President & CEO of Charles Schwab Talks Advisor Services

Summary

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Podcast Summary: President & CEO of Charles Schwab Talks Advisor Services

Podcast: Bloomberg Talks
Host(s): Bloomberg
Guest: Rick Wurster, President & CEO of Charles Schwab
Date: November 5, 2025
Location: Schwab IMPACT 2025, Denver

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Overview of the Episode

This episode features an in-depth conversation with Rick Wurster, the President & CEO of Charles Schwab, focusing on the evolving landscape of advisor services and how the firm is navigating a rapidly changing investment environment. Key topics include the firm's response to changing market conditions, the rise of retail trading, advice for advisors, engaging new generations of investors, and Schwab's strategies around new asset classes like crypto and private markets.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Company Performance & The Investment Environment

• Schwab recently posted strong earnings, leading to stock price appreciation and bullish analyst outlooks ([00:18]-[00:46]).
  • “It is a great place to start. First of all, it's 175 billion dollar market cap company stock is up about 26% year to date following its recent earnings.” — Host 1 ([00:18])
• Wurster’s first year as CEO was marked by navigating complex markets and prioritizing service to Schwab’s vast client base.
  • “It’s been a year in which the value of what we bring to the table—great in person experiences, the leading digital app, the strength of our bank and wealth capabilities... all of those things have been necessary to help clients navigate markets.” — Rick Wurster ([01:43])

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2. Approach to Market Volatility & Long-Term Investing

• Schwab urges clients to focus on long-term investing rather than market timing, referencing a client story about missed gains due to moving in and out of the market.
  • “If clients can stay in the market and tolerate some volatility, we think over the long run that gets rewarded because it is so hard to call the markets both when to get out and when to get back in.” — Rick Wurster ([02:41]-[03:39])

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3. Navigating Concentrated Positions & Big Tech Dominance

• Advisors are frequently handling client questions about reducing exposure to a handful of highly successful tech stocks.
  • “One of the most pressing topics from investors today is how to navigate concentrated positions. The S&P is as concentrated as it’s ever been.” — Rick Wurster ([03:54])
• The challenge is balancing investor desire to hold onto high-performing stocks like Nvidia with the need for diversification.
  • “Oftentimes we don’t win it, but we want to make sure the client is cognizant of, of the risk and the choice that they're making.” — Rick Wurster ([04:40])

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4. Retail Investor Trends & Schwab vs. Robinhood

• Retail investors now comprise around 20% of the US equity market and often lead institutional buyers.
  • “Retail traders have been the ones leading the market higher and have been the ones buying the dips... I think you have a retail buyer that has strong hands and will stick through the market.” — Rick Wurster ([05:19])
• Schwab's clientele is distinguished by access to high-quality technology, research, and live support, compared to Robinhood’s approach.
  • “Our customer is an incredibly thoughtful group of retail investors... They have access to the most robust research platform. We produce 35 hours a week of live education and training for investors, so they're making the most informed decisions.” — Rick Wurster ([05:49])

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5. Attracting & Retaining Gen Z Investors

• One third of Schwab’s new customers are Gen Z (ages 13–28).
  • “We are having tremendous success with the young investor because we see through their eyes and we put all the weight and strength of our firm behind helping them live their best financial life.” — Rick Wurster ([06:44])
• Marketing to Gen Z has meant showing up where they are, including YouTube and TikTok.
  • “We're the number one followed financial services company on YouTube. We're all over TikTok.” — Rick Wurster ([07:31])

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6. Perspective on Prediction Markets & Gambling vs. Investing

• Wurster distinguishes between prediction markets, sports gambling, and investing, signaling Schwab’s reluctance to blur those lines.
  • “Our mission is to make our clients better off in their financial life... gambling has proven to be a net negative contribution to your wealth... The thing I worry most about is the conflation between gambling and investing.” — Rick Wurster ([09:10],[09:55])

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7. Schwab’s Evolving Stance on Crypto

• Schwab clients own 20% of all US crypto ETPs; the company facilitates exposure via ETPs, planning to offer spot crypto custody in 2026.
  • “For most people, buying exchange traded product is the right way to go... In addition to offering the ETP, we will in time offer spot crypto... and we're looking forward to being able to do that this year.” — Rick Wurster ([10:26]-[11:16])
• Wurster personally has not bought crypto, prefers assets with earnings or interest:
  • “My investments are in assets that I consider to be productive assets... generating earnings or generating principal or interest. And that's where I focus my investment portfolio.” — Rick Wurster ([11:44])

