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I am also a huge fan of Schwab and would recommend them to anyone that is looking for a brokerage (and checking account with no ATM fees). For such an old (and

by pb7 6y ago

I am also a huge fan of Schwab and would recommend them to anyone that is looking for a brokerage (and checking account with no ATM fees). For such an old (and one would think, stuck in their old ways) institution, they keep up quite well technologically and consumer relations wise. Their website and apps are updated thoughtfully and regularly. The very few times I have had to deal with customer service, it couldn't have gotten smoother or quicker. One time, it was my fault (infringed SEC trade settlement rules and got put on probation required by law) and a knowledgeable man called to very politely explain what had happened and to clear up any confusion going forward. You're not going to get that from Robinhood.

freetime2 6y ago
I love Schwab and agree their support has always been great. The one thing I wish they had is an automatic money market sweep for cash in my brokerage account. Right now any uninvested cash I have in that account earns me essentially nothing, and my understanding is that Schwab makes a pretty good profit from it.
- PhantomGremlin 6y ago
  At this time, because of ZIRP, a money market sweep is worthless in terms of earning interest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_interest-rate_policy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_interest-rate_policy You are right that Schwab makes a pretty good profit from it. The way they do that is by lending "your" money to their margin customers and charging those people 7% or more while paying you pennies. In a "margin" brokerage account, "your" money is merely a debt obligation of Schwab. TD Ameritrade (and now I think Schwab) will sweep cash from your brokerage account into a real, genuine, bank account. But the interest rate is still almost nothing.
junar 6y ago
FYI, Charles Schwab was founded in the 1970s, and they were one of the first discount brokerages created after financial deregulation allowed for low-cost trades. https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/The-genesis-of-discount-brokerage-1975-SEC-2637815.php https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/The-genesis-of-disco...
thewebcount 6y ago
> For such an old (and one would think, stuck in their old ways) institution, they keep up quite well technologically and consumer relations wise. Unfortunately, I have to disagree. While I never had any major problems with them, my company's 401k accounts used to be with them. At the time (this was about 5 years ago) you couldn't have a password longer than 8 characters and they didn't support 2 factor authentication. They had it, just not for your account. It was quite frustrating. Maybe they've finally wised up? But even so, that's hardly keeping up well with tech.
- PhantomGremlin 6y ago
  you couldn't have a password longer than 8 characters It was even worse, if such a thing is possible. Passwords were case insensitive. https://1password.community/discussion/60363/psa-schwab-now-accepts-passwords-with-uppercase-letters-symbols-and-longer-than-8-characters https://1password.community/discussion/60363/psa-schwab-now-... There was an HN discussion about this, but the original article is now lost to the mists of time. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8783790 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8783790

by pb7 6y ago

freetime2 6y ago

I love Schwab and agree their support has always been great. The one thing I wish they had is an automatic money market sweep for cash in my brokerage account. Right now any uninvested cash I have in that account earns me essentially nothing, and my understanding is that Schwab makes a pretty good profit from it.

PhantomGremlin 6y ago
At this time, because of ZIRP, a money market sweep is worthless in terms of earning interest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_interest-rate_policy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_interest-rate_policy You are right that Schwab makes a pretty good profit from it. The way they do that is by lending "your" money to their margin customers and charging those people 7% or more while paying you pennies. In a "margin" brokerage account, "your" money is merely a debt obligation of Schwab. TD Ameritrade (and now I think Schwab) will sweep cash from your brokerage account into a real, genuine, bank account. But the interest rate is still almost nothing.

junar 6y ago

FYI, Charles Schwab was founded in the 1970s, and they were one of the first discount brokerages created after financial deregulation allowed for low-cost trades. https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/The-genesis-of-discount-brokerage-1975-SEC-2637815.php https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/The-genesis-of-disco...

thewebcount 6y ago

> For such an old (and one would think, stuck in their old ways) institution, they keep up quite well technologically and consumer relations wise. Unfortunately, I have to disagree. While I never had any major problems with them, my company's 401k accounts used to be with them. At the time (this was about 5 years ago) you couldn't have a password longer than 8 characters and they didn't support 2 factor authentication. They had it, just not for your account. It was quite frustrating. Maybe they've finally wised up? But even so, that's hardly keeping up well with tech.

PhantomGremlin 6y ago
you couldn't have a password longer than 8 characters It was even worse, if such a thing is possible. Passwords were case insensitive. https://1password.community/discussion/60363/psa-schwab-now-accepts-passwords-with-uppercase-letters-symbols-and-longer-than-8-characters https://1password.community/discussion/60363/psa-schwab-now-... There was an HN discussion about this, but the original article is now lost to the mists of time. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8783790 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8783790