News / Bitcoin Embassy Launches In Poland's Capital Warsaw [37]

There are no cheques in Poland, or at leadt very uncommon. Its an issue of trust. The believe it if they can see it, touch it. Hence it will not take off here. Thete are easier ponzi schemes to peddle.

Work / Expatriating to Poland... good career move for a young male? [50]

Real estate in Poland isnt that expensive compared to rest of Europe. Places like Wroclaw are much cheaper than Warsaw, but you still have the benefit of a 1 million plus footfall if you include all tourism and through traffic. And because people have been afraid about the Putin effect and the new government, yields of 10% are common even for properties in good locations. You might fall to 7-8% if you want the very best, but still its a mighty return with good prospect of capital growth. For about the last 5 or 6 years, Poland has lagged a bit and it will be rerated in the next 5 to 10 years, so now is a good time to buy. Unless you have a passion for it day to day running is possibly too time consuming and you can maximise your "time" capital better elsewhere.

Work / Expatriating to Poland... good career move for a young male? [50]

I tell people its difficult, although not impossible, to make something of ones self working for someone else. If you are working for a small local Polish company, very difficult. If working for a large or foreign owned company which obeys labour and pay laws, then you can achieve the things most dream about. Owning a home, a car, a couple of holidays each year, that sort of thing. Of course working for ones self is the road to the best results but isnt always possible for everyone for a number of reasons.

Real Estate / Buying property in Poland [41]

It may have been the 90's as yes before 89 you couldnt buy. I saw the original akt while at the notariusz and had a quick look at the price. He made a tidy some but not quite as much as he wanted. Technically I still overpaid (one of the few times no kontrola on price from urzad skarbowy after 5 years) as it was farmland at the time but became budowlane with the local plan zagospodorwania miasta a few years later. Now theres a biedronka built opposite it.

Real Estate / Buying property in Poland [41]

Karpacz is quite expensive but the surrounding regions are just a couple/few kilometres away and are a lot cheaper. Still there are huge variations in prices, some people put daft prices on houses/land. Being a foreigner their initial reaction will be to try to fleece you, but if you go cash in hand so to speak they often will kneel when they see the colour of your money. Always knock them down to a very low base as its a buyers market as prices have started to drift lower after a stable last year. A few years back both sides ballparked around 240k for a large piece of land a few km's from Karpacz, I hit them with 110k a few days later and all agreed at 180k after a few tears. But the guy bought for around 20K in the 80's so wasnt hard done by.

Real Estate / Buying property in Poland [41]

Better ask the notary that will be handling the transfer. Every time we use them they are a wealth of information and since you are doing a transaction, the information is free.

Sometimes when people are asked to prove they saved money, you can use a bank statement showing the funds present. It doesnt matter if they were present years ago, as look as there is a record. Or if she for example sold a property in the UK in her name, that may suffice. But as I say, worth asking the notary.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Policing is what is most important with these projects (once you have of course selected projects that have a chance of reaching their aim). Poles werent keen on policing dispensed EU funds as it was EU money and Germans didnt want to push the issue of forcing their officials into Polish territory, so much money badly spent at best, embezzled at worst. One town in dolnyslask got 3 million to do water mains a few years back. 1 million went missing while local council decided to put up water rates claiming the need to pay for the project depsite majority of funds being from EU. Resulted in having highest water rates in dolnyslask.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Announced today that tomorrow or in one week (?) Morawiecki, the finance minister, will announce his plan to regenerate til now underdeveloped regions of Poland.

bankier.pl/wiadomosc/Morawiecki-o-strategii-rozwoju-Ma-sluzyc-mieszkancom-terenow-mniej-zadbanych-3482183.html

UK, Ireland / British guy refused work because of Polish workers [39]

People look to emerging markets for a better a better ROI, a better yield. With that come many risks. If it was very easy to do business in Poland and very transparent, prices would be higher and so yearly returns lower. In the UK for example you have a very good legal system, pro-business goverment, locally and Westminster, a pool of skilled and motivated workers to choose from, but the costs are high and so ROI much smaller than EM. In EM, you have to accept a "less civilised" way of doing business and working sometimes, actively manage it as much as possible, in return for the greater ROI than in the UK. Its much easier to squeeze an extra 1% return in EM than in the UK given the inefficiencies in EM and thats where good management comes in. Of course EM should only ever be part of a company's investment structure, given it is always going to be more risky (ie risk of capital loss) than developed.

