How To Set Up A Charles Schwab Account

Every bit part of The Motley Fool'south mission to help the world invest improve, we're putting together a list of some of the top online investment brokers and giving y'all step-past-step guides on how to sign upwards for accounts. For this how-to, we're focusing on Charles Schwab's ( SCHW 2.07% ) online brokerage business relationship, called Schwab One. To view competing offers from various brokers, head on over to our banker comparison folio.

What you'll need to become started

To set your Schwab One brokerage account, you'll need to accept the following handy:

Social Security number or Tax Identification Number
Driver'south license
Employer's proper noun and accost, if applicable
Bank information (to make up one's mind your avails and to fund the account)

Smiling woman sitting at a table using laptop

Paradigm source: Getty Images.

There aren't any fees for opening up a Schwab account or to maintain one, per se. But there is a $one,000 investing minimum to first using the account. That ways you can prepare an account for free, just you'll need to fund it with $1,000 to do anything with information technology. You can also set up a $100 monthly transfer from your bank account instead. Every bit with most online brokerage accounts, there'due south an equity trade fee, which is $8.95 per trade for this account.

The company's site says it takes most 10 minutes to set up an account, though reading through some of the technical jargon and legalese will bump that fourth dimension upwards a fleck. If at whatever time during the process you need assistance, the Schwab website has a live online chat feature to help y'all with any application questions.

Image source: writer screenshot of Charles Schwab site.

Step 1: Create the account and add together your personal information

To get started, head to the Schwab I webpage and click the "Utilize Now" button on the right-hand side of the page. That will bring upward a pick box for an individual account or joint business relationship. The instructions for this particular how-to apply to an private account.

You'll then be asked whether you lot'll be trading more than than three times per calendar month, and if and then, y'all can say y'all desire the visitor'south avant-garde trading services.

On the next page you'll fix your Charles Schwab account login if you don't already take one. You'll take to provide information such as your personal address, Social Security number, employment condition, annual income, and liquid net worth (that is, assets you can readily plough into cash).

Image source: Writer screenshot of Charles Schwab site.

In one case yous've completed this section, y'all'll exist taken to a folio that asks how you volition fund the account and what the purpose of the account is -- full general investing, retirement, investing for college, and so on. For simplicity's sake, these instructions will assume you only select "full general investing."

Y'all'll too answer a few questions about whether y'all're affiliated with a securities firm and whether you're a 10% shareholder or policymaking officer of a publicly held company. Reply those, along with the identity verification questions on the following folio, and y'all'll be on to Pace 2.

Step ii: Fix account features

In this section, you'll add the specifics of which type of account features you want. If you selected the option to merchandise more then three times per month on the showtime page, and so you'll see that information technology's preselected on this folio.

Image source: Author screenshot of Charles Schwab site.

Oddly, Charles Schwab doesn't give you the selection to uncheck that box if you selected information technology on the very offset page. Other than that, the visitor gives you the chance to add options and margins trading. Here'due south what the Schwab site has to say about both:

Margin trading: "Borrow or buy boosted securities using all of your Schwab brokerage assets as collateral for your margin loan."
Options trading: "Asking approving to merchandise options. Your options trading application volition be reviewed based on your trading experience, financial profile and other criteria. Options carry a high level of hazard and are not suitable for all investors."

Experienced traders often utilize these two forms of trading. It's probably safe to assume that since y'all're reading this how-to, yous're non an experienced trader. And that's OK -- we'll just get out these two boxes unchecked for at present, and in the concurrently y'all tin can find out more than nearly options and margin trading.

Step 3: Terms and weather

You're getting there! This is the part where you'll agree to an electronic signature, signup for paperless document delivery, and accept the business relationship terms. Keep in listen that you may have to click on each section individually to both read and accept the terms.

Image source: Author screenshot of Charles Schwab site.

You'll also have some other opportunity to sign upwardly for the margin trading feature, and yous'll read through the terms of the company's "cash features program." For the business relationship we're setting up, you lot'll have to accept the cash features option to get to the next step.

There's a hefty dose of jargon in the description of the greenbacks features program, but it's substantially a service that lets any uninvested cash in your account earn income while you're figuring out where to invest it. You can acquire more about it on the Schwab website hither.

Pace iv: Funding the account

The last section officially opens your account and and then asks yous how you want to fund information technology. You tin transfer money online from a banking concern account or from another brokerage account. You lot can as well mail in a check or drop off a bank check at a local branch if you lot want.

Epitome source: Writer screenshot of Charles Schwab site.

Only click the link at the bottom of the page if you want to view your account and fund it later on. You'll then have to read and accept an electronic service understanding and answer whether you're a "nonprofessional subscriber" or "professional subscriber."

Unless you're a professional trader or an investment advisor, or you're using the market data from your account for business, professional, or commercial purposes, then you'll probably want to select the "nonprofessional subscriber" option.

And that'southward it -- you lot've set up your Schwab One brokerage account. Don't forget to check out some special broker offers hither, and if y'all demand some tips on how to get started investing, bank check out these articles:

How to Invest
Why Should I Invest?
What Should I Invest In?
When's the Right Fourth dimension to Invest?

This commodity represents the stance of the writer, who may disagree with the "official" recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. We're motley! Questioning an investing thesis – even one of our own – helps us all recollect critically about investing and make decisions that help united states of america become smarter, happier, and richer.