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8. Private Markets & Retirement Accounts

• Schwab plans to expand access to private investments in retail portfolios, envisioning active, passive, and single-security options in private markets.
  • “I think retail investors should be exposed to private opportunities... We would like to bring it to market in three ways...” — Rick Wurster ([12:57])

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9. Election Cycles and Market Resilience

• The firm’s message is to stay diversified and invested regardless of election cycles or administration changes.
  • “Markets have thrived through all types of administrations and changes... Stay diversified and be invested and have a plan for your financial life.” — Rick Wurster ([14:14])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On long-term investing:
  “It is so hard to call the markets both when to get out and when to get back in.” – Rick Wurster ([03:36])

• On concentrated tech exposure:
  “It's created tremendous wealth... and now they're wondering how to diversify their portfolio and to do so in a way to minimize their tax burden.” – Rick Wurster ([04:06])

• On Schwab vs. Robinhood:
  “Our customer is an incredibly thoughtful group of retail investors... We bring everything we can to help our clients be successful.” – Rick Wurster ([05:49])

• On gambling’s risk to clients:
  “5% of people... that put money into a gambling app take out more than they put in... Gambling has proven to be a net negative contribution to your wealth.” – Rick Wurster ([09:10])

• On Schwab’s crypto approach:
  “Our clients own 20% of all the ETPs crypto ETPs in our country. So our clients are big investors in crypto.” – Rick Wurster ([10:37])

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Key Timestamps

• Company Context & CEO Introduction: [00:18]–[01:18]
• CEO’s First Year Reflections: [01:23]–[01:43]
• Long-term Investing vs. Market Timing: [02:41]–[03:39]
• Tech Concentration Dilemma: [03:54]–[04:24]
• Retail Trader Resilience & Comparison to Robinhood: [05:05]–[06:32]
• Engaging Gen Z Investors: [06:32]–[07:45]
• Discussion on Prediction Markets & Gambling: [07:51]–[10:21]
• Crypto Exposure and Future Plans: [10:21]–[12:46]
• Private Credit/Markets in Retail Accounts: [12:46]–[13:57]
• Political Uncertainty & Investment Philosophy: [13:57]–[14:36]

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Conclusion

This episode provides a comprehensive look at how Charles Schwab is adapting to market evolutions, retail investor growth, and the preferences of new generations. Rick Wurster emphasizes Schwab’s client-first philosophy, technological and educational advantages, and a careful—but open—approach to emerging financial products and behaviors. For financial professionals and everyday investors alike, the conversation offers a clear window into how one of the United States’ largest financial services companies views the industry’s future.

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Transcript

[Indiana University Announcer]

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[Host 1]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio news All right folks, if you really want to know what's going on in the investment universe, you really want to talk to the folks at Charles Schwab. It is a great place to start. First of all, it's 175 billion dollar market cap company stock is up about 26% year to date following its recent earnings. At least 11 analysts raised their price target on the stock after Schwab's third quarter earnings beat thanks to a surge in retail investing activity. And it's something we certainly want to dig into.

[Host 2]

Yeah, let's talk about some more numbers behind the firm. $11 trillion more than that in client assets, 38 million client brokerage accounts, 2.2 million bank accounts, 5.6 million workplace plan participant accounts and over six 16,000 independent investment advisors. Thousands of them are here at Schwab impact 2025 in Denver now.

[Host 1]

Rick Worst or took over as CEO in January of this year after previously serving as president for about three years at the company, was head of Schwab Asset Management Solutions before that. So you have been at the company company for nearly a decade, is that right?

[Rick Wurster]

Yes.

[Host 1]

Welcome. Thank you. Thank you.

[Rick Wurster]

Thanks for having me on. And we're so thrilled that you made the trip to be here in Denver at the conference.

[Host 1]

Well, we love coming here because we really do feel like it's good to get out of I feel like the coasts and I feel like it's good to talk to the people who are actually managing tons and tons of money on a daily basis. Talk to us about your first year and some of what's been coming at you and how you and your team are making sense of kind of the investment environment when things can change, often on a day to day basis.

