Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab is an investment services firm that describes itself as working to disrupt the status quo of the traditional Wall Street approach on behalf of its clients. The company's stated premise is that improving the investing experience for clients leads to business results, an idea it says it has held since its first day. In 1975, when the SEC deregulated securities commissions and many Wall Street firms raised theirs, Schwab cut its own and became one of the first discount brokerages. Discount brokers grew by charging lower fees than full-service firms for executing trades, which opened stock investing to a much wider group of households.

Over the decades, the company introduced 24/7 order entry, Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource for no-transaction-fee funds, low-cost online trading, commission-free ETFs, the automated Schwab Intelligent Portfolios service, and $0 online commissions on U.S. stock, ETF and options trades. These moves reflect a steady effort to make investing cheaper and more accessible; zero-commission online trading has since become the norm among major U.S. brokerages. Schwab's offerings now include brokerage and active trading, wealth management, lending and banking, along with proprietary mutual funds and ETFs.

The company serves individual investors, independent Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and employers offering workplace retirement plans. It supports 5.8 million workplace plan participants and provides custodial, trading and business consulting services to more than 16,000 RIAs. Independent advisors typically do not hold client assets themselves, relying instead on a custodian to safeguard those assets and process trades. As of August 31, 2026, Schwab had $13.41 trillion in total client assets and 40.1 million brokerage accounts. The company has 33,700 employees and offers client support from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CT, with around-the-clock help available online.