In a relaxed mood: Alexander Fichtner, youngest employee shareholder, meets Joe Kaeser, CEO of Siemens shortly before his speech at the Annual General Meeting in Munich.
What does an 18-year-old know about stock market prices, shares, dividends? Alexander Fichtner has occupied himself with these topics for some time now because he is the youngest employee shareholder of Siemens. He received his matching shares for the first time this year. Fichtner works as a cutting machine operator at the Maroldsweisach/Bavaria location of Weiss GmbH, a Siemens subsidiary with about 360 employees.
This factory produces spindle units for machine tools. Fichtner did not exactly focus on financial topics in his vocational training program, but his training manager encouraged him early on to take a look at the Siemens Share Matching Program. He then signed up for the program three years ago. Because he was not yet a legal adult at the time, his parents had to give their consent to the order for shares. To learn more about what it is like to be a Siemens shareholder, he traveled to Munich for the first time ever to attend the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting . We joined up with him in Olympic Hall and spoke with him about his impressions.
Hello Mr. Fichtner! Your first time in Munich, and at such a major event – What did you think?
Wow – The Annual Shareholders’ Meeting was truly a unique experience for me. It was very impressive to attend such an exciting and important event. Of course, the meeting with Mr. Kaeser and Mr. Cromme was especially great! Very exciting to speak with these top executives in person. Both were very friendly to me and also very casual. I thought that was wonderful, I had expected something entirely different.
What did your colleagues at the factory say when you were invited to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting ?
Many of my colleagues were very happy and excited for me. I was the talk of the town for a few days. (grins) And my boss thought it was great that I was invited to Munich. He supported it totally and even gave me a special vacation day. When I came back to work on Thursday, the news spread like wildfire and everybody wanted to hear about my experience. That was a marvelous feeling.
You became a Siemens shareholder at a fairly young age. How did that happen? Young people like you tend to spend their money on different things …
Sure. I thought about it for a long time at first. My training manager Manfred Weingold got the whole thing rolling. He told us vocational apprentices about the employee share ownership program and said we should take a closer look at it. I then obtained detailed information. And I spoke with my aunt, who knows a lot about stocks, and she advised me to make the investment. My parents were also completely supportive. I had confidence in the program because it came from Siemens and I thought it was great the company would chip in 360 euros.
Has your investment in Siemens shares paid off in the last few years?
Yes indeed. I can see that from the balance of my portfolio. I check the share price once or twice a week and I’m very happy of course when it goes up (laughs). After this year’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting , it has been great to watch.