Charles Schwab Assets Under Management (AUM)
Charles Schwab is one of the biggest broker-dealers in the U.S. The company has over 1,200 financial advisors, operates more than 330 physical locations in 46 states, and serves over 7,000 registered investment advisors. The company also runs its own FDIC-insured bank with over a million accounts.
The investment branch of this financial giant has a large amount of money and many customers. Specifically, the brokerage firm has the following numbers:
Charles Schwab Asset Management managed about $9.57 trillion on a discretionary basis and $33.7 billion on a non-discretionary basis. Source: Schwab Asset Management
Charles Schwab is the 3rd largest provider of mutual funds, 5th largest provider of ETFs, and 7th largest provider of money market funds.
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Charles Schwab Number of Customers
The broker-dealer has 36.2 million securities accounts. The total number of accounts has gone up significantly compared to last year.
The company’s banking division makes up only a small part of client assets. Most assets come from brokerage accounts, with many being retirement accounts. The firm offers Individual Retirement Accounts and employer-sponsored plans.
The broker also holds a significant share of the registered investment advisor market. The company offers various financial services to independent financial advisors. The 7,000 investment advisors Charles Schwab works with manage $2 trillion. Schwab’s investment advisory service employs 1,800 workers to handle trading, operations, and custody issues.
Besides its U.S. operations, Schwab also has offices in England, Puerto Rico, and Hong Kong.
Charles Schwab Review
Charles Schwab is one of the top brokerage companies in the U.S. Competitive fees, excellent customer service, and independent third-party research complement their wide range of investment products. Charles Schwab is a solid brokerage firm for long-term, medium-term, and short-term investors. First-time investors and traders will find plenty of educational resources to get started. Intermediate and advanced traders have access to major news events and market updates.
Account Types
Every trader has their own style of trading and investing. Charles Schwab offers a wide range of account types to meet the needs of every trader.
Charles Schwab provides dozens of account types divided into five basic categories: standard, retirement, education, specialty accounts, and managed portfolios. Within each category, traders can choose from more specific account types, each one designed to meet the needs of almost any investor.
Common accounts like IRA, small business plans, individual cash accounts, and margin accounts are easy to manage through their user-friendly interface. Managed portfolios are carefully monitored and balanced by professionals. This type of account is ideal for investors who have busy lifestyles and don’t have the time to keep up with market news and changes.
Platforms
Charles Schwab offers several trading platforms for a trader’s convenience. The first platform is their web platform. Trading on the web platform may be a bit more challenging for an intra-day trader who enters and exits the market quickly. The execution speed is fast, but page loading time can be slow. This is partly due to the amount of clutter Charles Schwab puts on their web platform page. Graphic-heavy ads in the corners, unnecessary widgets at the top and bottom of the page, and irrelevant clutter like texts and images scattered throughout slow down the page loading times. The forms required to place a trade can also be a bit tedious. Orders are a 2-3 step process involving multiple page loads. This can be a serious problem for intra-day traders who need to enter and exit a market quickly.
Charles Schwab’s second platform is the mobile app. The mobile app is similar to the web platform with a few minor differences. The pages are cleaner and feel less cluttered, and the execution speed is much faster.
The third platform is Charles Schwab’s ThinkorSwim platform. The app is simple and without clutter. Because the app works in its own window, a trader can easily move from the app to the browser to access news and charts quickly, or even split the screen so that a trader can see both the browser and the app at the same time. The app would be ideal, but some users may find the app to be too glitchy. This is especially true for Mac users. The app occasionally freezes and will close randomly. To fix this, the trader must restart the app, sometimes multiple times. Lastly, trades may not be executed, which is a critical issue for intra-day traders.
Fees
Charles Schwab’s prices and fees are competitive. To purchase an equity, a trader should expect to pay $0 USD to buy or sell, per order.
Option contracts are similarly priced to Charles Schwab’s competitors. The standard $0 fee applies to both buying and selling orders, plus $0.65 per contract.
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Requirements
Due to the rates and fees, a long-term trader should have a portfolio value of $5,000 or more for proper diversification and risk management. An active intra-day trader should have more than $25,000 to avoid breaking the pattern day trader rule. Any trader with less than the recommended $2,000 will risk seeing their accounts diminish due to Charles Schwab’s fees.
Managed portfolios with automated trading accounts have a $5,000 minimum requirement and a 0.3% fee. A broader range of automated investing through mutual funds and ETFs requires a $25,000 minimum portfolio size.
Tools
Every investor knows that news can impact market changes. This is especially useful for short-term and intra-day traders. Charles Schwab offers independent third-party news reports that are generally published on time (though not always). For intra-day traders, a news article published twenty minutes too late can mean the difference between a successful trade and a failed one.
When it comes to education, Charles Schwab stands out from the competition. New investors who have never traded or invested can read through hundreds of pages that teach the basics of trading to become highly skilled. Charles Schwab also offers beginners step-by-step videos, articles, and guides. These guides are simple, easy to understand, and introduce traders to new vocabulary as well as investment tips and strategies. Advanced traders have easy access to detailed technical and fundamental analysis of various markets and equities. Charles Schwab even offers Forex trading with a 1:50 leverage. Standard commission rates and swap fees still apply to Charles Schwab, varying depending on the currency pairs.
Schwab AUM Recap
Charles Schwab is one of the most popular brokerage firms in the U.S. Their excellent customer service, reliable platforms, competitive fees, and wide range of accounts have earned the respect of successful professional traders in the U.S. Even a new trader can use Charles Schwab’s simple, but informative guides and resources to steadily grow their portfolio with proper risk management.
Updated on 8/21/2024.
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
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