Why there’s never been a better time to be an investor

Schwab has a long history of innovating and continuously breaking down barriers to investing. As I reflect on our company’s more than 50 years of innovations, including the earlier days of introducing online trading and the first no-transaction-fee mutual-fund network, as well as more recent disruptions like $0 commissions on online stock, ETF and options trades and broad access to incredibly powerful trading platforms, I keep coming back to the same conclusion: there has never been a better time to be an investor. 

And investors know this too. According to Schwab’s 2024 Modern Wealth Survey, nearly three in five Americans are investing today. Recent Federal Reserve data show this proportion represents the highest on record. Not only are more Americans investing, but they’re also feeling confident. Schwab’s survey showed more than 60% of Americans feel they are in a better position to achieve their financial goals than the generations that came before them.

We, of course, saw the number of Americans investing go up during the pandemic, but there are a lot of factors driving this trend that were in place before that and continue to drive engagement today. A wide range of industry changes have made trading and investing easier and more accessible than before, including lower costs and minimums to invest and get advice, broader access to sophisticated platforms and tools, a proliferation of investing information such as research and educational content, and other significant product innovations. 

In fact, Schwab’s survey indicates that Americans who believe they are in better financial shape than previous generations point to the fact that they have more ways to build wealth, increased accessibility to investing, and additional investment options available to them.

Product innovations such as fractional shares, thematic investing, and direct indexing as well as increasing interest in more active trading and cryptocurrencies are drawing more people to investing. For these newcomers and seasoned investors alike, Schwab’s vast array of educational resources help clients learn and implement strategies, navigate risk, and stay on top of market news and economic events. Individual investors also now have access to many of the same professional-quality tools, platforms, and research as professional portfolio managers, empowering them to trade more knowledgably as well.

At our 2024 Institutional Investor Day, I shared how Schwab is a leader in the evolution toward this new, more modern retail investing experience and meeting the needs of the broad set of investors who want to participate in it. Through the first half of 2024, Schwab supports more than $4 trillion in retail client assets across more than 25 million brokage accounts serving a broad range of investors, from those who are new, to active traders, to those with growing and very significant amounts of wealth. These investors are increasingly engaged, averaging 4.4 million daily active trades, investing more than $600 billion in advice solutions, and spending more time with educational content and insights.

As we move towards the future with this momentum in client growth and engagement, our commitment to continue improving and simplifying the investing experience is steadfast. Investors no longer just compare the experience at Schwab with other financial firms—they expect investing to be as intuitive and accessible as streaming their favorite show, ordering takeout from their phone, or getting a ride to the airport. As part of our digital transformation, one of the things we look at is our Client Easy Score to help us measure the success of our digital tools and experiences. Our Client Easy Score, which continues to strengthen, really helps us understand if we are using technology and digital tools in ways that truly make things easier for the client. 

Exceptional client service is also critical to driving growth and engagement, and it’s core to Schwab’s business and our broader “Through Clients’ Eyes” strategy, meaning we put our client needs and preferences first. We are committed to deepening our client relationships, and we know our people are at the heart of the experience clients have, whether that’s by phone, chat, or in one of our 400+ branches. You can also see that in the host of enhancements we’ve made across our web and mobile trading experience and performance reporting, or in Schwab Knowledge Assistant, which leverages generative AI to help our client-facing representatives answer questions more effectively and efficiently. 

I am confident that our approach at Schwab will continue to resonate with investors across the board, as we continually raise the bar on what it means to serve individual investors and traders for years to come.