Schwab is my number one bank. When it comes to banking, Schwab & Fidelity are incredible and every other bank is a distant third.
Let me give you a short history. About year 2000, I opened an account at thinkorswim (TOS). In those years, TOS was a stand-alone broker. TOS was certainly ok. Then TD Ameritrade (TDA) bought TOS. And the combo of TDA & TOS was ok. About that same time, I independently opened a checking account at Schwab. And Schwab was certainly ok. Later, Schwab merged with TDA, so now TOS is part of Schwab. For me, that merger went extremely smoothly. Everything carried over. Schwab deleted my Schwab One brokerage account (because it was redundant) and I continued along with my TDA brokerage accounts and my Schwab checking account. Everything was merged under one profile. I had zero problems resulting from the combo of the companies. I give the Information Systems Department at Schwab six stars out of five because everything continued perfectly post-merger.
Now, I have a few ETF’s at Schwab but I mostly use Schwab for checking. I pay a few bills using Schwab and do a tiny bit of trading at Schwab. Altogether, I have five figures $ at Schwab, so I am certainly ok with Schwab. I use Symantec VIP authenticator to log into Schwab and it works perfectly. Symantec VIP prevents an imposter from obtaining access to my Schwab accounts.
I have not experienced any outages at Schwab. My customer service experience at Schwab is always five out of five stars. The Schwab website always works perfectly for me. I have experienced only one problem (explained below). There are a LOT of negative Trust Pilot reviews of Schwab. I suspect a lot of those unhappy people are customers of Schwab Advisor Services - something I have zero experience with. Obviously, their entire relationship with Schwab is much different from my own. I am a self-directed trader, so I make 100% of my stock market decisions. I do not look to Schwab (or anyone else) for advice because I am very experienced in the financial markets.
If I had no knowledge of the market, and if my time horizon was long, I would invest in a diversified broad market ETF like "SCHB" or "VTI" and do something else with my time. I would not pay a lot of fees to an advisor. This is not investment advice, just what I would do.
I am not an employee of any brokerage firm. My review is strictly based on my experience as a customer of Schwab. I recommend that you give Schwab a try.
Post Script: Only one issue with Schwab. Their technology department has a offensive habit of rendering perfectly good hardware obsolete for installation of their mobile apps. In other words, without warning, one day when you attempt to use the Schwab mobile app, you will receive this type of message: ”Update application. The Schwab mobile app is no longer accessible on iOS devices with operating systems older than iOS 17. . . .” Or a similar message for Android users. I have a perfectly good iPad which runs everything I need except the Schwab mobile app's. Frankly, I do not wish to waste money on a new iPad only for the purpose of making the technology people at Schwab happy. If this is important to you & this bothers you, avoid Schwab because this kind of BS is SOP for the systems people at Schwab. You are immune from this if you never use any of the Schwab mobile apps. If you buy the newest hand-held technology every year or two, this will not be a concern for you. If you process all of your transactions on the Schwab website, this will not be a concern.
PPS: Tastytrade is my number one broker. IF you are an options trader, check out Tastytrade because I prefer trading on the Tasty trading platform (compared to Schwab’s thinkorswim). Just my opinion. I used thinkorswim for many years and it is certainly an ok options trading platform, but I prefer Tasty.
PPPS: The HUGE downside to both Tastytrade and Schwab => They have not figured out a way to stop ACATS fraud before the fact. They only thing they offer is => "if you are affected by ACATS fraud, be sure to notify us in a timely manner." In other words, Schwab and Tasty fix fraud after it has occurred. But only if you notify them right away. If you fail to notice the fraud immediately, then "too bad, so sad." If you are concerned about ACATS fraud, get an account at Fidelity (Fidelity knows how to stop fraud before it occurs).
CB
Carlos B.
Un gran banco de inversión
Un gran banco de inversión, de los mayores y mejores de los EEUU. Atención y servicios inmejorables las 24 horas del día y los 7 días de la semana. La banca en Argentina es un verdadero desastre frente a este tipo de instituciones americanas. Servicio, seguridad y atención son sus mayores características. Muy recomendable.
JC
John C.
19 years of complete satisfaction!
For 19 years, I have been invested with Charles Schwab. The exceptional service that I receive; very professional very personal, very courteous; typify the experience that I had today. My sincere appreciation to Tim Cummins and Ebone for assisting me today. I highly recommend Charles Schwab. Thank you, Tim and Ebone. Thank you, Charles Schwab!
PD
Patrick D.
Good customer service with my…
Good customer service with my investments. They are prompt and helpful with any questions. However, be aware of WHERE your certificate of deposit is invested. An investment with FLAGSTAR BANK thru Charles Schwab proved troublesome, but reputable banks pay their investments on the day they mature.
BA
Ben A.
Foreigner with the internationl broker…
Foreigner with the internationl broker account. Super happy with both service, security and the great debit card for international travel. Trades has never failed me either.
DR
DrB
Excellent Service at Low Cost
Cost effective, helpful information and 24/7 customer service. I use serval investment and brokerage services this is by far the best and best value.
