Charles Schwab Promotion
Open Schwab Account
Overview of Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab is a top rated broker with an extensive array of services and tools that appeal to all levels of investors, from total beginners to seasoned veterans.
Schwab dropped commissions on equity and ETF trades down to $0 in 2019 to compete with upstart brokers such as Gen Z and Millennial favorite Robinhood. The company has also been aggressive in terms of mergers and acquisitions, taking over USAA Investment Management Co. and acquiring TD Ameritrade in 2019.
This has made Charles Schwab one of the biggest and most reputable brokers out there. A key aspect of brokers nowadays, however, involves perks like promotions and referral programs.
Schwab Advantages
In addition to the Refer A Friend promotion, Charles Schwab offers numerous advantages to investors.
Free stock and ETF trading – While Schwab’s fund fees are relatively high, there are roughly 4,000 that are free to trade. Plus, stocks and ETFs are entirely free to trade.
Outstanding research – Schwab offers a bevy of great resources for research—so many, in fact, that it may be daunting for beginning and even intermediate investors.
Excellent customer service – Schwab’s customer service is available around the clock and typically provides fantastic service. The only main downside is that there is no email support.
Easy account opening – Schwab has kept up with the times by making opening an account fully digital and a total breeze.
No minimum deposit – There are no minimum deposits required to open an account so long as you’re a U.S. citizen. International clients must transfer at least $25,000 to start.
User-friendliness – All around the app and website, Schwab wins points for its user-friendliness. Its features and general design are both intuitive and useful.
Solid mobile app – The Charles Schwab mobile app may not be incredible but it is definitely above average. It scores points for its user-friendly nature and top-of-the-line security features, such as biometric authentication and 2-factor authentication.
Good customization – The web trading platform offered by Schwab features a smooth design but is not customizable; the desktop trading platform, on the other hand, is extremely customizable. The only downside is that it is only available for Windows.
Safe and secure – Schwab is regulated by the SEC, FINRA, and CFTC in the U.S. Plus, investors are protected by SIPC.
Extensive educational resources – The educational content at Schwab may not be very well organized, but it makes up for this through the breadth and quality of its educational offerings, including numerous videos and articles of excellent quality.
Wrapping up
Schwab is an extremely solid broker option, and the Refer A Friend program is a little bit of icing on top, letting you gift your friend with some easy cash while hardly lifting a finger.
While it would be nice if Schwab increased their promotional offerings and/or incentivized the friend referral program by benefitting the person making the referral, they make up for this by being an excellent overall broker.
Charles Schwab Offer Code
Open Schwab Account
How Much Does It Cost to Open a Charles Schwab Account?
You may be interested in opening a brokerage account with Charles Schwab, one of the largest and most well-established brokers in the U.S. If so, read on to find out details about cost, including minimum deposit and balance requirements for different kinds of accounts, general account fees, and commissions.
But first, let’s take a quick look at Charles Schwab so you know what you’re getting into.
Charles Schwab
Schwab is a leading discount broker and has a whopping $7.8 trillion in total client assets, with more than 6 million daily trades on average and more than 32 million brokerage accounts. Schwab thus appeals not only to individual investors but to institutional clientele as well.
As an investment services company, Schwab also offers a wide range of its own investment products, including ETFs and mutual funds. In fact, Schwab is the 3rd largest provider of index mutual funds, with more than $250 billion in assets under management between Schwab index funds and Schwab ETFs.
There’s no doubt Schwab is a top-tier brokerage firm. But with the rise of discount trading apps such as Robinhood, you may be wondering if it will cost you significantly more money to have a Schwab account. Let’s dive right into this question.
Costs with Schwab
There are various costs associated with setting up, maintaining, and using a brokerage account. We’re going to go over the main ones below as they pertain to Schwab.
What are Schwab's deposit and balance requirements
Schwab is quite straightforward here, as you’ll quickly see from this list:
Brokerage (Individual and Joint) - $0 in opening and maintenance fees
IRA (Traditional, Roth, or Rollover) - $0 in opening and maintenance fees
Schwab Trading Services Account - $0 in opening and maintenance fees
Schwab Bank High Yield Investor checking (linked to Schwab One Brokerage account) - $0 in opening and maintenance fees
Brokerage (Individual and Joint) - $0 account minimum
IRA (Traditional, Roth, or Rollover) - $0 account minimum
Schwab Trading Services Account - $0 account minimum
Schwab Bank High Yield Investor checking (linked to Schwab One Brokerage account) - $0 account minimum
It shouldn’t have taken you long to see that, in essence, there is $0 in opening and maintenance fees, and $0 in account minimums. This means that there’s essentially no barrier to entry for opening and maintaining an account with Schwab, whether that’s an individual brokerage account (i.e. a taxable account), an IRA (individual retirement account), or other account.
What are Schwab's account fees
There aren’t really any fees in general with Charles Schwab. There are some fees involved, however, when it comes to transferring or closing your account.
If you’d like to transfer your Schwab account to another broker, there is a $50 ACAT fee for a full transfer and $25 for a partial transfer. Oftentimes, the receiving broker will reimburse some or all of this fee, however. Plus, at $50 Schwab is below the average ACAT transfer fee of $60-75.
You’ll most likely be happy with your Schwab account, but if for any reason you want to permanently close your account, you’ll have to pay a termination fee. The termination fee should be in the ballpark of $50, and once your account is officially closed, you’ll receive a check for the amount in your account(s). Or you may receive it electronically depending on what you request.
What are Schwab's Commissions
While Schwab, like all major brokers, formerly had commissions for trading, this is no longer the case. The fast rise in popularity of discount brokers such as Robinhood no doubt led Schwab and other major brokers to drop their fees in order to keep and attract customers.
For stocks, ETFs, and most mutual funds, there is therefore $0 in commissions with Schwab. For options contracts, there is a $0 online base commission and a $0.65 fee per contract, which is pretty standard when it comes to options trading.
There are some mutual funds that do charge an up-front fee, which Schwab simply passes onto you, the buyer. These typically never exceed $49.95 per purchase.
There is also a $25 service charge for any kind of trade that’s made with the assistance of the broker. So, for example, if you make a trade on the phone with someone from Schwab, you will owe $25 in addition to any other fees (normally $0, as we’ve seen).
Finally, if you want to trade OTC (over-the-counter) securities or foreign securities, there are some fees involved. For OTC securities, there’s a $6.95 commission per executed trade. For foreign securities, there’s a $50 foreign transaction fee.
Charles Schwab Promo Recap
Schwab is a leader in low-cost investing as one of the first discount brokers, and you can definitely do a lot worse in terms of brokers if you want to set up a robust and well-diversified portfolio. As you can see, Schwab’s fees are largely minimal (or nonexistent) and pretty much in line with most other top-tier brokerage firms.
Schwab Promotion Code
Open Schwab Account
Charles Schwab Promo Code Disclaimer
Current Charles Schwab promo code details to open a new account could change at any time without notice. Read
bonus offer details carefully before depositing any money.
Updated on 8/29/2023.
Arthur Chachuna is professional personal finance blogger, and the owner of Brokerage-Review.com.
He has been an avid investor for 23 years, and has background in both applied math and programming.
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