Companies I'm Impressed By: Charles Schwab

Unfortunately, much of my prior analysis has been on what's wrong with companies and governments, however, I also think its important to focus on companies which seem to do things right.  I can only speak for my personal experiences - but I have been impressed by the financial services firm Charles Schwab for years.

Website:  Their website is very reliable, I've only had a problem signing in once and only had a problem getting an accurate quotes two or three times.

Helpline: Whenever I call their helpline their brokers are also very knowledgeable and helpful.  I've never called and had to deal with an outsourced worker or someone who was reading off of a script.

Pricing:  There was a time when they charged a little more than other brokerages, but they have managed to keep reducing their prices, recently offering $8.95 trades which was the lowest around for a few days, until Fidelity came out with $7.95 trades.

Advisor:  I was even assigned a Schwab Adviser.  While I can't say I've ever met him, or he's really initiated contact, it's not something I was expecting, so I view it as a plus.  Also, when I did contact him he solved my problem.

Mutual Funds:  They have a huge selection of no-fee mutual funds to select from.

ETFs:  Schwab recently introduced a collection of their own ETFs which cost nothing to trade.  Even better, many of these ETFs are the cheapest out there.

Additional Products:  Given my prior good experiences I switched to the Schwab Visa Card - and it's also great.  It offers 2% back on every transaction, does not cheat me when I make international purchases (see prior post on intl travel finance) and deposits my cash back directly into my brokerage account.  Meanwhile some credit cards provide points, which have to be accumulated and can only be redeemed when you reach a certain value.

Is there room for improvement?  Of course.  For one example, I think it would be great if they added Morningstar features to their website.  At this point I have to use Morningstar separately which just creates extra work, duplication and additional expense.  I would also imagine that some people would like an iPhone app, which they currently lack.