, without a companion.

But luckily I did have my Polish girlfriend, now fiancée, who suggested I should move to Warsaw. Given the lower corporate tax rate of 19% instead of 34% in Belgium, this enticed me immediately. But I hesitated. Luxembourg was far more interesting to me as I can speak fluently in French, Dutch and English and I wanted to boost my German from intermediate to fluent as well. But she, an Italian translator and Polish (PR specialized) philologist by training, didn't speak any French nor German.

Yet, then, the Brexit came. A few months ago, I got an inbox mail from a Polish recruiter I befriended, saying that one of the big London banks was coming to Warsaw hiring Dutch & French speakers. I mailed them almost immediately, and making a long story short, after some trips to Poland and back, I got the job. The job, of course, did not pay as well as it would do in Brussels or Luxembourg, but relative to Polish cost of living, I make more as a starter than more mother-in-law. Hence, I got enough money from my smal company, to thrive on savings for a few years. So there I was, all of a sudden I had a great job, a companion but still not a place to stay. My future in-laws wanted to give me an attic room, but given their strict home policy on separate sleeping and before marriage sexuality, I passed for that. Fortunately, I volunteered during my studies as a buddy for international students and I mailed around for the few Poles I guided around back in the day. After a lot of texting around, I found a temporary place to stay.

So here I am, a multilingual young entrepreneur, 23 years of age, working for a great international banking company. Ready to conquer the world. But actually I don't have anything. I don't know what I should do next. So I made a list of questions:

* I have no employees, nor stock for my small company, but it's was erected as a Belgian limited. Can I take my company to Poland and continue my activities here (and hence paying Polish taxes) and/or should I first have to liquidate it and convert it into a SpA zoo?

* Given the fact my fiancée and I, will wait for a few more years before getting married, children are for now out of the question. So the central question is renting/buying an apartment/house in Warsaw. I have heard that the rent/buy ratio is high (meaning that the amount of rent you pay of an annual basis covers more than 5% of the buying price). So would it be more interesting to buy an apartment now and sell it in a few years - when we are going for children - or not?

- What are the laws concerned to short term reselling? Meaning: if I buy a house/flat now and I resell it within two to three years, do I have to pay additional taxes? (I am Belgian, we have taxes on anything)

- Is it normal that Polish flats get rented fully furnished? I've gone through olx.pl already and a lot of flats are displayed fully furnished. Just wondering.

* I'll have to get my car from Belgium to Poland. It's a Mercedes Sprinter (registered as company car). Should I import it through legal ways or don't I have to worry about this because 'European Union'?

* Are there any benefits tied to Polish citizenship? Belgium doesn't allow the denial of Belgian citizenship once received, so I would be Belgo-Polish if I got Polish citizenship.

* I have heard Poles are quite hard working even when it comes to weekend studies. So I wonder if there are any language courses available, especially in Polish and German. The work language won't be Polish as it will be English and, depending on the day of the week or the customer, Dutch and French. So, getting around with some basic Polish would be nice. I've seen that Polonicum does these kind of things for Polish, but I haven't quite seen something for German yet. So if you know something about that, it would be great.

Sorry for the long message,

Best regards,

MrComric

MrComric

28 Mar 2017

Love / Why the Polish girls are not laughing? [22]

You won't hear a positive word from me about the Dutch behavior. In Belgian eyes, they are extremely rude. But that's another discussion ;-)

MrComric

28 Mar 2017

Love / Why the Polish girls are not laughing? [22]

I'm not so familiar with the problem. But I'm more familiar with the exchange of smiles and a simple 'hello' between foreigners. In the West, this is very normal to do. Giving each other a smile while passing by, is the most normal thing there exists. Yet, as my fiancée told me, this raises suspicion in Eastern Europe or is considered at least a bit weird.

I won't spend too much time on it, worrying if it's because you are boring or dull. I think it is just a cultural feature.

MrComric

16 Mar 2017

Work / WORKING. STUDYING AND DOING BUSINESS IN POLAND AS INTERNATIONAL STUDENT [15]

The best thing you can do, is offering language classes for money. If you are an English native and certainly a French native, that would be valuable both for older people and younger people who are struggling with these languages. I've spoken with a few people who had modest success in it: organizing skype sessions in return for money. But first of all: the money you'll get from it, won't be as much as in the West and secondly this type of money transactions is fully based on trust since you won't have the knowledge of making a proper contract.

Concerning your part-time job, the best thing you can do - as delphiandomine already said - is having really special skills: being a polyglot speaking 7 or more languages (including at least a bit of Polish), having superb programming skills in multiple programs and coding languages,... etc.

