Accessible wealth management at every life stage

It’s an exciting time to be at Schwab.

True, those who know me well will know I’ve expressed this sentiment many times throughout my more than 20 years with the firm. And I’ve always meant it—from the moment I walked through the door, I’ve been energized and inspired by our purpose to champion the needs of investors, and the advisors who serve them, to reach better financial outcomes.

But I can honestly say, today, I’m more excited than ever about the opportunities ahead and the lasting impact we can have on the lives of our clients as we strive to meet even more of their needs through wealth and advice.

At that time, it was all about helping to bring investing to the Main Street of America—making it more accessible so more people have the opportunity to achieve their financial dreams. And that’s still a huge part of who we are today, and always will be. But at the same time, as you think about all we’ve accomplished—from lower costs to greater ease and accessibility to robust education—what more and more investors need today to reach better outcomes is actually help, guidance and support.

• Investors are increasingly seeking and willing to pay for advice. Cerulli data shows 64% of affluent investors are willing to pay for financial advice today. That’s compared to just 38% as recently as 2010. And interestingly, younger investors (those in their 30s and 40s) express the highest levels of interest in paying for advice.¹
• There’s a greater interest in holistic advice, well beyond wealth management. Investors are seeking advice and guidance on a broader array of wealth management topics spanning not just investing or financial planning, but everything from banking, to healthcare, to retirement, to charitable and more.²
• Investors are increasingly looking for alternative ways to invest. As the types of investment opportunities they’re seeking shift, industry data from Cerulli tells us, as an example, that high-net-worth alternatives allocations are forecasted to reach ~10% by the end of this year.³
• Technology, especially artificial intelligence, is enabling scale to serve investors at all wealth tiers better than ever before. At the same time, it’s also amplifying the steadfast importance of human connection, insight and relationships.

Now let me be clear, we’re not new to the wealth and advice business here at Schwab. In fact, we’ve been serving clients’ evolving wealth and advice needs for more than 20 years—through a broad array of solutions, coupled with specialized expertise from our wide network of passionate wealth experts. We’ve also supported thousands of Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) clients that provide advice to investors as well, by bringing the best platforms, products and expertise to their side. And we’ve experienced significant momentum, while also achieving industry-leading Client Promotor Scores, during that time—as I had the privilege of highlighting at our 2024 Institutional Investor Day.

But when you consider the strength of our offer, the irrefutable “no” in our no-tradeoffs value proposition, and the trends that will continue to accelerate the demand for wealth and advice—I think it’s safe to say that even more exciting than where we’ve been are the opportunities in front of us to serve even more wealth management needs.

And the great news? We have all the right ingredients to win in this space and in the classic Schwab way, help more clients get to better outcomes through accessible wealth management at every life stage.

You might even say, we’re just getting started.