Money means personal freedom to develop. Cut the bullshit.

Leonard, 26, born in Munich, shareholder in a family company. Worked for one year in a financial management organisation in order to acquire a basic knowledge of financial management. Today in a leading position in commerce and on the advisory committee of the family company. He and his siblings each received their first million and some real estate at the age of 18. After that there were other gifts of large amounts. XPloring done in Frankfurt by Susanne Koehler.


“Money means fun, no everyday worries and personal freedom to develop myself. I don’t need to worry about Steps 1-3 of the Maslow Pyramid. I can always eat well, spontaneously rent a boat in Cannes, and will not be fired at the end of the month.”

“I pick my investments and funds myself, because I know my way around and still have contacts in the sector. I execute the orders myself. Banks often have a certain operating pressure. Worrying more about their figures than my profit.”

„I know the names of my contact partners and now and then I receive an investment proposal, one as clumsy as the other: Dear Mr xx, today I have something very special for you... – that makes me think, you still don’t get it. The products are then called Deutsche Bank Vermögenszuwachsfond 1-3, or some such nonsense. Actually they always have the same name.“

„Usually one feels tossed aside, simply due to the quantity of customers a manager must handle. One feels better with a small financial manager. Then it is only 50 customers per adviser. However thus far I have not yet met a really great adviser. None of them really steeped in wisdom. A friend of mine is a financial manager. I would trust him, because he says honestly when something now and then goes wrong.“

Go for a new bank? I will organise a beauty contest. I will send a questionnaire to various houses and when the answers come in I will first select how individually they answer my questions. Standard words drop out immediately. Then at least 10 of 15 would leave, and from those left over I would have a meeting with three that sound personable. Then the personal level counts. At that point performance or ranking no longer matters, but whether I like them or not.“ (This is what I did for my mother, who was looking for a new financial manager/bank).

„On television it gets on my nerves if I see that another bank ad is offering higher interest on a giro account. But the end does not justify the bother of a change. I think the HSBC advertisement at the airport is very good. The symbols for happiness for different cultures, for example, were interesting. Makes a very international impression on me. But I would never go there. They are too large. They would never do what I want. They have a macro-economist, and all portfolios are adjusted according to his opinion.“

„The entire bank sponsoring thing means nothing to me whatsoever. Then I always think „cut your fees, instead. For me sponsorings are always sales presentations.“

Thought: Big can be ugly, adapt to individual needs, avoid standardized blabla.