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Rick Wurster interview on Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein 

June 30, 2026 

David Rubenstein: Chuck Schwab got his start publishing an investment newsletter in the 1960s. His popularity with readers led him to launch a brokerage business with the mission to democratize investing. When the SEC deregulated fixed commissions in 1975, many of the biggest brokerage firms raised their prices. Schwab went in the opposite direction, cutting trading costs by as much as 70%.

Rick Wurster: Chuck lowered his and that began a 50-plus-year journey of bringing commissions to zero and removing barriers for the everyday investor.

David Rubenstein: Schwab has built the brand around a simple idea: lower costs and make investing accessible. Today, clients can trade stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds, and ETFs. And the firm remains focused on building long-term wealth.

Rick Wurster: I said, “Chuck, if we lower fees, we’re going to lose hundreds of millions of profitability.” And he said, “No, no we won’t. Because we’ll have more clients, they’re going to tell their friends about us, and we’ll do more business and we’ll grow and we’ll be successful.”

David Rubenstein: Wurster’s path to Schwab was shaped by a deeply personal journey. After working at McKinsey and Wellington Management, he moved his family to California to pursue specialized therapy for his young daughter. Not long after, Schwab came calling.

Rick Wurster: Schwab had called me about two investment businesses that they purchased and asked me to lead those. I left Wellington for Schwab to lead those two investment businesses and then worked my way up the ranks over a 10-year period.

David Rubenstein: Today, Schwab oversees $13 trillion in assets and serves roughly 47 million client accounts. And while market volatility continues to test investors, Wurster says the advice he gives clients has not changed.

Rick Wurster: Our view with clients is success is about time in the market, as opposed to timing the market. Over the long run stocks have had really strong returns and grown people's wealth. We tell clients: own stocks, stick with it, avoid the noise.

David Rubenstein: And despite Schwab’s enormous growth, Wurster believes the company’s mission remains as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.

Rick Wurster: Back when he started the company, unless you were really wealthy, you could not invest in the stock market. And now, today, anyone with any amount of money can do it.

David Rubenstein: For young people, many of whom are your clients, they may not remember the fact that commissions were fixed and therefore you had to pay a reasonably high commission. When the SEC said, “We will get rid of that,” why didn’t everybody lower their commissions to very modest rates?

Rick Wurster: It’s a great question. It provided the leap forward we needed. We took advantage of the fact that others used that as an opportunity to raise prices. But you’re exactly right. Back when the company started, if you had a million dollars and you wanted to buy a 30-stock diversified portfolio, or create that portfolio, it would’ve cost you about 1% of your assets. If you had $100,000, which back then, in 1975, was a lot, it would cost you 10% of your assets. So you really couldn’t invest, and that move to bring commissions down really set the company on a successful path forward.

David Rubenstein: Explain to me how you make money when you don’t charge anything for a stock brokerage sale?

Rick Wurster: We believe in the power of people saving, the power of people in investing and for people to be able to start young and not have the barrier of paying any commission. It just brings more people into the market.

David Rubenstein: Let me ask you, let’s suppose I call up and say I want to open an account. I open an account with you. And I open and I say, I want to buy a stock. I want to buy IBM, and I want to buy 1,000 shares today. I buy the 1,000 shares, no commission, and then I take the money out an hour after you complete the sale. How do you make any money on that?

Rick Wurster: We make money a lot of ways at Charles Schwab. About half of our revenue comes from net interest margin on the cash that you may have for a day or two in your account, just like a bank would, by investing that money and paying a lower yield to the client versus what we can invest it at. We do make transactional-based economics as well, that’s about 20% of the economics, and those come from commissions on non-equities. So when a client buys a bond, we charge a dollar a bond. When a client buys options, we charge for options and futures and things like that. And then the final way we make money, the other roughly 30% is advisory asset management and advisory related fees. We often have clients that come to us and they begin to stock trade maybe in their 20s, and they do that to their 30s and 40s, and they get to a point where they accumulate enough wealth where they want the help from someone to guide them in their financial life, and there is a fee associated with that.

