Charles Schwab Assets Under Management (AUM)
Charles Schwab is one of the largest broker-dealers in the United States. The company has over
1,200 financial advisors, operates more than 330 brick-and-mortar locations in 46 states, and
serves over 7,000 registered investment advisors. The company also manages its own FDIC-insured
bank with over a million accounts.
The investment division of the financial behemoth has very deep pockets and a large customer base. Specifically, the brokerage house has the following numbers:
Charles Schwab Asset Management managed approximately $8.7 trillion
on a discretionary basis and $33.7 billion on a non-discretionary basis. Source: Schwab Asset Management
Charles Schwab is the third largest provider of mutual funds, fifth largest provider of ETFs, and
seventh largest provider of money market funds.
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Charles Schwab Number of Customers
The broker-dealer has 34.8 million securities accounts.
The total number of accounts is up significantly year over year.
The company’s banking division makes up only a small fraction of client assets. The bulk comes from brokerage
accounts, and a large chunk of these are retirement accounts. The firm provides Individual Retirement Accounts
and employer-sponsored plans.
The broker also has a large market share of the registered investment advisor marketplace. The
company provides various financial services for independent financial advisors. The 7,000
investment advisors Schwab works with manage $2 trillion. Schwab’s investment advisory service
employs 1,800 workers to handle trading, operations, and custody issues.
Besides its US operations, Schwab also has offices in England, Hong Kong, and Puerto Rico. This is
a smaller global presence than other brokers, such as Merrill Lynch, have.
Charles Schwab Review
Charles Schwab is one of the leading brokerage companies in the United States. Competitive fees, excellent customer service, and independent third-party research compliment their wide spectrum of investment products. Charles Schwab is an effective brokerage firm for long-term, medium-term, and short-term investors. First time traders and investors will find plenty of educational resources to get started. Intermediate and advanced traders will have access to major news events and market changes.
Account Types
Every trader has their own unique style of trading and investing. Charles Schwab offers a plethora of account varieties to choose from in order to meet the requirements of every trader.
Charles Schwab offers dozens of account types that are separated into five basic categories: standard, retirement, education, specialty accounts, and managed portfolios. Within each category, traders have the opportunity to choose from even more specific account types, each one crafted to meet the demands of almost any investor.
Common accounts, like IRA, small business plans, individual cash accounts, margin accounts are easily managed through their easy-to-use interface. Managed portfolios are carefully monitored and balanced by professionals. This type of an account is ideal for investors who have active lifetstyes and don’t have the time to adjust to market news and changes.
Platforms
Charles Schwab offers multiple 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 that enters and exits the market within seconds. The execution speed is quick, but page loading time can be very slow. This is partially due to the amount of clutter Charles Schwab puts on their web platform page. Graphic-heavy advertisements in the corners, unnecessary widgets at the top and bottom of the page, and irrelevant clutter such as texts and images scattered throughout slow down the page loading times. The forms required to place a trade can be a bit tedious as well. 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 in seconds.
Charles Schwab’s second platform is the mobile app. The mobile app is a 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 functions 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 browser and app at the same time. The app would be ideal, however 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. Last, 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 similar 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 the breaking the pattern day trader rule. Any trader with less than the recommended $2,000 will run the risk of seeing their accounts deteriorate due to Charles Schwab’s fees.
Managed portfolios with the 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 understands that news can impact market fluctuations. This is especially useful for short-term and intra-day traders. Charles Schwab offers independent third-party news reports that, for the most part, are timely published (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 surpasses the competition. New investors who have never traded or invested can read through hundreds of pages that teach rudimentary fundamentals of trading to become highly skilled. Charles Schwab also offers beginners step-by-step videos, articles, and a guide. These guides are simple, easy to understand, and introduces traders to new vocabulary as well as investment tips and strategies. Advanced traders have easy access to a thorough 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 that vary depending on the currency pairs.
Schwab AUM Recap
Charles Schwab is one of the most popular brokerage firms in the United States. Their excellent
customer service, reliable platforms, competitive fees, and wide spectrum of accounts has earned
the respect of successful professional traders in the United States. 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 1/22/2024.
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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