[Rick Wurster]

The most rewarding part of the first year has been serving our 46 million clients and it's been a year in which the value of what we bring to the table, great in person experiences, the leading digital app, the strength of our bank and wealth capabilities where all of those things have been necessary to help clients navigate markets. So that's what I take most from the first year. It's just such an incredible opportunity to serve our clients and the 16,000 advisors on our platform, many of whom are here. It's a real honor to be their partner in business.

[Host 2]

Well the market environment right now, we want to dive right in there because really this week we've heard from different Wall street executives that an overdue collection have weighed on the market this week. So reduced expectations for Fed rate cuts, a prolonged government shutdown. Michael Burry added to the negative tone with his disclosure of bearish wagers on Palantir and Nvidia debt buyers though coming back into the trade today, retail investors have been buying dips. How do you see today's environment from sort of a risk reward perspective?

[Rick Wurster]

We try to focus our clients on the long term, think that owning securities and assets over long periods of time will generally go up. It's really hard to get the timing of markets down because you have to make two correct calls. First you got to nail it. To get out at the right time, which is really hard in the strength of the kind of market we've had and the momentum we've had. To get out at the right time is incredibly hard. And then you've got to be able to get back in at the right time or you miss out. I was down in Charlotte, North Carolina visiting with some clients and I heard from one client who back in 2016 didn't like the presidential administration and so had sold out of stocks. And this was back when we were having a pullback and they said would now be a good time to get to get back in the market. And they'd sat out a huge amount of gains over a short term point of view, we try to have clients avoid that. If clients can stay in the market and tolerate some volatility, we think over the long run that gets rewarded because it is so hard to call the markets both when to get out and when to get back in.

[Host 1]

So as you walk around the floor and you're talking to advisors, I mean, what are they talking about, you know, in terms of timely advice that you're getting maybe from the advisors and what they are kind of hearing from their clients.

[Rick Wurster]

I think one of the most pressing topics from investors today is how to navigate concentrated positions. The S and P is as concentrated as it's ever been.

[Host 1]

Right. The Mag 7, the Big Tech.

[Rick Wurster]

Yes. And it's created tremendous wealth for lots of retail investors. And now they're wondering how to diversify their portfolio and to do so in a way to minimize their tax burden. And there's all kinds of strategies that they can work with their advisor on to create a more diversified portfolio without having to pay a tremendous amount in capital.

[Host 1]

How hard is it though that when clients are like, but why would I want to get out of Nvidia when I've seen. Seen what they've been doing for how many years? Like, how tough is that? Because we constantly have conversations of people saying it's time to, you know, broaden out, back off the big tech, and then it's the big tech with so much momentum.

[Rick Wurster]

Well, you're absolutely right. And it's a really hard conversation to have. And oftentimes we don't win it, but we want to make sure the client is cognizant of, of the risk and the choice that they're making. Yeah. And to be fair to those investors, they've been right by sticking with their concentrated position for the most part, because the names that have driven the market higher have been the same ones here for a while, and so many people have stuck with it, and they are sitting on more gains than they might have anticipated.

[Host 2]

So let's go further into the retail trader because they've grown to about 20% of the US equity market today. I'm curious about sentiment trends, the structure of this trend. How resilient are retail traders in an eventual downturn?

[Rick Wurster]

Retail traders have been the ones leading the market higher and have been the ones buying the dips. And I think they were out, actually in many ways out ahead of the institutional buyers. And so I think you have a retail buyer that has strong hands and will stick through the market. So we'll see how it all plays out. But markets go up and down, and retail investors will inevitably make some decisions in there that's best for them.

[Host 2]

People here, retail investor, they think about Robinhood, for example, your customer versus Robinhood's customer base. What are the differences there?

[Rick Wurster]

Well, our customer is an incredibly thoughtful group of retail investors. First, they have access to what we think are the best investing platforms in the industry. Number two, they have access to the most robust research platform. We produce 35 hours a week of live education and training for investors, so they're making the most informed decisions. We also don't make them choose a channel, not only the leading digital app, but they can walk in and talk to someone. They can call our phone and get their question answered in less than 30 seconds. We have a thousand professional traders that wake up every morning ready to answer the phone to help our clients trade. So I think we bring everything we can to help our clients be successful. And I think they are. They make thoughtful decisions that are best for their financial life.