David Rubenstein: You have a lot of young people that trade through you, they have a little money, they buy some stock, and as they get wealthier and they get older, sometimes they transition to more famous names in the investment world. How do you keep people from leaving your accounts or is that not a problem?

Rick Wurster: It’s a great question, David. Fifteen years ago, people might have felt like they needed to graduate out of Charles Schwab once they hit a certain wealth level. That is absolutely no longer the case. We have invested tremendously in making sure that anyone, at any wealth level, no matter how wealthy they are, can have their needs met at Charles Schwab. And it’s fantastic for those people that grew up at Schwab, have been fortunate and generated a lot of wealth for themselves, to be able to find the advice, the expertise around trust and estates, the access to alternatives that they may want, the more complex lending needs that they have. And we’re winning with the ultra high-net-worth investor because we can deliver all of that at a fee and a value that can’t be matched.

David Rubenstein: You have over 400 offices in the U.S.? Is that right? Something like that? 

Rick Wurster: We do.

David Rubenstein: Alright. Many people say we don’t want offices anymore, it’s brick-and-mortar. Doesn’t that cost a lot of money?

Rick Wurster: It does cost money, but we view it as an investment in our clients. What we find is that the client satisfaction scores of our clients, as we measure them, goes up about 11% when they have a direct one-to-one relationship with someone that they can walk into a branch and talk to. And that’s because they feel like there’s someone that’s sitting by their side, understands their financial situation, and brings their expertise to them. The world has been calling for the end of the branch for years. We are actually  continuing to lean into building branches. You can do a lot online, around understanding if you’re not feeling well, but ultimately, you end up going to the doctor to say, “Am I doing this right? Am I headed in the right direction? Can I check in with you?” That’s what we find how people want to engage with us. They want the best of technology and the best of our people, and that combination puts them on a path to success.

David Rubenstein: Now, is Schwab mostly a U.S. company? Do you do things in Europe or Asia? 

Rick Wurster: We do have a non-U.S. presence. It’s about less than 5% of our business, roughly, and primarily we’re serving investors outside of the country that want access to U.S. markets.

David Rubenstein: I read you have $11 trillion of assets under management. That's a lot of money under management. Are you managing it for people? Or is the money they’ve left in their accounts and you manage it a little bit?

Rick Wurster: Yeah, so we have about $12 trillion of assets. We’ve got about six and a half in retail business accounts. We’ve got about five and a half in our advisory business, where we support independent advisors across the country who want a great platform to custody their assets on. And then we’ve got the rest is in our workplace business, where we support employers and their stock plan and their retirement plan. I think the success and growth of our business has been about seeing through clients' eyes, doing right by them, great marketing. Chuck started the company. He’s always believed in marketing. He wants us to have a brand people trust and know and can relate to.

David Rubenstein: Are you charging a fee to manage the money, or is this money that’s kind of in the accounts that technically is under your management but you’re not really actively managing?

Rick Wurster: Yeah so splitting it into our retail business, our retail business is 75% to 80% of that is relatively self-directed investors that are making their own investment decisions day by day. They’re checking in with us for help around financial planning, trust and estate issues, tax considerations, but largely they’re making their investment decisions. And then about 20% of our clients come to us for full-service help. They want us to manage all their assets, to help them plan out their life, to come up with their asset allocation, to rebalance their portfolio, and all of those things. And we’re in a fee on that. And then the other largely half of our business sits with advisors. They’re with 16,000 independent advisors across our country that are providing advice for a few to those clients.

David Rubenstein: So, let me ask you, how many total customers do you have?

Rick Wurster: 47 million clients.

David Rubenstein: So every day, at the end of every day or end of every week, you must get some spreadsheet that shows you what people are doing. Does that show you how the U.S. economy is doing?

Rick Wurster: Well, when you look at what our clients are doing, they remain invested. Equity markets continue to do well. And I think that’s the sign of an economy that has been pretty resilient. If you look at the employment, employment numbers have been fine. They’re not supercharged, but they’re not bad. Inflation, outside of some of the oil shocks we’ve had, inflation has been contained. And so you see stock markets that, you know, over the months have been hitting highs despite some disruption. So, what we see from our clients is continued interest in equities. 

