401(k) Monitor

SchwabPlan Retirement Savings And Investment Plan

The Charles Schwab Corporation · Westlake, TX · EIN 943025021 · Plan 002 · Form 5500 for plan year 2024

401(k) Monitor Score 40 out of 100

What Charles Schwab put into the plan, per active participant

$6,786

The Charles Schwab Corporation put $6,786 into this plan for each of its 32,145 active participants in plan year 2024. That is the whole employer side, matching money, profit sharing, non-elective and safe-harbor contributions and reallocated forfeitures together, because the Form 5500 reports them on one line, so it is not the match rate.

0 · least per person100 · most per person

Charles Schwab put in more per active participant than 50% of plans with 5,000+ participants in investment management and securities. The middle plan in that group of 45 reported $6,786. Investment management and securities comes from business code 523120, which The Charles Schwab Corporation entered on its own Form 5500. Sponsors pick that code themselves, so a code that does not describe what the employer does ranks the plan against the wrong companies.

What this figure cannot separate: how much Charles Schwab pays, and how much it puts in

This is dollars, not a rate. A Form 5500 carries no payroll, so the figure reflects both how much the employer puts in and how much the employer pays: two plans running the same formula report different amounts when one pays better. Crossing the peer group with industry holds most of that difference still, and none of it disappears.

This is one plan year, not an average. A true-up, a plan merger or a one-off contribution moves a single year on its own.

Source: Form 5500 filing for the plan year ended December 31, 2024, received by the DOL November 13, 2025 · DOL EFAST2 ↗

The $6,786 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. The Charles Schwab Corporation also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula on its own for plan year 2025: the section below reads $2,475 a year at a $49,500 salary, and the same filing states employer contributions made outside the match. That second figure is what the formula pays one worker on that salary, and not an amount either filing reports. The two figures cover different plan years and measure different things, so neither one is the other one corrected.

What the plan cost, per participant

$98.30

The plan paid $98.30 per participant in plan-paid administrative expenses in plan year 2024, more expensive than 82% of plans with 5,000+ participants. The middle plan of that size paid $54.84.

Why a plan this big pays less per person before anything else

Bigger plans pay less per head by construction, because the same negotiated bill divides across more people. That is why this ranking sits inside the plan's own size cohort and is never taken across all plans.

Schedule H reports only what came out of plan assets. Fees the sponsor pays directly, and fees taken inside fund expense ratios, never appear here, so this is a floor and not the all-in cost.

401(k) Monitor Score

40 out of 100

Where this plan stands against plans of its size and industry on two amounts its Form 5500 reports: employer money in per active person, and plan-paid cost per person. It reads no match formula, no vesting schedule and no fund lineup, because a Form 5500 states none of them.

  • What the employer put in, per active participant: $6,786. Higher than 50% of plans with 5,000+ participants in investment management and securities.
  • What the plan cost, per participant: $98.30. Cheaper than 18% of plans with 5,000+ participants.

How this score is built

On this page: the match and vesting terms · what to check next · every figure on the filing · fees itemised · the plans this one is ranked against · service providers

The match and vesting terms, from a Form 11-K

The match formula and the vesting schedule are stated in a Form 11-K, which is filed only by employers whose plan holds company stock. A Form 5500 reports neither.

What Charles Schwab puts in

$2,475

a year, at a $49,500 salary.

The match paragraph, word for word
“Such contributions may be matched by CSC’s contribution (Basic Match) equal to $250 on the first dollar contributed each year, and 100 percent of salary deferred, up to a maximum of 5% of eligible compensation.”

What you contribute to collect all of it

Contribute at least 5% of your pay to collect the full match.

That is $2,475 a year at a $49,500 salary, and it scales with your own.

Vesting score

100 out of 100

How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 48% of the 253 schedules we have scored.

It measures vesting speed and nothing else. It says nothing about the size of the match, what the plan charges, or the funds inside it.

Vesting scheduleImmediate

Share of the employer's money that is the worker's at hire and at each of the first 6 anniversaries: 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.

Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their 401(k) contributions, rollovers, Basic Match, and investment earnings on these amounts. Vesting of the discretionary Profit Contribution is dependent upon the participants’ number of years of service: 1 Year of Service – 0%; 2 Years of Service – 25%; 3 Years of Service – 50%; and 4 Years of Service or more – 100%. A year of service is defined as a calendar year during which the participant has completed at least 1,000 hours of service.”

The wait before the match starts and the year-end true-up appear above when the filing states them. Neither is part of the score, and a filing that is silent on one of them is not a plan without it.

