Invested: Changing Forever the Way Americans Invest

by Charles Schwab

What are you good at, what do you love doing, what can you talk about without even thinking about it and without tiring of it? I ask them. That’s where you should put your energy. There is tremendous power in that because it drives you forward through the ups and downs—and there will always be plenty of both. That passion and knowledge also signal to others that you are genuine, with personal ambitions, true expertise, a direction in life—the real deal. People are attracted to that, and you will need the support of others.

The world of business, like the rest of life, is full of wonderful temptations, and making a choice about where you are going to devote your energy is often as much about dismissing things as it is about choosing something. A singular sense of purpose gives you focus and clarity.

back in the ’70s when I was starting Schwab, I knew investing was deeply flawed. And I thought investors deserved better.

Access to the markets came with outrageously high costs—average commissions and spreads could eat up nearly 10% of an investor’s money!

So in a real way, Charles Schwab was born of my own frustration. I was an independent investor. I was passionate about the market. I did my own stock research. I believed in taking charge of my own financial destiny. I loved the thrill of the chase. The last thing I needed was some broker’s questionable advice about what to buy, and when to buy or sell. And I resented paying for services I wasn’t using.

Sometimes the lesson I learned from these jobs was about what I didn’t want my life to be.

To this day I am skeptical about insurance. There’s a need for certain types, but honestly, I could see right through most of the stuff I was supposed to be selling. I couldn’t do it.

I’ve never liked selling a bad product and I’ve never been any good at it.

Companies are built to grow. But it doesn’t come easily. Some succeed, many fail. I believe it is incumbent on every leader of a company that the number one thing on their mind is growth. You don’t prosper without it.

Growth and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. If you are growing, there’s a chance to grab new opportunities. If you’re not always thinking about the next opportunity, the next great thing, your growth will stall, or worse, you’ll be a sitting duck and someone will jump ahead of you with a better idea.

And opportunity is always shared: it provides the chance for employees to come up with new ideas and new products and services for your customers. It gives them the chance to do new and bigger things. It’s personally fulfilling and leads to personal growth.

Opportunity taps the best...

I wanted to be the one that was always thinking about growth and how we could find the resources to be innovative.

I always believed that profits were something that come naturally at the end of the line, if you got the first part right—finding new ways to help the customer succeed.

I never gave much thought in those days to the financial value of what I was building. In fact, I didn’t know what my company was worth until years later, when I tried to sell it.

I was chef, server, busboy, and chief bottle washer, working behind the counter, stuffing envelopes, licking stamps. When things got busy, it was all hands on deck.

The people who came to work for Schwab probably could have made more money working just about anyplace else.

I designed Schwab from day one to be the kind of firm I myself would want to do business with. If we let our customers down, I knew exactly how they felt.

The mere thought of what lay in store for him when he arrived at the office was enough to make him sick.

I know Guy had a strong sense of mission; we all did.

I made a conscious effort to hire people I thought would thrive in that environment—people who shared my passion and were willing to do whatever had to be done.

Schwab was an exciting place to work, but it was also incredibly demanding. People were always quitting. The turnover in the trenches put a lot of pressure on those of us who were in it for the long haul; it was not good for our sanity.

But it created huge opportunities for people with ambition and imagination who might not have had those...

I know I’m proud that it developed that way. But really, we were just trying to stay on top of demand with the best people we could find. We needed to be fair and not discriminate against anyone.

I also knew what I could not do, and consequently, where I needed help.

the world is full of people more capable than I am, in a thousand different ways. Some entrepreneurs never learn that simple lesson and pay for their stubbornness with slower growth and a lower ceiling.