David Rubenstein: And do you worry about the Federal Reserve raising rates, which is what people think may happen? Or does it make a difference to you if they raise rates or lower rates?

Rick Wurster: It won't affect our business that much. We’ll be fine in either environment. What we do worry a lot about is our clients. And we want the Fed, whether they are raising or lowering, to get it right. We don't care which direction they go, but we want it to be the right direction for the economy that provides employment growth, moderate inflation, and in those conditions, equity markets will thrive. Our clients will grow their wealth and be able to live their financial dreams.

David Rubenstein: Recently, the U.S. government set up new accounts, I think, called Trump Accounts for young people, children, that will have money managed for them over the years. What do you think of that idea?

Rick Wurster: I think it's a home run idea. It's going to allow every American born in our country to see the power of saving and compounding. They're going to save for the first time and get $1,000 from the government when they're born. By the time they're 18, you know, if markets go up as much as they normally do, that will be $2,000, $3,000, or $4,000. And it's not that the $4,000 – and by the way, if they're saving every year, hopefully it'll be a lot more, but just that initial $1,000 may turn into $3,000. And it's not that that $3,000 is going to change their life, but the concept that the $1,000 grew to $3,000 hopefully changes their life. They just also announced Trump IRA accounts. There’s 55 million Americans in our country that do not have access to a private retirement plan. And this announcement is going to allow those individuals to have a way to access a defined contribution plan the way many of us have enjoyed.

David Rubenstein: And so, will you get a piece of that business, you think?

Rick Wurster: Roughly a year from now, the Trump Accounts will open up to anyone who wants to participate and we will absolutely support the Trump Accounts. We'll have a lot of Schwab clients that participate in Trump Accounts, and we can't wait to bring them over to Schwab.

David Rubenstein: In the prediction markets, which have been very popular of late, do you see a lot of your clients interested in investing in, if investing is the right word, or participating in prediction markets?

Rick Wurster: We’re not in prediction markets today. Our stance has been that as prediction markets stand today, 90%-plus of it is sports gambling. And I view that as entertainment, and if people want to sports gamble, go nuts, sports gamble. Our service to clients and our mission as a firm is to make clients better off in their financial life. We view sports gambling as on average you are going to lose. 5% of people take more out of a sports gambling app than they put into it. So, 95% of people are losing money, which is counter to our mission of helping people live their best financial lives. It is possible in the future that financial events, we could have prediction markets on but our clients really aren't asking for that today.

David Rubenstein: So today, based on where you see the economy, are you worried the war in Iran might slow down the economy, or that the Fed might increase interest rates in a dramatic way? Or are you not worried about those kind of external things?

Rick Wurster: As investors, we are always worried about the issue of the moment. And you could go back through time and there’s always an issue in the market to worry about. Our view with clients is success is about time in the market as opposed to timing the market. Over the long run, stocks have had really strong returns and grown people's wealth. We tell clients: own stocks, stick with it, avoid the noise. I think the biggest challenge we face is just making sure we continue to see through clients' eyes and put the client at the forefront of everything we do.

David Rubenstein: Let's talk about your own background for a moment. Where are you from?

Rick Wurster: Sure.I grew up in the Boston, Massachusetts area. 

David Rubenstein: Okay and where’d you go to college?

Rick Wurster: I went to Villanova.

David Rubenstein: And you were a good golfer there I gather, right?

Rick Wurster: Good is being very kind, David. I was an enthusiastic golfer. I did play golf in high school and actually in Massachusetts I won the fall state high school championship. So, I was okay. When I went to college, I did make the golf team. I was a walk-on, everyone else was on scholarship. 

David Rubenstein: I thought you were the captain of the team?

Rick Wurster: Well, I ended up being the captain. I think that was probably more about enthusiasm and leadership than my golf skills.

David Rubenstein: Nowyou graduated in what year?