MrComric

12 Mar 2017

Work / Finance Work in Poland - is it hard for a non-Polish speaking person? [35]

Thank you for the response,

Further, thank you for all the information and the valuable advice from your personal experiences. I decided now to take up an extra internship at a private bank (UBS) in Luxembourg - EIB is a public bank - to gain more experience.

I have already read about Kozminski that it has a triple accreditation for its Master in Finance & Accounting (EQUIS, AMBA, and AACSB). But using the Linkedin search options, I found that the majority of the Polish HF-bankers are SGH-graduates. So I'm a bit troubled given this contradictory information,

MrComric

MrComric

9 Mar 2017

Work / Finance Work in Poland - is it hard for a non-Polish speaking person? [35]

Ok, thank you for the information,

So we'll probably just finish our degrees and benefit from the low costs in Poland for two years more. We'll see what the future brings, but thank you for the information. But by the time I graduate, I'll hopefully speak sufficient Polish to work at a good international company.

For now, I've a job interview via Skype for BNP over a few days, so let's hope for the best.

MrComric.

MrComric

9 Mar 2017

Work / Finance Work in Poland - is it hard for a non-Polish speaking person? [35]

No problem:

- Finance + Italian
glassdoor.co.uk/Job/warsaw-italian-finance-jobs-SRCH_IL.0,6_IC3094484_KO7,14_KE15,22.htm

- Finance + French
glassdoor.co.uk/Job/warsaw-finance-french-jobs-SRCH_IL.0,6_IC3094484_KO7,21.htm

- Finance + German
glassdoor.co.uk/Job/warsaw-finance-german-jobs-SRCH_IL.0,6_IC3094484_KO7,21.htm

And as you see, there are plenty of good firms looking for people with financial skills and knowledge of foreign languages,

Ps.: She's from Warsaw

MrComric

MrComric

9 Mar 2017

Work / Finance Work in Poland - is it hard for a non-Polish speaking person? [35]

Thank you for the information but it's quite contradictory to the information I find online and the experiences my family and my Polish friends shared with me.

Further, the Kozminski university was ranked by the Financial Times as the #18 Msc in Finance in Europe with really good salary prospectives.
rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/masters-in-finance-pre-experience-2016]

Secondly, a single look on glassdoor, contradicts your idea that only data input jobs are offered to international multilingual individuals.

Last but not least: every job has its duties and you are the most religious Catholic country I have ever seen in Europe. I've been in Poland many times and I've gone to masses a lot of times. I am not even going to argue about the Polish religiosity as it's just trivial knowledge.

Ps.: As a libertarian, I don't really care about the wages of teachers.

MrComric

9 Mar 2017

Work / Finance Work in Poland - is it hard for a non-Polish speaking person? [35]

Normally such requirements don't change over time as in five years of study I never experienced my alma mater change its policy and certainly not for such an international, well-known test as the GMAT. But I got the information already and as long I am not applying for the MBA, I won't need it.

Thank you for the help but I already got the answer and for some reason I can't remove my question anymore on this forum,

MrComric

MrComric

9 Mar 2017

Work / Finance Work in Poland - is it hard for a non-Polish speaking person? [35]

No, I didn't try to answer in a defensive way to you specifically. I was trying to explain to everybody why I posted that simple question.

To answer my question first: no, for a Msc I don't need a GMAT (for which I was/am studying anyway, so it doesn't really matter in the end)

My fiancée (I call her sometimes just my wife, sorry for the confusion), is currently not available and I just wanted to know it right now for free. If you give somebody the choice between obtaining information for free or obtaining it for a few euros, I think 90+ % will go for the 'gratis' option.

But thank you for the help anyway,
___
Oh DominicB,

Referring to an investment in an apartment in Srodmiescie and a phone call? That's comparing apples with pears. There's nothing wrong with looking out with spending money if there exist also free ways to obtain information. Clearly, you have never read 'Thinking Fast and Slow' by Nobel Price for Economics winners Kahneman & Tversky, to understand the importance of using good reference points to evaluate an investment decision.

MrComric

MrComric

9 Mar 2017

Work / Finance Work in Poland - is it hard for a non-Polish speaking person? [35]

I already have done that by now, but I figured that people with so much experience in the Polish financial sector - as these people exist on this forum - would know such a thing on the spot. So I wouldn't have had to invest into a multinational phone call to the Kozminski administration in my broken Polish. Does that clarify my motive for posting that question in the first place on this forum? :)

MrComric

9 Mar 2017

Work / Finance Work in Poland - is it hard for a non-Polish speaking person? [35]

DominicB, grow up please and leave the adult work to the intellectual layer of society. Trying to humiliate me, make you look even more childish. It's very under the belt. The only thing I can notice from your way of reacting is that you are either very jealous or either very irritated with something today that you try to abreact that on me. Both are rather childish.

