Streaming, settlements, and smart investing

Since its inception, Charles Schwab has strived to make investing accessible, not intimidating. This means connecting with potential investors in the spaces where they already learn, explore, and connect. Like on the golf course for the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth and on the baseball diamond for the College World Series in Omaha. Now a new venue has emerged: the virtual arena of e-sports. 

Schwab recently launched its inaugural “Twitch Plays Catan” tournament: a three-day, interactive event designed to help viewers explore the connection between gameplay and investing. Hosted on Twitch—a live streaming platform where creators and audiences interact in real time—the tournament met viewers in a space where strategy, creativity, and community already thrive. Through Catan, a board game with a cult following now played digitally on Twitch, players experienced firsthand how game concepts like diversification, risk management, and long-term strategy play out in ways that are approachable, engaging, and directly applicable to investing.

Over 993,000 viewers tuned in for the tournament and walked away with a fresh, unexpected perspective on how the strategic choices made in games like Catan can echo real-world investment decisions.

Schwab’s Modern Wealth Survey found that more than half of Millennials and Gen Zers—two of Twitch’s core demographics—agree that their investing strategies would benefit from professional investment advice. 

That’s why Mason Reed, Managing Director of Retail Acquisition and Corporate Marketing at Schwab, is excited about Twitch and why this is the fourth year in a row that Schwab has sponsored a livestream on the platform. He believes that reaching audiences in unique ways helps financial advice resonate more meaningfully—and it’s a key pillar of Schwab’s commitment to creating an accessible investing ecosystem. 

“Whether it’s social media, podcasts, or gaming, Schwab wants to show up where people are spending their time and make a connection,” Mason says. “On Twitch, it’s more approachable to talk to people about investing through the games they love—in this case, Catan.”

During the tournament, Michael Iachini, Head of Investment Manager Research for Schwab’s Center for Financial Research, layered financial insights directly into the gameplay. 

By day, Michael leads cutting-edge research on mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and alternative investments. But off the clock, he has spent decades as a board game enthusiast, immersed in the board game development scene. 

In 2014 Michael created a free, no-dice variant of Catan. And in 2012, he founded his own one-man board game design company called Clay Crucible Games. While ascending the ranks as a financial researcher, he released the now sold-out strategy game Chaos & Alchemy alongside the kid-friendly card game Otters. 

Investment objectives like diversification, liquidity, and risk tolerance quickly appear on the Catan board as players determine where to settle, how to trade, and whether to buy development cards or save up for an upgrade. “Without diversification, there’s not a whole lot you can do,” Michael says. “The exact same concept is true in investing… Not having a diversified portfolio is going to put you in a corner both in Catan and in investing.” 

Michael highlighted this concept in the tournament when he pointed out how Aaron Nesmith, small forward for the Indiana Pacers, diversified his settlement locations to gain access to the full range of resources needed for development cards early on, mirroring a key pillar of a wise investment strategy. That early commitment to a long-term strategy paid off as the game progressed, demonstrating how thoughtful diversification can create flexibility and resilience over time.

In the end, it was Aaron’s early diversification, along with competitive prowess and generosity with other players, making them more inclined to trade with him later in the game, which made him the Catan tournament victor. But everyone walked away with an understanding of how the lessons learned on the virtual board are applicable in the realm of finance and investing, and that’s what made the tournament a real win.

To extend the mission of financial literacy beyond the final plays of the tournament, Schwab donated $10,000 to the Boys and Girls Club on behalf of Aaron. "Much like the skills Aaron used today,” Michael said at the tournament’s close, “When people have the knowledge and the skills to make informed decisions about their money, it opens doors to a brighter financial future."