Charles Schwab Launches Online Financial Planning Action Center

Charles Schwab announced the launch of the proprietary Financial Planning Action Center, a digital platform that allows clients who work with a Schwab Financial Consultant, Schwab Private Client Advisor, or Portfolio Solutions Group Consultant to track and complete tasks within their financial plan, communicate questions, and help work toward improving financial outcomes long-term. The Financial Planning Action Center is available as of February 23rd, 2022.

"Too often, financial planning is a static experience. Investors may consult an investment professional to build a plan, but then they file it away and it's difficult to re-engage with it as their financial picture changes,"says Anthea Tjuanakis Cox, managing director of digital planning."The Financial Planning Action Center gives clients a simple, digital way to understand, track, and manage their next steps. This makes it easier to take action after planning conversations and seek support from an investment professional if needed to help drive successful outcomes long-term."

To access Schwab's interactive Financial Planning Action Center, clients first schedule time to develop a customized financial plan based on their unique financial situation and goals. Once the financial plan is completed, clients will receive an invitation by email to access the Financial Planning Action Center through Schwab.com.

Key features of the Financial Planning Action Center include:

• ​Digital financial planning dashboard: When accessing Schwab's Financial Planning Action Center, clients will see tasks to be reviewed, task status updates, and curated educational content. A Schwab Financial Consultant, Schwab Private Client Advisor, or Portfolio Solutions Group Consultant can add new suggested next steps and deadlines to the dashboard to help clients stay on track, such as planning for college or increasing monthly retirement savings by a target amount.

• ​Client engagement enhancements: The Financial Planning Action Center helps inform conversation between clients and their investment professional. By displaying tasks that need to be completed and ongoing status updates, the planning experience becomes more engaging and interactive. Financial Planning Action Center also has a messaging feature to enable clients to get in touch with their investment professional, ask questions, or request an appointment.

• ​Ongoing alerts and reminders: To help keep clients on track, the Financial Planning Action Center sends alerts and reminders by email and through the dashboard to keep them informed around incomplete tasks and target completion dates. It also gives clients the flexibility to change due dates or skip an action item as their priorities and needs change.

• ​Time savings and planning efficiency: By enabling clients and their investment professional to review a range of tasks digitally, investment professionals can spend less time on data inputs and more time during appointments on what they do best – providing quality planning experiences.