Alumna Christine Bortenlänger: “Some paths only become clear once you’ve walked part of the way”

She would go on to head Munich Stock Exchange and then Deutsches Aktieninstitut, Germany’s leading stock market association – but she made a loss on her debut stock purchase. “During my banking apprenticeship, I bought a security whose price promptly fell,” recalls Dr. Christine Bortenlänger. “But you don’t really learn to ride a bike with training wheels – and it’s the same with investing.” You have to try things out and sometimes “take a tumble” to get better.

An alumna of LMU Munich, Bortenlänger grew up in the Bavarian Oberland. “Back then, I had no connection at all to banking or the stock market,” she recalls. “While my younger brother would pore over share prices from an early age, I wanted to become a doctor – or a farmer, ideally with my own farm, fields, and woods.” Her grades in the Abitur school leaving exam were not quite enough for medical school, however, and her parents, who came from farming themselves, strongly advised her against pursuing agriculture.

“In the end, they suggested a compromise: I should do a banking apprenticeship, which was very popular at the time. After that, I could study whatever I wanted.” But by the time she finished her apprenticeship, she was a young mother. A medical degree with night shifts seemed difficult to reconcile with her situation, and a career in agriculture without a farm was hardly feasible. “And the nicest and funniest of my friends were studying business, so I enrolled in business administration at LMU as well – without much of a plan.”

Seeing the big picture

During her studies – as the recipient of a Friedrich Ebert Foundation scholarship – she soon realized how valuable her apprenticeship had been. Already familiar with financial statements, accounting, and many fundamentals, she specialized in banking management. “Another focus was systems research, a very mathematical field with models and optimizations. It had a huge influence on me – and challenged me too.” It was the first time she really had to struggle to understand something, as learning had always come easily before. “But the systems-thinking approach – not optimizing individual parts but always considering the whole – fascinated me.” This way of thinking would become a guiding principle throughout her career: “Keeping the whole in view, thinking of the customer, and creating win-win situations instead of awkward compromises.” Her thesis on a capital market topic received the Stadtsparkasse Munich prize for outstanding degree dissertations in Bavaria.

After graduating, Bortenlänger completed her doctorate in business administration at LMU, finishing her dissertation, “Stock Exchange Automation – Efficiency Potentials and Feasibility,” in just two and a quarter years. She vividly remembers one episode from that time: newly hired at the chair, she came to work one Saturday in the wing opposite the main building. “I put the key into the lock of this large, heavy wooden door and suddenly found myself alone in the foyer. It was a beautiful and deeply moving moment – this building stands for so much.”

Financial literacy at school

Her doctoral supervisor was the renowned economist Professor Arnold Picot, who headed LMU’s Institute for Information, Organization, and Management. “His deeply human leadership style was a powerful influence on me,” she recalls. “He was simply a brilliant personality – and the best doctoral supervisor you could ask for.” She also fondly remembers Professor Hermann Meyer zu Selhausen: “‘Garbage in, garbage out’ was his favorite saying.” But it was not only professors who inspired her, but also fellow researchers and assistants. “It was simply a wonderful chair with a collegial spirit.”

After completing her doctorate, Bortenlänger joined Bayerische Landesbank and then worked in strategy consulting before taking up a role at Munich Stock Exchange in 1998. Two years later she became its director – at a time when stock exchanges were digitalizing, trading venues were changing, and questions of transparency were being redefined.

In 2012 she moved to Deutsches Aktieninstitut in Frankfurt, which she describes as an organization where “essentially all the actors you need for a functioning capital market come together”: listed companies, banks, stock exchanges, rating agencies, law firms, auditing firms – but also investors. While there, financial education remained close to her heart: “Insurance, loans, salaries, retirement planning – these topics deserve their own school subject.”

Invest – and save regularly

When asked for general investment advice: “You can invest in stocks and still sleep well at night,” she replies. “The key here is long-term thinking, broad diversification, maintaining reserves, and taking calculated risks with individual stocks – but never putting all your eggs in one basket, which is basically gambling.” In her view, the biggest mistake is failing to start at all.

“Unfortunately, numerous studies show that women are far more hesitant than men when it comes to investing in the stock market – regardless of income, age, or education.” She thinks gender expectations are one of the main reasons for this: “Many people still picture a shareholder as a wealthy man in a suit who speculates with stocks and knows everything.” But reality is changing, thanks in part to podcasts, investment clubs, and other low-threshold educational resources. “I also think it’s incredibly important, very simply, to save regularly.” In her own family, child benefits went into a savings plan that later paid for her children’s year abroad.

After twelve years at the helm of Deutsches Aktieninstitut, Bortenlänger embarked on a new professional path last year – to gain more flexibility for her family, for supervisory board positions at companies like MTU Aero Engines and TÜV Süd, and for consulting roles at the likes of Amundi Germany. It also gives her more time for her extensive volunteering commitments – with UNICEF, for example, or as a mathematics ambassador for the Stiftung Rechnen foundation, where she seeks to inspire a love of numbers and financial topics in girls in particular.

Unremarkable turning points

Since her career shift, Munich has become her primary home again. “And when I drive past LMU’s business administration building on Ludwigstraße today, well, my heart really does skip a beat.” LMU is her alma mater after all – “I genuinely feel that way.” She still keeps in touch with many people from her department. “And thanks to my colleague Dr. Rahild Neuburger, we still meet up in a large group.”

Bortenlänger has authored numerous books on stocks and financial planning, including last year’s children’s guide Alles Money, oder was? Von Aktien, Bitcoins und Zinsen. Her awards include the Bavarian Order of Merit, the Federal Cross of Merit, and the Medal for Services to Bavarian Finance.

Planning a life path like hers in advance is not really possible, she says. Decisions that feel like turning points in hindsight were quite unremarkable in the moment. “Some paths only become clear once you’ve walked part of the way,” says Christine Bortenlänger. “And you can excel and find fulfillment in a field that wasn’t your childhood dream.”