Carsten Maschmeyer

Born in Bremen, Germany, Maschmeyer grew up in Hildesheim (Lower Saxony) and lived under poor conditions. He never saw his father and lived in an orphanage. He has one half-brother, whom he first met at the age of 40. As a teenager, he was a successful athlete (middle-distance-runner).[2] In 1978, he completed his Abitur (higher-education entrance qualification) and joined the German Armed Forces for two years. In order to be able to finance his subsequent education in medicine in Hannover, he worked concurrent with his studies in the sales department of a financial advisory firm (OVB Vermögensberatung) before committing to financial consultancy on a full-time basis in 1982. He became Country Director of Lower Saxony at a very young age,[3] responsible for approximately 3,000 salespeople. He worked at OVB until 1987. Carsten Maschmeyer is a reserve officer of the Joint Medical Service of the Bundeswehr.

In 1988, Carsten Maschmeyer established an independent financial advisory for private households founding the financial group AWD (Allgemeiner Wirtschaftsdienst). His company grew rapidly and became Europe's largest independent financial advisor. It successfully entered the stock market in 2000, rising in the M-DAX (member of the 100 listed companies) as well as expanding into eleven countries[4] employing approximately 11,000 people[5] and managing 15 billion EUR (USD 22 billion) for 2 million customers in 2007. In 2007 Swiss Life, the largest Swiss Life Insurance provider, bought the entire company for CHF 1,9 billion (approx. USD 2.1 billion).

Maschmeyer presently maintains significant holdings in a variety of companies. In a recent study about the fastest growing startups in Germany,[6] his private equity fund is the only one invested in two companies that were ranked in the top 10. Maschmeyer is number 112 in the list of the 500 richest Germans. His assets are estimated at EUR 1.2 billion (approx. USD 1.3 billion).

Today, Carsten Maschmeyer also advises decision-makers on strategies in numerous businesses, e.g. large European banks and insurance companies. Due to his success, he is a very popular speaker in Germany, Austria and Switzerland,[14] mostly on topics like entrepreneurship, investments, sales, communication, networking, marketing, success and mental power. Maschmeyer became a bestselling author with his book titled "Selfmade - erfolg reich leben" which is about the fundamental rules of success. The book is presently in its 7th edition. Additionally, his second book "Die Millionärsformel – Der Weg zur finanziellen Unabhängigkeit" became also a bestseller within in the first days.[15]

Maschmeyer is an honorary senator of the Leibniz University in Hannover and a freelance lecturer at the International School of Management in Munich. At both institutions, Maschmeyer finances scholarships. Motivated by his personal interest in psychology and neurology, he promotes the "Neurological Learning" project at the University of Hildesheim and he co-founded the international "Neurobionic" foundation. He also finances a professorship at the Music College in Hannover. Moreover, Maschmeyer supports several charity projects and initiatives aimed at helping children. For example, he founded the "AWD Kinderhilfe", having paid all costs in order to ensure that every Euro spent will be given to the projects, "Herz für Kinder". In recent years, he gave the largest single donation, 1 million EUR (approx. USD 1.1 million), that has ever been received.[16] He also donated a helicopter to the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg), a voluntary humanitarian organization,[17] and supports the ALS-Gala, Sean Penn’s "J/P Haitian Relief Organization", Surgeon-Congress and HOPE Cape Town against AIDS, the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In 2015, Maschmeyer shared his private house in Hannover with two Syrian refugee-families for several months in order to help them build new lives in Germany. He provides online-language learning programs to refugees for free.

Maschmeyer announced his participation on the German version of the TV-show "Shark Tank" ("Die Höhle der Löwen")[18] at channel VOX and produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is the German derivative of the US-show "Shark Tank". Entrepreneurs present their business ideas to five "lions". If the presenters convince the "lions", they invest their own money and in return get shares of the company.

Maschmeyer maintains residences in Munich and Hanover, Germany; Côte d'Azur, France and Beverly Hills, United States. He has been married to the German actress Veronica Ferres since 2014 and is the father of two sons from a previous marriage, and a stepdaughter. Maschmeyer has an art collection which includes works by Damien Hirst, Andreas Gursky, David Reed, Daniel Richter, Thomas Ruff, Steve McQueen, David LaChapelle, Anselm Kiefer and Igor Mitoraj.