But to make things clear for you, I'll give some extra information about myself and my situation.

My Polish fiancée only wants to finish her master degree, her second one, in Warsaw. Further what is a research intensive master? Has is something to do with qualitative research? Maybe but not in my case: my research-intensive masters was full of time series analysis. If this doesn't ring a bell, then I'll explain it to you. Ignorance is a source of jealousy so it seems. Time series analysis is a branch of econometrics. An economist, as I was trained as one in my bachelor degree, needs a lot of this to perform economic, quantitative research. But I don't want to spend my life making complicated, financial forecasts debating if I can use or not the 2SLS method because my variable is either relevant or exogenous. That's what a degree in Financial Economics is about. If you had an education in this, you would have known of course.

Further Kozminski is #18 master in Finance & Accounting in Europe with a lower tuition fee (8.500 zl), higher positioned than Vlerick in Belgium (61.000 zl) & Erasmus in the Netherlands (40.000+ zl), so more interesting for me. Further Poland is full of companies in need of people with language skills and with a background in economics and finance, so speaking of $s I'm not so concerned either.

Why do I want to go to Poland?
1) Because the university is higher ranked, the best quality institute of Poland in Finance, it has lower tuition fees and you start as a senior financial analyst instead of a junior. Yes, I did my research on that already, thank you.

2) Poland has a much lower priced real estate market. So buying an apartment in the center of Warsaw, i.e. Srodmiescie, would cost me up to 500.000 zl. Do you have any clue what it would have cost me in the center of Brussels? So with my current savings, I can buy relatively speaking more than I can in the West. Further the prices for a bread, water, beer and more important: transportation are also far lower.

3) I am a language learning amateur (French for somebody who likes to do something, in case you would like to know) That means that I speak and learn several languages for fun. A lot of Polish financial companies and Poland-based banks are looking for people with these language skills. Further it will also enhance my knowledge of the Polish language, something a lot of Poles seem to think of as really important for foreigners to do.

4) To give a twist to the entire story, I am also a devout catholic man with a rather family focus than career focus. Concerning my family and future children to be raised in a devout Catholic country with good and free education and multilingual parents (my wife Polish-English-Italian-Dutch, me Dutch-English-French-German-Italian-Polish), was Poland one of the best choices to be made.

So no, I'm not a typical graduate wanting to reach the top of the business and make it into London-based Hedge Funds. Better take a look at your assumptions before you try to humiliate me, dear DominicB.

Take me for a foreigner, and that's completely true, but in my culture it's quite appropriate to ask for help or advice. So go bully someone of your own size, which is smaller than mine ;)

MrComric

9 Mar 2017

Love / I want to find a Polish girl and get married to her. Your advice can change my life. [34]

Well as a foreigner myself with a Polish fiancée, the best thing I can advice you is to think first:

* What kind of girls do I want to attract:
- Intelligent to talk about Einstein's relativity theories or just smart enough to follow your ideas concerning a TV program?
- Fit and slim so she'll ask you to climb Rysy with her in Zakopane or just not fat as Western European women (not all of them are fat, but just a lot)

- ...

Once you know the answer on these questions, you can start to search for the right place to find such girls. I had the opportunity to meet my girl through an exchange program for Italian learners. But never forget: don't start pushy and keep it natural,

Good luck,

MrComric

MrComric

9 Mar 2017

Genealogy / POLISH NOBILITY NAMES IN -SKIi [82]

Just to mention it, but I'm a resident from the Kingdom of Belgium and we have some recognized Polish noble families too, to give an example:

* the mother of our Queen was Anna Maria Komorowska, Countess d'Udekem d'Acoz.
We also have a real noble family that was recognized into our own nobility:
Swiatopelk-Czetwertynski, this is a family that came to Belgium with their noble letters and applied for admission into the Belgian nobility. In 2007 they were accepted with the title of Prince and Princess.

Ps.: As my fiancée is a linguist, she told me that the suffix -ski mostly refers to people from the nobility, as Poland was one of the countries with the highest number of noblemen per capita. Exceptions are for people who have a patronyme: Markowski, Janowski, ... But note that some of these surnames are used by noble families! An example is the family 'Jakubowski', which is a family with the title of baron.

MrComric

9 Mar 2017

Work / Finance Work in Poland - is it hard for a non-Polish speaking person? [35]

The best place to ask such a question is on a Polish forum, isn't it ? My Polish fiancée didn't know it so she told me to ask it here. Further I know that B-schools like the Erasmus in Rotterdam dare to ask for a GMAT for master of science programs. But I couldn't find any information about it on the website of Kozminski itself.