Charles Schwab

To open a brokerage account with schwab.com, you don’t need to deposit a minimum. There is no account opening fee, no maintenance fee, and no inactive account fee. If you want to close your account or transfer it to another broker, you will be charged a $50 fee. This process will take three weeks or more, so you will have to be patient. It is worth noting that although there is no minimum deposit for clients from the U.S., other clients need to transfer a minimum of $25,000 to get started.

One of the nice things about investing in Charles Schwab is that there is no minimum investment for their Schwab index funds. This means you can get into your investment portfolio even if you don’t have much money to begin with.

If you are interested in automating the investing process, you may also want to consider the robo-advisor service Intelligent Portfolios. The minimum account opening amount is $5,000. At Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium the minimum is $25,000. Although the minimum amount is higher than some other robo-advisors, the lack of advisory fees and user-friendly platform make Intelligent Portfolios an attractive option for new investors.

A robo-advisor offers several account types to choose from to best meet your financial goals.

The company offers many types of accounts. In addition to standard brokerage Individual and Joint accounts, you’ll find Checking, Savings accounts, Education, Custodial accounts, Trust, Estate accounts, Small Business Retirement account and Corporate account. Accounts that are only available to U.S. customers: Individual retirement accounts (Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, Rollover IRA), Robo-advisor accounts and Schwab Charitable account. You can read more about each type on the website.

The broker does not accept debit or credit cards, as well as electronic wallets for deposit or withdrawal. To replenish the company offers bank transfers or checks, their photo can be downloaded in a mobile app or sent to the address of the company. You can only make a deposit from an account registered in your name, the transfer takes 2 days. The base currency at schwab.com is the US dollar. If you have a personal bank account in a currency other than the U.S. dollar, you will be charged a conversion fee when you transfer funds. Charles Schwab does not charge a withdrawal fee if you use ACH withdrawal, but a bank transfer costs $25.

Overview of the trading interface

The company offers to work in its own web terminal Trade Source or on the cloud platform StreetSmart Edge. The latter is available both as a desktop version and as a mobile app.

The web terminal is more suitable for novice investors and mid-level traders. StreetSmart Edge is equipped with advanced trading tools, so it is actively used by professionals. There you will find:

Stock and EFT screener – the program searches for bargains based on specified parameters;

CNBC Online Broadcast – broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no ads;

Graphs – show the dynamics of the value of assets over a given period of time;

News – current stock market news;

Notifications – notifications are set to a certain price or other signals.

Both versions have simple and user-friendly interfaces. It is worth noting that the mobile application is not popular among traders because of the insufficient quality of the offered software. They note that the application is still worth working on.

Banking

A broker also acts as a banking institution. It allows, depending on the account, to issue:

Small and medium sized enterprises loans

Home mortgage or loans refinancing

Social Security agreement

Retirement Plan Brokerage Account Agreement

The company also issues credit cards of the American Express payment system.

Choice of investment products and commissions

Schwab clients can invest in mutual funds, ETFs, stocks, bonds, CDs, futures, and options. Schwab Target Funds are mutual funds designed with your anticipated retirement age in mind. Charges for Charles Schwab funds are high, except for about 4,000 mutual funds, which can be traded for free. These include Schwab Funds and thousands of other funds on the Mutual Fund OneSource Select List. However, if you sell these funds within 90 days of purchase, you will be charged a fee. The standard fee is up to $74,95 per purchase, while redemption is free.

The brokerage company is a leader in affordable ETFs. Charles Schwab trading platform does not charge commissions for trading listed stocks and ETFs. Schwab offers six major indexes ETFs and 15 proprietary market index ETFs, as well as access to about 200 commission-free ETFs from other companies.

They offer clients an ETF Select List where you can search for funds of interest based on expense ratios and Morningstar categories. You can also use schwab.com ETF Portfolio Builder tool. This online tool helps you create or modify an ETF portfolio based on your unique risk tolerance.

Schwab’s ETF OneSource tool does not have an online service fee, but users who wish to communicate with the broker will be charged an additional $25 fee.

If you prefer margin trading, you should familiarize yourself with Schwab’s margin rates. Trading on margin basically means that you borrow money from your broker and can buy more stocks than you could buy with the money you have in your account. You have to pay interest on this borrowed money, it can make up a significant part of your trading costs. The Charles Schwab base rate is 7.25%, but it is subject to change at any time without notice. To calculate the margin rate, you must add a percentage to the base rate, depending on the loan amount, from 0.075%($250,000-$499,999.99) to 1.825%($0-$24,999.99).

Commission for futures and futures options is $2,25 per contract, for options is quite low and is $0,65 per contract. Fees for Other Secondary Trades: CDs, Corporate Bonds, Municipal Bonds, Government Agencies, Zero-Coupon Treasuries, including STRIPS are $1 per bond ($10 minimum, $250 maximum).

Security

Your securities at schwab.com are covered by the nonprofit SIPC, which will cover the loss up to $500,000, including up to $250,000 in cash, in the event the company goes bankrupt and your assets are lost. Any non-investment cash in your brokerage account at the end of the day automatically goes to Charles Schwab Bank, where it earns interest and is insured by the FDIC.

In addition, since the shares you own are held by an outside owner, neither Charles Schwab trading platform nor its creditors can take possession of them if the broker has financial problems. Schwab is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

If your account loses money due to market declines or poor investment decisions, you’re out of luck – no matter which brokerage company you keep your money in.

Counseling and Customer Service

The consultation is in English only. The company writes that investment advisors are always available to answer investors’ questions or help stop problems before they lead to financial losses. Investors who choose to transfer part or all of their accounts to/from schwab.com can count on these advisors to offer full brokerage account transfer assistance.

If you have at least $25,000 in the Schwab platform, you can take advantage of a free personal portfolio review that includes discussing your short- and long-term goals, evaluating whether your current investments meet those goals and getting investment advice.

There are several ways to contact a Charles Schwab advisor or support service representative. You can contact the company by phone by dialing the 24-hour number. On their website, you can use online chat or email directly. Investors near a local branch can meet with a company representative. You may need to make an appointment in advance.

Despite the wide range of ways to contact support, in the reviews there are dissatisfied with the quality of service and they note the unprofessionalism of consultants.