Life / Whats up with Polish guys getting drunk and looking for a fight? [60]

The disco-polo types that spend their hours in the silownia tend to be patriots at best, racists at worst. They probably think its being macho and that they are defending Polish girls from other races. Its less common in larger cities but unfortunately quite common in small **** holes

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

When considering smaller nations, what most governments do has almost of no postive consequence to growth. There is very little room for manoeuvre. All economies are now linked and move to the tune of what happens in the USA China and Europe. Local governments can however hinder growth by creating unfavourable conditions for investment. You have to play the game the way the rest of the world plays it or you will ultimately be worse off.

As I said before, the zloty and Polish investments got a break due to improved sentiment towards emerging markets, thanks to a change in US interest rate expectations. But note that against the euro its still above 4.40 despite clear signals for Europe that it will cut interest rates in March and devalue its currency further.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


The zloty has rebounded because interest rate expectations in the US have been cut back. When US rates go up, people move out of emerging market investments, such as Poland. When they go down, people move back in and we have seen interest rate expectations cut back strongly over the past couple of weeks. This is why the zloty has recovered against the dollar and the stockmarket has recovered a bit too.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Jernomo Martins, the owner of Biedronka, is listed in Portugal. The government has large and often controlling stakes in the majority of the WIG20 stocks, certainly the largest ones bar the odd example auch as Pekao. The rest such as PKOBP PGNIG PKNOrlen PZU KGHM PGE are all essentially controlled by the government. Thats wellover 50% of the whole mkt capitalisation of the WIG20. This is why the CEO's have all been fired and talks started to create conglomerates between PGNIG PKNOrlen and Lotos, another government controlled oil company.

News / Poland economy is a financially drained economy of suppliers? [33]

It doesnt matter where it is written or who wrote it as long as its accurate. You cant deny the money and investment hasnt come in. Foreign corps fill holes in the market. Polish enterprise couldnt offer a solution for Polish people at the time so foreign corps did. There is no hard and fast rule that only foreign corps can succeed, The Polish people chose to do business with foreign corps as they were getting a better deal with them than what was on offer at the time. And for what its worth the likes of Google dont pay taxes anywhere, thats the cost of them operating in you region, providing jobs, skils and investment. Its a two way street, coc za cos, but you can be sure if there is a better way of doing something, or one that makes more sense for business or consumer, someone will quickly come along and do it.

News / Poland economy is a financially drained economy of suppliers? [33]

Lies, damned lies and statistics. Its not all one way flow.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/01/eu-poland-10-years-economic

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Dont forget Kaczynski and PIS have had to sit 8 years on the sidelines watching. They have had time to plan their actions, play them out, see the consequences and change them. So as I say, as long as there is a vote. Its a very small possibility but you have to hedge against all negative outcomes.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Polls do matter as they often cause the government to rein in policies, but in this case I dont think polls will have too much effect. They have a plan and are prepared to fall on their sword if necessary. They will have their 4 years, but on the current path its likely to be a last term for a long time. History shows this, so there isnt a great need to do anything as nothing really can be done. As long as the country is able to vote in 4 years, the outcome is clear from a historical perspective.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Utter madness. Again. In almost every poll taken since then Poles are 80% or more for staying in the EU. Not to mention those working abroad and also those in the grey zone working illegally in Germany and other EU nations. Often these people work for 5 or more years then come back and open a business here. Without EU membership and open borders, this would be impossible. Not always, but largely those left behind have chosen to be left behind.

