Schwab is not only engaging individual investors online, it’s also offering them digital financial planning for free.
Schwab recently announced the launch of Schwab Plan, a free digital financial planning capability that assists investors in establishing and staying on track towards financial goals.
“With this move, Schwab is now the only large retail brokerage to offer complimentary financial planning to all clients,” the firm said in announcing the launch.
Schwab Plan is now available to all Schwab clients regardless of their asset level, offering retirement and financial planning to its millions of retail investing clients, many of whom have not had access to planning of any kind in the past.
Through a self-guided process, clients build a personalized plan incorporating factors like desired retirement age, retirement goals, social security expectations, risk profile, asset allocation and income. The plan is informed by a short questionnaire that can be completed in as little as 15 minutes.
After going through the planning process, clients will be able to see retirement goals and their probability of funding those goals, compare current asset allocations to recommendations based on their plan inputs, and suggested next steps to nudge them towards an optimal course of action.
“We believe everyone, regardless of how much money they have, should have access to tools that help them take control of their financial future,” says Cynthia Loh, Charles Schwab vice president of digital advice, in released comments. “But we know that not enough people have access to financial planning, whether it’s because minimums and fees are out of reach or because the planning experience is just too complicated or overwhelming. Our goal with Schwab Plan is to provide investors with a modern planning tool that is similar to what professionals use, but streamlined to make the experience easier and more accessible for people who want to get started planning on their own.”
The new capability can aggregate and factor in accounts held outside of Schwab. Schwab Plan also includes a planning dashboard that allows clients to model how changes might impact their lifetime financial picture, and can be used by clients already served by advisors to model the impacts of different scenarios. Clients are offered analytics including probability of reaching goals calculations and Monte Carlo simulations. Changes and updates to the financial plan are dynamic – when a client updates their plan, they will automatically receive an updated probability of reaching their goals.