Schwab offers a better, more modern way to build and manage wealth
Everything we do as a company is focused on helping our clients take ownership of their financial futures.
Schwab offers a better, more modern way to build and manage wealth
Everything we do as a company is focused on helping our clients take ownership of their financial futures.
Schwab offers a better, more modern way to build and manage wealth
Everything we do as a company is focused on helping our clients take ownership of their financial futures.
Charles Schwab: Oh, my god. There I am.
Charles Schwab: These are sort of tinted, but I'll put them on. There I am. My prescription's changed a little bit, but this is basically what I looked like. However, my hair was a little bit of different color. Back in '75. It was very brown.
Charles Schwab: Wall Street, they're huge. They had all the money. That's where all the money was in the United States, sitting around Wall Street. I was an analyst and a portfolio manager, so I began really understanding the brokerage industry as such. What I didn't want to be.
Charles Schwab: Brokers were basically selling stories. The broker would run into you someplace and sell you, say, "Hey, I got a really good idea for you. It's going to go to the moon. You'd better hop on." Inside information was rampant then.
Speaker 2: Relax, will you? Believe me, you made the right move.
Speaker 3: You really think so?
Speaker 2: Why, sure. We got the inside track.
Charles Schwab: Some people would call that being a con man. That was the industry. There was fixed prices so extraordinary high only the wealthiest people in the world could participate. It was a highly conflicted business. I wanted to have a firm that was free of the huge conflicts that I saw in the business, so I started Charles Schwab & Company.
Charles Schwab: I was a pariah, oh, for sure. I was this little guy on the West Coast, and access to capital for me was a fundamental problem because I couldn't access Wall Street. They didn't want to finance their competitor. I mortgaged my house. You name it. I went to relatives, went to friends. "I hope Chuck doesn't come and ask me for money, because it's just not what I want to do." They regretted it later on.
Charles Schwab: The magic moment: May one of '75; May Day. Congress passed laws to outlaw fixed commissions. In essence, really democratize the business, bring it open to anybody. If you got $100, you're in. Article was in the paper, Merrill Lynch raised their rates. I was very happy that day, because I would've thought that Merrill would've dropped their rates substantially and we would've had no business. But we dropped our rates 50%, 60%, something like that, and it just created a huge opportunity for us to take our little business and grow it like crazy.
Charles Schwab: We were growing so fast, we wanted to get everybody in.
Speaker 4: At three-quarters-
Charles Schwab: We didn't incentivize our people. One way or another, they all made salaries. That was really revolutionary. Here was this little guy from the West Coast, undermining Wall Street. Right now we have about nearly $4 trillion, with a T, in client accounts with us. $4 trillion. Incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Do you ever grapple with that, that you started out to balk the status quo and now you are the status quo?
Charles Schwab: I hope we're not the status quo; I hope we are not. I hope we are, continue to be, agents of change for the better. Just treat people like you'd like to be treated. It's pretty simple. Not a big something from the top of the mountain; it's right there.
Charles Schwab: Anyway, it's all true.
What We Do
Schwab was built around a simple idea: put the client first. We work hard to make our clients’ goals the focus of everything we do by offering a better, more modern way for them to build and manage their wealth.
Who We Serve
Our 32,100 employees are champions of investors and those who serve them.
Individual Investors
Driven, motivated people who believe that personal engagement, a sense of ownership, and a commitment to investing gives them control over their financial futures.
Advisors
Independent Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) who believe, like Schwab, that there's a better way to serve investors. And we provide nearly 15,000* RIAs with custodial, trading, and business consulting services—more than any other firm in the industry.
Employers
Employers understand the long-term, bottom-line value of helping employees achieve a secure retirement and optimize other financial benefits. We help 5.4 million* Workplace Plan Participants do just that.
* Beginning in the fourth quarter 2023, Retirement Plan Participants was expanded to include accounts in Stock Plan Services, Designated Brokerage Services, and Retirement Business Services. Participants may be enrolled in services in more than one Workplace business. Prior periods have been recast to reflect this change.
By The Numbers*
$9.89
trillion
total client assets
37.3
million
brokerage accounts
8.36
million
daily average trades
2.1
million
banking accounts
$1.26
trillion
in proprietary mutual funds and ETFs
* Total client assets, brokerage accounts, and all other numbers are as of April 30, 2025.
Seeing the world "Through Clients' Eyes" has shaped our trajectory
Putting clients at the heart of the experience has enabled us to create products, services, and platforms that have shaped our industry and helped clients meet their financial goals. Here are some highlights:
Schwab history
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2020: Combining Two Award-Winning Companies
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2019: $0 Commissions on Online Stock, ETF, and Options Trades
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2015: Automated and Simple Investing
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2013: Accountability as Policy
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2012: A New 401(k) Option
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2009: Commission-Free ETFs
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2006: Affordable Professional Investment Advice
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2005: Checking Meets Investing
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2002: Quantitative Fact-Based Ratings
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1996: Low-Cost Online Trading
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1992: Mutual Funds: Access, Convenience, Low Cost
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1987: Financial Advisor Service Launches
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1982: Schwab Embraces 24/7 Service
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1975: Chuck Schwab Creates a Discount Brokerage
Schwab continues to earn high ranking in the industry for its heritage of innovation, modern wealth management capabilities, and client service.
Highest in Investor Satisfaction with DIY Self-Directed Services
Ameritrade, now part of Charles Schwab, ranked Highest in Investor Satisfaction with DIY Self-Directed Services in the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Self-Directed Investor Satisfaction Study.
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TD Ameritrade, Inc. ("Ameritrade") Member SIPC, a subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation (“Charles Schwab”), received the highest score in the do-it-yourself segment of the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Self-Directed Investor Satisfaction Study of investors’ satisfaction with self-directed investment firms. It is independently conducted, and the participating firms do not pay to participate. Use of study results in promotional materials is subject to a license fee. Visit jdpower.com/awards for more details.