Charles Schwab Investment Advisory
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Is this your firm? Have your data reviewed | August 12th, 2020
Charles Schwab Investment Advisory, registered in 2009, is a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) in 50 state(s) with a licensed staff of 56 advisors. Charles Schwab Investment Advisory manages $90.0 billion and provides investment advisory services for 504,702 clients (1:9013 advisor/client ratio).
Disciplinary Questions
After checking the disciplinary records of Charles Schwab Investment Advisory, our system found no disciplinary questions to ask. Checks take place monthly.
Conflict Questions
After checking the regulatory records of Charles Schwab Investment Advisory, our system has identified the following question(s) to ask. Learn more.
Is your firm also a Broker-Dealer or are they affiliated with one? What conflicts arise from this relationship? How do you mitigate them?
Why ask? Currently this firm is also a Broker-Dealer or is affiliated with one. When firms are dual-registered as broker-dealers, they may be subject to compensation-related conflicts of interest, including revenue sharing from mutual funds, cross-selling of commissioned insurance products, and the sale of proprietary investment products. All of these conflicts can negatively impact clients via hidden fees and overall higher costs.
Do you offer mutual funds that have 12b-1 fees?
Why ask? 12b-1 fees increase the total annual cost of owning a mutual fund with no guarantee of higher returns. Some firms receive these fees as payments, which creates an incentive to promote them.
Regulatory disclosures state that your firm sells proprietary investments and products. Please provide me a list of the products and a summary of how much you earn from them.
Why ask? This firm recommends proprietary investments and products that could generate larger commissions than other similar non-proprietary products. This could also limit the number and diversity of investment options available to you and may impact their transferability. Do not be afraid to ask how much they will earn from the product or what other non-proprietary options are available.
It appears you recommend securities that you or your affiliates underwrite or in which you serve as general or managing partner? Will any of my assets be invested in those products?
Why ask? This firm recommends securities that they may have recently taken public or otherwise have controlling interest over. This relationship could introduce bias where a firm and its advisors may push those products over others that may have a more favorable performance with which they are not affiliated.
Which securities do you trade for yourself that you will also be recommending to me?
Why ask? This firm has marked in their disclosures that they trade recommended securities. While this often can be seen as "eating your own cooking," there are several inherent conflicts that can arise. For example, front running is when a financial professional buys or sell securities ahead of their client. In short, any financial professional should disclose all positions they hold (or have sold short) that they will also be recommending to you.
Our system found no other conflict questions to ask. Checks take place monthly.
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Firm Information
As a financial advisory firm, also known as a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), Charles Schwab Investment Advisory can provide a variety of financial planning services for Americans. The goal of a financial advisor is to review your personal finances and work with you to achieve your life goals, e.g., saving for retirement, by creating a comprehensive financial plan. Financial advisors focus primarily on money management, including investments like stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds.
Financial planning services can include tax planning, estate planning, retirement planning, or life-based event planning such as saving for college, getting married, purchasing a home, paying down debt, or planning an inheritance.
| Summary | Firm |
| Advisors Directory | View Directory |
| Avg Advisor Years Registered | 13 |
| Minimum Investment | Ask firm |
| Average Client Balance | $178,240 |
| Total AUM | $90.0 billion |
| Investment-Related Prohibition - Court | No |
| Advisor / Client Ratio | 1:9013 |
| Website | Visit Site |
| Phone Number | 415-667-1910 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA |
| SEC Filings | View SEC IAPD CRD #151739 |
Disciplinary History
An important aspect of the Trust Algorithm is processing the SEC Form ADV Part 1 filing of each Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). “Item 11 Disclosure Information” contains a list of valuable disclosures that are relevant for Americans.
As identified in SEC Form ADV Part 1, Item 11 “Disclosure Information”, the Trust Algorithm identified the following disciplinary disclosures for Charles Schwab Investment Advisory:
Cost
Unfortunately, there is no single, uniform pricing standard for working with a financial advisor. Catchphrases, including "fee-only," can be helpful; however, Americans often get confused with competitors promoting "fee-based" in response.
Ultimately, to understand the underlying costs of advisory services, we always recommend asking for an itemized fees breakdown and reading the firm's ADV Part 2 Brochure (Item 5, "Fees and Compensation").
| Disclosure | Firm |
| 12B-1 Fees | Ask firm |
| Attorney Conflict | No |
| Broker-Dealer Conflict | Yes |
| Performance-Based Fees | Ask firm |
| Commissions Conflict | No |
| Insurance Agent Conflict - Affiliation | Yes |
| Insurance Agent Conflict - Firm | No |
| Non-Secure Website | No |
| Private Investment Management | Yes |
| Proprietary Products | Yes |
| Side-by-Side Management | Ask firm |
| Soft-dollar Arrangements | No |
| Trades Recommended Securities | Yes |
FAQs
Where is Charles Schwab Investment Advisory headquartered? Which states do its financial advisors serve?
Charles Schwab Investment Advisory is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Charles Schwab Investment Advisory offers financial advisor services in 50 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
What is the average client balance at Charles Schwab Investment Advisory?
While Charles Schwab Investment Advisory advises clients across a variety of portfolio sizes, the average client balance is currently $178,240. In total, Charles Schwab Investment Advisory manages $89,958,134,029 in assets.
What is the historical performance of Charles Schwab Investment Advisory?
Fun Fact: No regulator currently tracks portfolio performance metrics for the financial planning industry. Remember, the financial plan your financial advisor creates with you will always be unique to your personal financial situation. That's the value of working with a financial advisor.
Can I write a review of Charles Schwab Investment Advisory or file a complaint?
investor.com relies on regulatory data from the SEC to rate and review financial advisor firms. As a result, we do not support personal reviews on the site. To file a complaint or dispute with this firm, please fill out the SEC Investor Complaint Form.
This automated report was generated using SEC and FINRA data and was last updated on August 12th, 2020*. For data support, email "support@investor.com". Views: 389 (trailing six months). Firms that receive a 4.5 or 5-star rating are considered Trusted by investor.com. Learn more.
*SEC data last verified 08/12/2020. For the most up-to-date information, please view the applicable SEC and FINRA reports above. By visiting these sites, you are subject to their terms of use (IAPD, BrokerCheck). Any data inaccuracies, please contact our team. All requests for updated information should also be reported directly to the SEC and/or FINRA. Firm’s/Financial Professional’s investor.com profile pages may contain certain limited information directly provided to investor.com by the Firm/Financial Professional including, by way of example only, the “Personal Bio,” “Certifications,” and/or “Investment Philosophy” portions of the profile page. With respect to such information, investor.com cannot and does not independently verify, audit, validate, assess or guarantee the adequacy, accuracy, or completeness of such information; such information is not included or otherwise incorporated within investor.com’s Trust Score algorithm or review process.