Rick Wurster: 1995. 

David Rubenstein: Alright and then what did you do? 

Rick Wurster: I went and worked for a company that did economic analysis for companies in litigation. Then I went back to business school at Dartmouth.

David Rubenstein: Andafter you graduated from Dartmouth, where’d you go?

Rick Wurster: I went to McKinsey and Company. I spent about four and a half, five years there. It was a great place to develop your career and get coaching. And about five years into that, we were having our second child born and we found that she would be born with some real challenges. The doctors told us she would never walk, talk, or recognize us. I was working 80 hours a week, traveling all over the world. My wife had a job as a buy side analyst. And so we were barely making it, the two of us working with one child. With a second child coming along that was going to need a lot more time and attention, I decided to leave Mckinsey and I went to Wellington Management, an investment firm in Boston. Where I learned a lot about investing and also, thankfully got to have a lifestyle where I could contribute to helping her.

David Rubenstein: How old is she now?

Rick Wurster: She's now 20 years old. She’s a sophomore in college, and doing terrifically well.

David Rubenstein: Talk about your business. When you joined Schwab, you were recruited by a headhunter or how did you go from Wellington to Schwab. 

Rick Wurster: I ended up at Wellington, after three years, finding the therapy that worked for my daughter. After seeing the impact that it had on her life, we decided to move from Boston to San Francisco. My wife left her job. I stayed with Wellington, but went from the headquarters where there’s a thousand people and where all the action was to a little 12-person office in San Francisco and it was never really the same. And then Schwab had called me about two investment businesses that they had purchased and asked me to lead those. I left Wellington for Schwab to lead those two investment businesses and then worked my way up the ranks over a 10 year period.

David Rubenstein: So you were there for 10 years before you became the CEO?

Rick Wurster: Roughly, yes.

David Rubenstein: How did you take these little businesses and get to be noticed?

Rick Wurster: A good sort of sponsorship from Walt Bettinger, our CEO, who really took me under his wing. I started with these small businesses. I treated them like they were the biggest thing in the world. We turned them into a great business that went from not growing to growing, from having not-great performance to having good investment performance. More of our investment business was added into my world. Eventually, I took on our asset management and wealth business and created an asset management and wealth management powerhouse. We really began to grow our fee-based revenue through that. And I think that, along with, again the sponsorship of our prior CEO.

David Rubenstein: He called you up and said, “You know I am going to step down and I want you to succeed me?” or did you anticipate that was going to happen?

Rick Wurster: As the date grew closer to Walt wanting to retire, I was given more and more responsibility. By the time that I stepped into the CEO role, he had given me so much that it didn’t feel like I was taking on a lot new. He did an incredible job with the transition. Was very giving in terms of providing feedback and giving me opportunity. It was just a wonderful transition.

David Rubenstein: So today, you are saying the biggest challenge you face as CEO Schwab is what?

Rick Wurster: I think the biggest challenge we face is making sure we continue to see through client eyes, put the client at the forefront of everything we do. I do not think our business will stray very much if we do that. I’ll share a story. The first time I met with Chuck Schwab, I was incredibly intimidated. I had never met someone so successful or so wealthy as Chuck. I went in to see him about this business. I knew every number in the deck and how we could make more money and generate more profits for the company. When I got in with Chuck, he kept asking me about the fees we were charging. After asking me about all these fees, he goes, “Rick, we need to lower the fees.” I said, “Chuck, if we lower fees, we will lose hundreds of millions of profitability.” He said, “No, we won’t. We will have more clients who will tell their friends about us, and we will do more business, and we’ll grow and we’ll be successful.”

David Rubenstein: What do people want you to do in artificial intelligence that you haven’t done yet? And what are you going to do in artificial intelligence? 

