About the author, the innovator, the leader.

Charles ("Chuck") R. Schwab was born in Sacramento, California. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Stanford University and a master of business administration degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business. He started the San Francisco–based Charles Schwab Corporation in 1971 as a traditional brokerage company, and in 1974 became a pioneer in the discount brokerage business.

Schwab's corporation took an early lead, offering a combination of low prices with fast, efficient order executions, and soon became the nation's largest discount broker. Today, it's the nation's largest publicly traded investment services firm, with over three trillion dollars in client assets. Often credited with "democratizing" investment, Chuck Schwab has driven countless innovations in the investment services industry designed to help individuals make the most of saving and investing, including 24/7 access to services, the one-stop mutual fund supermarket providing access to thousands of no-load, no-transaction-fee mutual funds, custodial services for independent registered investment advisers, online trading, integrated banking and brokerage services, and many others. Today, the company has expanded from its roots as a discount brokerage and provides a full-service investing and banking experience to clients domestically and abroad and millions of investors.

Mr. Schwab has been Chairman of The Charles Schwab Corporation since its inception and has served as CEO for most of its history until October 2008. He is also Chairman of Charles Schwab Bank.

Along with his wife, Helen, he also supports entrepreneurial organizations working in education, poverty prevention, human services, and health. He also served for 10 years as Chairman of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

"The sooner you recognize your strengths and weaknesses, the faster you can create a team that accounts for those."

—Charles Schwab

On January 22, 2008, President George W. Bush named Charles Schwab Chairman of the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, a groundbreaking initiative that advised the president and the secretary of the treasury on ways to promote and enhance financial literacy.

He is the author of several best-selling investment books, including How to Be Your Own Stockbroker; Charles Schwab's Guide to Financial Independence; It Pays to Talk, written with his daughter, Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz; and You're Fifty—Now What?