Schwab takes strategic minority stake in Wealth.com

Schwab is taking a strategic step beyond the world of investing as it unveiled a minority investment in Wealth.com, an estate planning platform geared toward financial advisors.

The minority stake, announced Wednesday, marks a push by the online brokerage and RIA custody giant to broaden its wealth management capabilities in line with evolving investor needs.

The partnership, financial terms of which were not disclosed, is aimed at helping Wealth.com scale its services, particularly on enabling financial professionals to offer estate planning tools to clients at all income levels. The platform currently allows advisors to either optimize existing estate plans or help clients without one generate legally valid documents – such as wills and revocable trusts – in every US state and Washington, DC, at significantly lower cost than traditional legal channels.

“We’re enhancing our wealth management offer by building out trust and estate capabilities that will help us serve our clients’ evolving needs, wherever they are on their financial journeys,” Neesha Hathi, managing director and head of wealth and advice solutions at Schwab, said in a statement.

Wealth.com has positioned itself as a leading turnkey solution that integrates into advisory workflows. In addition to streamlining estate planning, it seeks to help advisors scale operations and deepen relationships through more comprehensive planning services. 

The fintech firm bolstered its capability in March with the launch of its Scenario Builder tool, which allows financial advisors, estate attorneys, and wealth planners to model and compare complex estate strategies in real time.

“Investors want to conduct more of their financial lives in one place, and advisors are increasingly looking for tools and platforms that enable them to scale their business and grow,” said Rick Wurster, president and CEO of Schwab. “Wealth.com is an important first step in building out a support ecosystem for our advisor clients as they respond to investors’ needs, while also providing a scalable and easy-to-use solution for our retail clients.”

On top of the new investment, Wealth.com is also collaborating with Schwab on ways to make its estate planning tools available to Schwab’s retail clients, with additional details to be announced in the coming months.

That would address an urgent need for legacy planning among wealthy Americans, which Schwab shed light on through a survey report in December. The poll, which drew responses from over 1,000 individuals with at least $1 million in investable assets, found 97 percent had plans to transfer their assets to the next generation, including 39 percent who anticipated they'd leave heirs at least a piece of their wealth after they pass away.

Earlier last year, Schwab published its Independent Advisor Outlook Study 2024, which highlighted tech, AI, and multigenerational planning among several key themes.

“Together, we’re reimagining estate planning at scale – delivering modern tools that empower advisors, elevate client outcomes, and redefine what’s possible in wealth management,” said Wealth.com CEO Rafael Loureiro.