Charles Schwab founder and chairman of the Charles Schwab Corporation became a pioneer in the discount brokerage business in 1975. Today, Charles Schwab is the nation’s largest publicly traded investment services firm. Not only is the company’s name a staple in the field of investing, but they also have a strong philanthropic commitment to financial literacy education and career exploration for young consumers across the country.
A great example of this commitment is their financial and programming support of BestPrep. In 2018, Schwab employees, along with a committee of teachers and Twin Cities financial services volunteers, created the “Career as a Financial Advisor” presentation to be used by volunteer speakers in classrooms.
The Charles Schwab Foundation has been a major funder of The Stock Market Game (SMG), one of BestPrep’s six programs for the past 7 years, allowing BestPrep to serve more than 11,000 Minnesota students annually through SMG.
This past summer, Charles Schwab deepened their partnership with BestPrep and recruited several volunteers to host an exhibit at Minnesota Business Venture’s Career Expo events, exposing close to 200 students to the in-demand field of registered investment advising (RIA).
Steve Blume, current BestPrep Board member and leader within Schwab’s Advisor Services business shared, “We are proud to support BestPrep’s work to expand financial literacy throughout Minnesota and provide career exploration experiences for our next generation of financial service professionals.”
Funding from the Charles Schwab Foundation comes at a critical time as BestPrep works to help teachers develop their personal finance courses, which will be a graduation requirement for Minnesota high schools beginning in Fall 2025.
A big thank you to Charles Schwab and the Charles Schwab Foundation for being a leader in financial literacy education, expanding students’ knowledge of and interest in the RIA industry, and for being BestPrep’s featured partner.