[Host 1]

Now, you guys have talked about one third of your clients are Gen Z, so talk to us about how you continue to bring them in, how do you defend them, keeping them in? What do you need to kind of do to serve them and keep them on your platform?

[Rick Wurster]

So one third of our new to firm clients are Gen Z, which is between the ages of 13 and 28. We are having tremendous success.

[Host 1]

That was new customers, right?

[Rick Wurster]

New customers. But we're having tremendous success with the young investor because we see through their eyes and we put all the weight and strength of our firm behind helping them live their best financial life and make the smartest financial decisions for them. We don't just say, hey, here's a platform, go for it. Certainly many want to do that and they can have at it, but we also stand behind every one of them. If they want access to our research, they want to talk to a professional. And in terms of where we're finding them, it's interesting. I went to our marketing department and said, hey, I don't see enough about our advertising to young people. And they said, rick, it's because you're not cool. And in the places where young people go. But we're.

[Host 1]

Did that hurt?

[Rick Wurster]

It hurt a little. But we're the number one followed financial services company on YouTube. Yeah, we're all over TikTok. We're on all these different places where young people are and they're attracted to the, to the breadth of the Schwab value proposition and how different it is than other offers they see in the market.

[Host 2]

Well, speaking of what's out there in the market. Wait, go ahead.

[Host 1]

Are you going to ask about crypto?

[Host 2]

No, not yet.

[Host 1]

Do you want to wait?

[Host 2]

Yeah, I want to wait.

[Rick Wurster]

All right, go.

[Host 2]

I want to ask about prediction markets.

[Host 1]

Okay.

[Host 2]

Because this is something that I think Gen Z wants and polymarket is back in the US it is certainly related to crypto.

[Host 1]

Right.

[Host 2]

Carol, what role does Schwab have in prediction markets in the future?

[Rick Wurster]

Well, I think prediction markets started out with financial services companies with the best of intentions. They wanted their investors to be able to bet on what was going to happen with the inflation report, what's going to happen with the job report, or what the Fed's going to do. And they realized that there's not a lot of volume and interest in those events in the general public and that there's already ways in financial markets to invest around those activities. And then the election happened and the volume in prediction markets skyrocketed and these companies got a windfall of money. And then they said to themselves, well, a presidential election only comes one out of every four years. How do we generate this level of interest on more of an ongoing basis so we can see this windfall more regularly? And then they migrated from things that were tangentially related to financial markets to pure sports gambling. Because every Saturday and Sunday there's lots of activities that the nation cares about. And now I think we're in a world where what's driving all the volume and prediction markets is pure sports gambling.

[Host 2]

So yes or no for Schwab getting.

[Rick Wurster]

Involved, that's something we gotta keep an eye on.

[Host 2]

You're considering it?

[Rick Wurster]

We're not actively considering it. And the reason we're not actively considering it is our mission is to make our clients better off in their financial life. 5% of people, and actually I read this on Bloomberg very early this morning, 5% of people that put money into a gambling app take out more than they put in in the first place. So gambling has proven to be a net negative contribution to your wealth. Now it's fine if you use it as entertainment and you're doing it in a thoughtful way, but our mission is to make clients better off in their financial life and enhance their wealth.

[Host 1]

Does that then say to you that it's not a good idea in terms of the prediction markets and kind of mixing them with traditional investing?

[Rick Wurster]

From my viewpoint, we want to do everything we can to put our clients in the best chance to grow their wealth.

[Host 1]

Right.

[Rick Wurster]

And I think it's fine for people to gamble. People are going to gamble. Hopefully they do it in a responsible way. The thing I worry most about is the conflation between gambling and investing. If you're a young investor, got $10,000 in your account, you can move it easily between investing in a stock that over the long run is likely to go up over the course of your life.

[Host 1]

Right.

[Rick Wurster]

Or you can go bet on the Eagles game that weekend. I think that is not the greatest thing for the, for the retail investor.

[Host 1]

Speaking of gambling and perhaps gamification, crypto, where does crypto fit into all of this for you guys?