Real Estate / Cost to build in Eastern Poland - Ideally per m2 [71]

1 Good timekeeping
2 Completion to stated standard for stated price
3 Teetotal on the job

Anyone that can start tomorrow will have only one of the above. Anyone that can start in a week will only have two of the above. If you want someone with all three qualities then you have to expect them to be in demand and have workbook 2 or 3 months.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

We never directly employed anyone, using specialists to do the jobs we needed doing, but we did do our own site checks and a number of times it ended up with someone being drunk on the job and there were sometimes problems with building materials going missing. Contracts must always be in place but often the other side is flabbergasted when they are caught out and even more so when threatened with or taken to court. I try to explain to them if they cheat someone today, that person will no longer take them on in the future. But they tend to only worry about today, tomorrow is another day and they will worry about that tomorrow.

These are experiences from smaller towns of up to 100,000 inhabitants. Such problems arent as prevalent in large cities. We are working in slightly different field but there tends to be more professionalism and less short term thinking.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Productivity is improving from very low levels from when manufacturing was state controlled and not commercially viable. In general, the new generation of Poles abroad are out for what they can get, thinking only of today not tomorrow. Workshy and cannot be trusted so need constant monitoring. Its probably not too different to the attitude of other young people but thats how it is.

Law / Where can I check in Poland my company formation status and tax number NIP and REGON? [95]

for a start, you can try the online directory as long as you have some basic information
prod.ceidg.gov.pl/ceidg.cms.engine/

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

The economy is going to do worse over the next couple of years. No fault of the current or past government if one is brutally honest. But moderate governments can add or shave about 1% on GDP. Now isnt the time to chase investors away as there are enough capital outflows to deal with.

UK, Ireland / Britain's moral collapse? [99]


Dont know where you have been looking but there are probably more Polish multicultural relationships in the UK than the whole of Poland.

UK, Ireland / Britain's moral collapse? [99]

The UK is diseased by too much political correctness. The everyone is a winner mentality. You tried your best but failed, but its ok, here is a prize anyway. Most people are afraid to do or say anything that might appear out of line as their jobs depend on it. Social media and kyboard warriors have only made the problem worse. So I dont think the UK is able to stop the tide even though most know we crossed the line.

UK, Ireland / Britain's moral collapse? [99]

If you replace the words Poland Poles etc in Crows comment for Islam it would very much make you sound like an ISIS fanatic.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

The Polish saying "jak ktos cos daje to trzeba brac" makes sense here. While EU money is avaliable it should be taken with open arms. The EU provides many grants for Poland to help the unemployed and young businesses, but this money is often squandered by those people as its not an area oroperly policed by the relevant authorities. Money is also on offer to redevelopment underpriveleged regions and countryside. This has to be used effectively but unforunately a portion of this is funneled off into pockets of people with hands on the money.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Nonsense. No one is more in the hands of bankers than the Americans. They have taken trillions off the state and control every industry as those who hold the debt control the outcome.

The world is as it is, if you have no money you need someone to back you. If your idea is not deemed commercially viable then you are stuck. Idealism is nice but money makes the world go around.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

The downside of the ratings cut is that the government bonds will go down and that means the yield they pay investors on money lent to them goes up. PIS is wanting to spend money left right and centre and has already said the budget will be squeezed. Todays news will see more money go from the budget to pay the higher yields on the bonds. About 40% of government bonds are foreign owned so there is likely to be a big move next week as not everyone will have acted on the rumours.

A weaker zloty makes good news for exporters bad for importers thats clear, but it will mean no more falls in price of petrol as thats price in dollars and when oil rebounds then petrol prices will rise faster if zloty stays where it is or weakens further.

But the good news is the EU donations Poland gets are sent in euros so they will be worth more!

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Doesnt matter what the other 2 agencies as Polish bonds will get clobbered next week. It was sort of known earlier in the week but until confirmed bonds were ok given global stockmarkets were off. Long hungarian short polish is probably a good idea for the year as Hungary has already does it PIS with Orban while Poland is yet to enjoy the "fruits" of the new government ;)