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.
> 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.
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.
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.
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.