[Rick Wurster]

Well, crypto has become an asset class that many people have their full confidence and trust in and they view it as a store of value.

[Host 1]

Right.

[Rick Wurster]

And on our platform, we have lots of people engaged in crypto.

[Host 2]

Today.

[Rick Wurster]

In fact, Our clients own 20% of all the ETPs crypto ETPs in our country. So our clients are big investors in crypto. And for most people, buying exchange traded product is the right way to go because they're not looking to transact in bitcoin, they're just looking to get exposure to the price movements. Now, in addition to offering the etp, we will in time offer spot crypto. And we're confident that we've got clients that are sitting at digital native firms that have been long Schwab clients that we know want to bring those assets back to Schwab. And we're looking forward to being able to do that this year.

[Host 1]

Next year.

[Host 2]

Next year still first half of 2026.

[Rick Wurster]

That's what we're shooting for. And so far, so good.

[Host 1]

May June, you have an idea?

[Rick Wurster]

I'm not going to get that specific. I get slapped by somebody.

[Host 2]

Well, last year, speaking of last year, you sat in this chair. We were in San Francisco and we had a fun conversation about crypto. You made headlines. You said this was a year ago. I have not bought crypto. Now and I feel silly. You also said crypto. Crypto investors have been right and that you haven't been right. So update us. Have you bought crypto since then?

[Rick Wurster]

I have not bought crypto. I have nothing against crypto. I can certainly see the case of it. If people believe it's a store of value, it is scarce and it could go up. I think the blockchain is something that is likely to play a bigger part in markets and therefore crypto can have some value around blockchain. For me personally, my investments are in assets that I consider to be productive assets are generating earnings or generating principal or interest. And that's where I focus my investment portfolio.

[Host 2]

It's interesting that you say that because when you said that comment to us last year in the middle of November, bitcoin was that. And we were talking about bitcoin was at $100,000. Right now it's at about $104,000. So you, you look right by not actually getting in right then possibly bitcoin.

[Rick Wurster]

And crypto generally is going to go up, it's going to go down. Its volatility is something. Its standard deviation is something like 50%. So we should expect wild swings. And for the right group of folks, they want to own it, they believe passionately in it, and they should have it as part of their portfolio. For some investors, it's what they want to invest in.

[Host 1]

Private credit, private markets. How about that in terms of you think the role that that will play.

[Host 2]

In our retirement accounts, portfolios in our retirement accounts.

[Host 1]

How do you feel about that one?

[Rick Wurster]

Well, you're a great private company. There's lots of great private companies in our country that have done really well. I think retail investors should be exposed to private opportunities we would like to bring it to market in three ways. Number one, we access, we provide access to retail clients, to great alternatives managers in private equity, private credit, venture capital, a lot of the names that you're familiar with. Second thing is I think at the right time we would love to be able to offer passive exposure in a fund like structure to private markets. Just like in public markets today you can go buy, you know, the S&P 500 index fund for and get broad representation of stocks. You should be able to do that in private markets. We'd love to play a role in that in the future. And then third, like you can buy individual stocks if you don't want either the active management or the passive exposure to the broad market. I think that marketplace for single security private companies should expand over time. And so those are the three ways we envision the market expanding and we want to play a role in all three.

[Host 1]

Do we have to wrap? Can I get you 20, 30 seconds on elections and changes and environments and I think the midterms and what might happen next time at the White House. How does that fit into your thinking in terms of long term strategy for the company? Because we've had a volatile year a little bit.

[Rick Wurster]

Markets have thrived through all types of administrations and changes in presidents and changes in the Senate and House and all of that. And so our message to clients is stay diversified and be invested and stay invested and have a plan for your financial life. And if you do those things, they'll navigate different ups and downs associated with different administrations. And that's our counsel for clients.

[Host 1]

All right. So appreciate your time as always and fun to be at your event.

[Rick Wurster]

Always love seeing you here and I appreciate the commitment you both made to be here in Denver and be a part of the IMPACT conference. Thank you.

[Host 2]

Well, hopefully we'll see you next year and more between now and then.

[Host 1]

Yeah, exactly. Rick Wurster, president and CEO of Charles Schwab of course kicking off our clothes coverage here at Schwab Impact 2025. We are here in Denver. Rick, again, thank you so much.

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