Rick Wurster: AI will be a real accelerant to our business and will help us in a number of ways. Number one, and what I am most excited about, is that it will help us reach and help a new demographic of clients that we couldn’t before. We have branches all over Manhattan that you could walk into and get help from someone. In order to have a dedicated relationship, you have to have $1 million at Schwab. There’s a vast majority of our clients who don’t have $1 million, and many people in America don’t have $1 million. They don’t qualify for that dedicated relationship. Using AI, we’ll be able to offer them some of the same personal insights that we are giving every day in our branches and in our dedicated relationships. Then it’s providing incredible efficiency to the way we serve our clients.

David Rubenstein: What’s the future? Where are you going to take the company in the next five or ten years?

Rick Wurster: Our view has always been, if we do what clients want and need, do it at great value with no trade-offs, then we’ll be the place where they want to invest their assets. As we look forward, there are a lot of things that we will focus on. Number one, there’s a bull market for convenience. Clients want things to be easier. They want their financial life handled for them. So we’re leaning into advice and providing more advice to our retail clients and that’s driving our growth. Clients want more of an integrated financial life, so we are seeing both sides of their balance sheet. They want those needs met at Schwab, so we are growing our lending business and we are leaning into the basics: save early, the power of compounding is incredible, and invest for the long term. Have a plan, stick to the plan. If you do those two things, I think you will have a great financial life.

David Rubenstein: Over the last 50 years or so, perhaps the most transformative thing that happened in the investment market is the discount brokerage than no brokerage fees. Do you see something else that could happen over the next 10, 15 years that will be as transformative?

Rick Wurster: I think the combination of people and technology, and the advent of AI, will provide the opportunity for many more Americans to invest, to understand investing. I think that will make a big difference. If you look at the wealth created via investing, and you get to see this in your line of work, the people that have been able to invest and have known that helps build their wealth, have had a great ride and are sitting on levels of wealth that they may not have first seen.

David Rubenstein: Observing investors across the board, what do you think is the most common mistake investors make, and the smartest things that investors do?

Rick Wurster: Retail investors have done exceptionally well the last five to 10 years, and they have led the market. They bought the dips when other institutions were getting out and expressing nervousness. Retail investors have stuck with it and their wealth is at an all-time high. I think the biggest mistake people make is reacting to an event and getting out of the market. I think that people that stay committed have a long-term view, they tend to have a lot of success at Schwab and the retail investor, as a group, has done exceptionally well and been very thoughtful and resilient.

David Rubenstein: Let’s suppose I’m a young college graduate. How do I get a job at Schwab?

Rick Wurster: We do hire a lot of young people every year, primarily to fill a few different roles. A lot of client-facing roles: answering the phones, sitting in a branch, helping clients with administrative opportunities, or in our operations area. That’s three of the ways, or technology. Come into the company and start. Then find your way from there. We fill about 11,000 roles a year. Fifty-five percent of them are filled internally. We want people to come to Schwab, build their career, advance within Schwab, and have a meaningful career.

David Rubenstein: For somebody that’s interested in knowing about the financial markets, what would you say are the most important lessons you would take away from your experience in the financial markets?

Rick Wurster: Save early. The power of compounding is incredible. And invest for the long term. Have a plan. Stick to the plan. If you do those things, you will have a great financial life.

David Rubenstein: Do you think Schwab can dramatically increase the size of its business from where it is today?

Rick Wurster: We should be serving every American in our country. Today, we have 47 million client accounts. There’s another 100 million Americans we would love to serve. There’s a great growth opportunity. What I love about what we do is we always put the client’s interests at the forefront of everything we do. I know that we will do right by them. I hope more people choose Schwab over time. I know we can help them grow their wealth.

David Rubenstein: Suppose the president of the United States is watching this. This is a talented man who should serve his country. Do you have any interest, for any president, in going into government?

Rick Wurster: I love Charles Schwab. I would never leave anytime soon for anything else. I love what we are doing. I love the difference we make in our clients’ lives. But absolutely, after I retire, if there’s an opportunity, I would love to help the country. I think it’s an amazing country. I see it every day with the 12 trillion client assets we have. I can’t tell you how many times I meet with clients that started a business here in America and now have more money than they dreamed of, or made a little bit of money, invested in other companies here, and made a fortune. We are so blessed to live in this country and I’m grateful for it every day.