"Financial planning is life planning!"

Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Steinhart, Mr. Wemheuer, for almost half a century, GLOBAL-FINANZ AG has been assisting its clients with risk management, retirement planning, and wealth management – what approach is at the core of your business activities?

Bernd Steinhart: For us, financial planning is primarily life planning – and we continue to work according to this credo, which one of our founders established 47 years ago. That is why we are completely independent in our approach, in designing our concepts, and especially in our product selection. Our compensation structure is designed to be so uniform that there are fundamentally no financial conflicts of interest. Many financial distributors like to showcase certain products because they come with attractive commissions, and not necessarily because they are the best solutions for their clients' needs. At GLOBAL-FINANZ AG, however, there is fundamentally no pay-to-win.

Wirtschaftsforum: How do your clients need your support in times of online banking and cost-effective ETF savings plans?

Frank Wemheuer: Most financial and insurance products remain complex in detail – and are likely to become even more complex rather than simpler in the future. At the same time, no customer is like another: When it comes to long-term investments, should ETFs, cryptocurrencies, precious metals, or actively managed funds play a role? What opportunities are there for government or corporate promotions – from Riester and Rürup to assets-effective benefits and tax-optimized investment concepts? And what exactly does the customer want to provide for (including with corresponding insurance products), what are his life goals, and what financial resources does he need to reliably achieve them? Many people still prefer to consult a competent financial advisor for all these questions. All sales partners working for our company have the necessary DIN certification, proving that they not only have the required professional competence but also live our ethical, sustainable, and customer-oriented values. 

Wirtschaftsforum: What must a good sales partner bring to the role? 

Bernd Steinhart: Primarily, sales partners are people: We listen and we intuitively understand the intrinsic motivation of our customers – because financial planning and investment remain a matter of trust. Secondly, we see ourselves as service providers, which is why we guarantee the unconditional execution of all orders – the customer can rely on us at all times. And thirdly, sales partners are seasoned advisors based on their expertise: If the customer is unsure, they can contact us by phone, email, or in person and receive from us a comprehensible and profound assessment – like the lifeline in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?". On this basis, a close relationship between sales partner and customer often develops, which we as a company consistently promote: Often, both have known each other for decades, as many of our sales partners have been working for GLOBAL-FINANZ for over 30 years. When a customer's individual or professional circumstances change, he knows exactly who to turn to – and the human-centered approach of our company works both ways: Because customers and brokers are always welcome in the GLOBAL-FINANZ family. 

Wirtschaftsforum: What does the future hold for GLOBAL-FINANZ AG? 

Bernd Steinhart: We discussed this question just this morning with a service provider – since we see numerous opportunities to support our nearly 250,000 customers even more extensively in the future. Perhaps in ten years, each of our sales partners will have ten different avatars that can assist their customers in many aspects through AI on an automated basis – and only when things get really complicated, will the conversation with the actual human behind it occur. Yet, customer experience can also become much more seamless elsewhere: for example, through the automated suggestion of individual insurances – like when the customer's smartwatch detects that he has just crossed the Austrian border or is on a ski lift: Thus, he can then secure himself directly and uncomplicatedly for this specific situation.

Wirtschaftsforum: The younger generation is particularly concerned about their own financial security in the face of demographic change and increasingly empty pension funds – your advice?

Frank Wemheuer: The biggest mistake one can make is to fatalistically accept what is coming. Because the young are right: Since a capital-funded provision was not introduced, they can no longer rely solely on the German Pension Insurance. Fortunately, the awareness of this problem is present. Now it's about channeling it into concrete action – and this is precisely where the expertise and experience of qualified sales partners are needed.