Two Generations at Frankfurt School

A few days ago, I accompanied my daughter, Laura Fabienne, to an event at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. As we walked across campus, I couldn’t help but think back to my own college days.

When I graduated from what was then Hochschule für Bankwirtschaft in 1998, I never would have expected that this institution would play such a personal role in my life again decades later.

Back then, I was a student. Later, I worked as a lecturer at the Bankakademie alongside my wife, Nicole. Today, as an employer, I’m supporting my daughter’s studies at Frankfurt School. There probably aren’t many graduates who get to experience a university for so many years and in so many diverse roles.

What a College Education Can Lead To

As a student, you rarely think about the impact your education will still have 20 or 30 years down the road.

For me, my studies were initially a gateway into an industry that has remained a part of my life to this day. Those early years of my career eventually led to more than 35 years of experience in leadership roles across the investment and wealth management sectors.

During this time, I’ve experienced many market phases: boom years, crises, technological changes and new forms of investment. The markets have changed, but the fundamental principles of successful investing have remained largely the same.

Looking back, it was above all the combination of analytical thinking and practical application that has stayed with me from my time as a student.

Learning and Teaching

After I graduated, another connection to Frankfurt School emerged.

Together with my wife, Nicole, I had the opportunity to teach Investment and Human Resources at Bankakademie.

Anyone who teaches quickly realises that teaching is not a one-way street. Many discussions with participants led me to question my own convictions and reconsider various topics.

Especially in the field of investment, there are rarely simple answers. That makes the ability to explain complex relationships clearly all the more important.

From Graduate to Author

Many years later, the idea for my book, How Professionals Invest, took shape, which I published in collaboration with Haufe Verlag.

While writing, I realised how many of the foundations had already been laid during my studies. Of course, knowledge is gained primarily through practical experience. Nevertheless, experience needs a foundation.

The book is ultimately the result of theory, practice, and many years of experience in and with the capital markets. What makes the book special is that I make the insights institutional and professional investors have been using for decades accessible to individual investors as well. It doesn’t merely replicate theoretical knowledge; rather, I write in a practical way about asset classes, advisory approaches, numerous studies and anecdotes I’ve encountered over the past 35 years.

Today, I am regularly approached by business and trade media on topics related to wealth building and investing. Interviews and expert articles have appeared in publications such as Bild, Focus, Erfolg and various financial-sector trade publications. At its core, this work aims to make complex topics easy to understand.

A New Perspective

Today, however, I find the most joy in a different role.

Through the Bachelor’s in Business Administration programme my daughter is currently pursuing, I’m experiencing Frankfurt School once again from a perspective I didn’t know existed before.

Walking onto campus with my daughter feels very special for both of us.

I see the issues that concern today’s generation, the demands placed on young people, and how the university has evolved.

At the same time, I recognise many familiar elements: the commitment to understanding economic interrelationships; the integration of theory and practice; and the conviction that sound decisions should be based on solid knowledge.

More Than Just a Time of Study

Looking back over the past decades, Frankfurt School has been a recurring part of my professional and personal history. It was the starting point of my own career, later the place where I taught, and today it’s part of my daughter’s educational journey.

What began as a degree programme has become a connection spanning two generations. And that’s exactly why, for me, Frankfurt School is far more than just a university where I graduated many years ago.