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| Using Schwab.com |
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Investing September 1999 • Vol.5 Issue 9 |
Using Schwab.com | ||
 When Charles R. Schwab talks, people take heed. Not too many folks turn a deaf ear on Charles Schwab, one of the most trusted names in financial investment. Large online transactions still make many people leery. This is especially true with online trading where hundreds or thousands of dollars may be at stake if something goes wrong. But partnering appropriate cautionary measures (such as having a current and more secure Web browser) with an investment house that is trustworthy, solid, and reputable can make online trading safer and more comfortable. Whether you're looking to save for retirement or your children's education, or you're simply looking for some investment advice, bookmark the Schwab home page at http://www.schwab.com. An excellent way to familiarize yourself with the Schwab site is to follow the See What We Offer link on the main page. Here you'll find links to all the information an investor interested in Schwab needs. From the frequently asked questions (FAQs), to demos of the Customer Center, to a variety of investment planners, this page is a great overview of the Schwab site. We'll take you through these sections individually, but for more exploration on your own, this page is the one to check out.
 Planning Your Investments. There are several different planners that ask you questions and then walk you through your individual investment needs. (NOTE: You can find these Planners under the Planning heading on the left side of the main page.) Retirement planning. Don't imagine that you'll be able to depend on Social Security. Follow the link to Retirement Savings Planner and then enter your current age, the age at which you'd like to retire, and your annual income. Next, you'll need to enter your expected retirement expenses. You can enter a monthly total, break it down to specifics, or use 70% of your current expenses. Finally, you'll need to enter your current investments, broken down into High-Growth, Conservative, and Growth & Income. The site will calculate your Social Security, so you can leave that field blank and move on to enter other retirement income. Now click Calculate Savings Needed, and the site generates a retirement plan. The results will give you the amount you'll need to retire at the date specified and inform you how you're doing on your investments. If your Future Savings Shortfall is a negative number, you're already well on the way to meeting your retirement needs. Otherwise, it will suggest annual and monthly amounts you need to set aside to reach your goal. General planning. Suppose you're not ready to think about retirement yet. You can also take care of some general financial planning with Schwab by following the Set A Savings Goal link on the General Planning page. This simple calculation device helps you figure out how to reach a monetary goal. Enter the amount you'd like to save and the time you have until the funds are needed. Then enter the stock, bond, and cash values of what you currently have. You can adjust the rates of investment return, inflation, and taxes or leave the average rates that appear and then click Calculate Savings Need to find out what you'll have to set aside each month to nest this egg.
After you've established a goal, you'll need to tell the planner how much you're willing to invest initially and the expected rate of return. This will calculate how much you'll need to invest each month to reach your goal. Estate planning. If you're an executor, you can use Schwab's Estate Planner to guide you through estate distribution. If you're looking for an attorney to help plan your estate, you can search nationwide for one of Schwab's pre-screened recommendations. Tax planning. The Tax planner section uses information provided by Deloitte & Touche LLP. You can learn about enhancements to IRAs, family tax benefits, and various tax reforms. You can also check out tax strategies for filing your returns. Life insurance planning. With the Schwab life insurance planner (found by following the link under Products And Services), you can obtain a Quick Quote to estimate your term insurance premiums with Schwab. It also lets you calculate how much life insurance you'll need. Follow the Quick Quote link and then select a state to begin the estimate process. You'll need to answer an array of interesting questions, starting with how much insurance you're looking at, how long you'll want it, your birth date, height, weight, medical history, tobacco-usage habits, and whether or not you're planning on flying a private airplane. After you submit the information, it gives you an estimated annual premium and the option to apply for Schwab life insurance. With the Insurance Needs Calculator (follow the Calculate link), simply enter your family's immediate financial needs, your estimated future needs, and your current assets. This will lead you to obtain a quick quote of how much coverage you should have. Expanding Your Investment Knowledge. It's one thing to know how much money you'll need to set aside to reach investment goals, but another to figure out where to put it. Since a savings account is only a slight improvement on mattress stuffing your cash, the Schwab site is an excellent place to expand your knowledge on investments.
