The average account balance for Charles Schwab clients’ self-directed brokerage accounts was $328,239 in the first quarter of 2024, a near 10% increase year-over-year.
The firm’s benchmark on retirement plan participant investment activity, the SDBA Indicators Report, reveals that the average balance was up almost 6% from the fourth quarter of 2023 as investors bolstered their retirement savings through workplace plans.
Those investors with advised accounts had a significantly higher average balance than non-advised peers - $526,997 vs. $286,431 – and those with advised accounts were led by Gen Xers (52% of accounts), followed by Boomers (25%), and Millennials (19%). Gen Xers accounted for approximately 46% of the Schwab SDBAs held, with Boomers making up 27% and Millennials 21%.
Boomers had the largest average balance at $531,201, followed by Gen X at $318,481 and Millennials at $119,278.
Similar to the previous quarter, SDBA investors focused the largest share of their allocations to equities (34.1%) with tech firms including Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, and Microsoft the largest sector holding (34.6%).
The second largest allocation was to mutual funds (28.4%) and dominated by large-cap stocks (34.2%) followed by money market funds (15%), and taxable bond funds (14.4%). ETFs took a 24.4% share of allocations with U.S equities accounting for almost 52% followed by U.S. fixed income (12.8%), international equity (11.9%) and sector (9.5%) ETFs.
Just 8.1% of allocations were to cash and equivalents while 5.1% of assets were held in fixed income.
On average, participants held 11.8 positions in their SDBAs at the end of first quarter of 2024, the same as the fourth quarter of 2023 and slightly lower than the first quarter of 2023.
A Nationwide survey finds 47% of GLP-1 users have never discussed the drugs’ financial impact with an advisor, even as many dip into savings.
The hundreds of millions of dollars from a sale of Inspired Healthcare properties does not mean an immediate windfall for investors.
Its SEC filings said one thing - a congressional probe said another.
Sham agreements allegedly padded revenue by 345%.
"Most pre-retirees are uncomfortable making key retirement income decisions without an advisor's help," said Chris Bailey of Cerulli.
Knighthead Life entered the market with a competitive MYGA. A strong launch earned advisor confidence and paved the way for FIAs.
As AI makes financial information more accessible than ever, Lana Hock explains why human judgment, trust, and empathy remain the qualities clients value most in a financial advisor
