Charles Schwab 2007 Annual Report Download - page 22

20 | LETTER FROM THE CEO
accounts, 260,000 banking accounts, and
1.2 million retirement plan participants.
In addition, many other Schwab units –
including Charles Schwab Bank, solution
services, investment management,
marketing, human resources, and tech-
nology – provide centralized support for
the entire corporation, allowing us
to integrate many processes for greater
effi ciency.
We are reaching individuals
at every stage of life.
While our average client continues to
be a mid-50s Baby Boomer, we are
reaching out to younger investors, making
it easier to be fi nancially fi t at any stage
of life. Of more than 11 million individuals
aged 25 to 40, many are making life
decisions with huge fi nancial implications
– paying off college loans, starting a
family, buying a home, or beginning
to save for retirement. Last year, we
helped these younger investors get an
early start with Schwab Bank High Yield
Investor Checking™ and a lower, $100
minimum requirement for investing and
brokerage accounts.
Moving with our clients through their
investing career, we continued to see
strong demand for Schwab Managed
Portfolios™, which provides professional
portfolio management for those with
$25,000 or more to invest. This diversi-
fi ed mutual fund program, which was
introduced in mid-2006, reached $4.5
billion in client assets at year end 2007.
And we enhanced our commitment
to helping everyone achieve fi nancial
fi tness by offering complimentary port-
folio consultations to each and every
client – no matter how large or small
their assets.
Innovation was also key to several new
mutual fund offerings, including three
new Fundamental Index* funds and the
fi rst Schwab Global Real Estate Fund™.
At year end 2007, total client assets held
in mutual funds rose 24 percent to $730
billion, including $242 billion invested in
Schwab Funds and Laudus Funds®.
We are helping individuals
invest for the future.
For most individuals, retirement is the
number one reason why they invest.
Although we refer to Schwab Corporate
& Retirement Services as “our retirement
business,” every part of Schwab helps
individuals save for retirement.
Through Schwab Investor Services, we
launched the “15-minute IRA” to make
it easier for clients to fund an individual
retirement account. For those already
in retirement, the Schwab Retirement
Income Fund helps generate retirement
income while preserving opportunities
for equity growth.
In addition to robust, ongoing invest-
ment in our servicing technology and
platform, Schwab Institutional introduced
two trust services to help advisors
sustain relationships across generations.
Through an alliance with TriNet, we also
announced programs to help independent
advisors manage their businesses more
effi ciently, including lower group rates for
health and life insurance, payroll services,
and company retirement and employee
incentive plans.
20 | OPERATIONS OVERVIEW
The Charles Schwab Corporation Client Assets
Total client assets reached $1.45 trillion as of Dec. 31, 2007.
Schwab Investor
Services:
$625 billion,
up 10.2 percent
Schwab Institutional:
$584 billion,
up 16.1 percent
Schwab Corporate &
Retirement Services:
$237 billion,
up 39.9 percent
SCHWAB INVESTOR SERVICES
Annual Revenues: $3.4 billion
Pre-Tax Margin: 36.9 percent
“While I was visiting one of our
branches, I met a client who had built
a relationship with Beth, his Financial
Consultant. After we’d talked for
a while he asked, ‘Have you ever
met Mr. Schwab?’ I replied that I’m
fortunate to work with Chuck Schwab
quite regularly. Then he added: ‘Well,
the next time you see him, tell him
that I appreciate his offer to Talk
to Chuck, but I don’t really need to
because I’ve got Beth here to help
me out.’ This was a tremendous
reinforcement to me that we are
building our business on trusting
relationships. We’re creating loyal
clients by providing the type of help
and guidance people are looking
for, whether through our Financial
Consultants, our complimentary
consultations, or our many services
on schwab.com.”
Ben Brigeman,
Executive Vice President