You can also check out the Market Buzz to get a feel for what's going on in different companies and industries, which will help you better decide where to invest. The Buzz section includes company news stories, broad and specific market statistics, and market reports. The reports include stocks with the largest percentage increases and decreases in volume and price, as well as stocks setting 52-week highs and lows. Industry closeup. Under the Research heading, you can get a sample of a Schwab industry close-up. These include opinions by various individuals in research groups that target specific industries and whether they feel different companies' stocks are worth targeting for investment. Non-members can only view the currently featured industry. Mutual Fund OneSource. In recent years, mutual funds have become the investment method of choice for investors at all levels of experience. The Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource is an excellent resource for determining the types of funds to target. It accomplishes this by showing which funds have the highest risk, the highest historical performance, and the best tax options. Click the link to the Schwab Select List and then choose the options from the various drop-down menus. You can choose a broad fund category, such as Large Company U.S. Stock, International, or Tax-Free Bond and then a time period ranging from three to 10 years. This will lead you to the best-performing mutual funds. You can also search through Screen Funds at Schwab and be more specific in your criteria, checking for expense ratios and fund assets and comparing the funds across three different categories. Bonds & Treasuries. If you're looking for more stable investments, stop by the Bonds & Treasuries section. You can use the Market Yield Calculator to find out how to make tax savings investments. By clicking the Treasuries link, you will get more information about what Treasuries are, why they're a protected investment, and how to invest in them. This section also has information about other fixed income investments, such as Preferred Investments, Equity UITs, and Bond UITs. These easy and lower-level investments are a good place for novice investors to begin. Demos. The Account Management demo will show you how to read the overview of your investments, check your account history, and transfer money between accounts. The News & Research demo tells you how to obtain information about stocks and industries and how to read the market. The Quotes & Charts demo provides information on how to get single and multiple stock quotes, set up watch lists for your favorite stocks, and chart their performance. The Trading demo walks you through the process of making an online transaction and tells you how to make sure that the transaction has gone through. Finally, the Portfolio Management demo shows you how Schwab can help you balance all of your investments. The Benefits Of Membership. While you can explore much of the Schwab site without opening an account, you'll gain access to a lot more tools and services once you're a member. Depending on how much you're investing, there may not be any periodic fees that you'll have to pay except during transactions. If you keep your investments in five figures ($10,000 or higher), there's no annual fee. Otherwise, you will pay a $29 annual fee for most services (subject to certain waivers). Customers must invest at least $2,500 to open an account, and Schwab charges $29.95 per trade up to 1,000 shares and 3 cents a share thereafter. You can obtain account information by clicking the Open An Account link on the main page. Research On Request. Members are eligible for Schwab's Research On Request service, which is under the Research heading. This professional analyst research on over 1,000 companies and 55 industries provides daily stock updates and recommendations. Automatic Investing. After you've made an initial investment in a mutual fund, you can set up future automatic investments in that fund (under Account Benefits on the Open An Account page). You determine the amount of each investment, how often these investments are made (up to twice a month), and the Schwab site does the rest. Schwab Access. If you open a Schwab One account, you get a Visa check-card and check-writing capabilities from your account (as well as new online banking features). This means you'll be able to handle the majority of your typical cash transactions through the Schwab site.
Schwab Signature Services. If you're a high-volume trader or are planning to invest a sizable amount, check out the Schwab Signature Services. Designed for investors who trade at least 12 times a year or who have at least $100,000 in investable assets, the Signature Services provide additional benefits over a standard Schwab account. You get priority phone access, complimentary research and information for high-level investments, and access to exclusive online resources, including a variety of investment tools. For clients even higher up the investment food chain, there's the Schwab Signature Gold for investors who conduct at least 24 trades per year or have $500,000 in assets to invest and the Schwab Signature Platinum for 48 trades per year or $1,000,000 in assets. International Investors. Schwab .com doesn't just cater to domestic U.S. investors. Its site contains an International Access section, specifically for individuals and corporations outside the United States. International investors using the Schwab One International Account get many of the same benefits that U.S. investors have through the Schwab site. This includes 24-hour Web trading, free delayed quotes and charts, market research, and the trusted investment expertise from Schwab analysts. International users speaking a language other than English can also check out Schwab's Multilingual Services. Offices with applications and investment information in Mandarin, Cantonese, French, and Spanish are available. Schwab's Experience. Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. is one of the nation's largest financial services firms. Charles Schwab was one of the founders of the company in 1971 and has been chairman since 1978. Incorporated in 1986, Schwab currently provides financial services to more than 6.1 million accounts via its Web site, telephone, and 300 local branches. The Schwab site is one of the leading online investment Web sites. Schwab.com currently holds more than 2.5 million active online accounts with more than $219 billion in assets. More than $10 billion in transactions are completed via the Schwab Web site weekly, making it one of the largest E-commerce businesses in the world. Whether you're starting to think about saving or are an investment expert, everyone has something beneficial to learn from Schwab.com.  by Joel Strauch
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