The formula, the six-year window and a worked example

What the plan costs, against plans of its size

82nd percentile

$98.30 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 82% of plans with 5,000+ participants.

The match, vesting and eligibility terms above are read from the Form 11-K filed by The Charles Schwab Corporation, whose page states the full formula, the vesting schedule and the sentence behind each one.

What to check next

  • Collecting the whole match

    Charles Schwab’s Form 11-K pays the whole match at 5% of pay, which is $2,475 a year at a $49,500 salary and scales with your own. Your payslip and your Schwab Workplace ↗ account both show the rate you set. A rate below 5% collects less than the whole match.

    That Form 11-K covers plan year 2025. The plan’s Summary Plan Description states the terms in force, and the plan administrator must provide it to participants on request.

  • What to ask about the fees

    This plan paid $98.30 per participant out of plan assets, more than 82% of plans with 5,000+ participants, where the middle plan paid $54.84. The filing does not say what the difference buys. Two questions put that to a benefits or HR team: what the recordkeeping and administration contract costs, and how much of it comes out of participant accounts rather than being paid by Charles Schwab. The lines this total is made of are further down.

  • Your own numbers are not on this page

    Every figure here is the whole plan for plan year 2024, taken from one filing and divided by headcounts. Your own contribution rate, your balance and the fees taken from your account are on your recordkeeper’s site, which this filing names as Schwab Workplace ↗. What you may put in during a year is set by the IRS and not by the plan: this year’s limits ↗.

Key figures

From Schedule H of Form 5500 filing 20251113121430NAL0001050211001, plan year 2024.
Total plan assets, end of year$8,932,117,605
Net assets$8,932,117,605
Participants, beginning of year44,441
Of which active32,145
Plan typeSingle employer
Size cohortThe peer group we rank fees against.5,000+ participants
Employer share of the money that went in, plan year 2024The rest came from employees, who put in $419,375,550. The share falls when employees save more, so a plan whose staff contribute heavily reads lower here through no act of the employer. It is printed as a fact and it is not part of the score.34%

Plan-paid administrative expenses

The plan paid $4,368,440 in administrative expenses in plan year 2024, across 44,441 participants: $98.30 per participant.

Contract administrator feesnot reported in filing
Professional feesnot reported in filing
Investment management fees$4,104,122
Other administrative feesnot reported in filing

These are plan-paid expenses from Schedule H only. Fees the sponsor pays directly, and fees embedded in fund expense ratios, never appear here. This figure is a floor, not the all-in cost, and a low number is not “free”.

The plans this one is ranked against

Fees on this page are ranked against the 5,000+ participant cohort, where the median plan pays $54.84 per participant. The sponsor files from Texas, one of 4,254 plans on file there, at a median of $107.93 per participant. Its business code places the plan in investment management and securities, one of 960 on file, which run to a median of $111.34.

Plans of a similar size in Texas

The plans nearest this one by participant count, out of 195 in its peer group. Cost per participant is each plan’s own Schedule H figure, and a filing that reported no administrative expenses says so instead of showing a zero.
PlanParticipantsCost per participant
Waste Management Retirement Savings PlanWaste Management, Inc.47,426$32.01
CBRE 401(k) PlanCBRE Services, Inc.47,222$17.66
Caliber Holdings LLC Retirement Savings PlanWand Newco 3, Inc.42,374$31.25
Whataburger 401(k) Savings PlanWhataburger Restaurants LLC42,293$30.15

Service providers (Schedule C)

Recordkeeper: Schwab Retirement Plan Services (as filed: “SCHWAB RETIREMENT PLAN SERVICES”)

Providers from Schedule C, Part 1, Item 2 of filing 20251113121430NAL0001050211001. Direct compensation is paid from plan assets. Amounts in USD.
ProviderService codesDirect comp. ($)Indirect comp. ($)
Schwab Retirement Plan Services50, 26, 64, 152,750,314not reported
Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.72, 62, 71, 59, 50, 33319,8900
Creative Planning LLC50, 26130,966not reported
Mariner LLC50, 26121,513not reported
Envestnet Asset Management Inc.50, 26112,782not reported
Main Street Research LLC50, 2662,562not reported
Private Ocean50, 2655,519not reported
Douglas Lane & Associates LLC50, 2649,416not reported
Jmg Financial Group Ltd50, 2648,419not reported
Cookson Peirce & Co Inc.50, 2638,673not reported
Corient Private Wealth LLC50, 2637,260not reported
Hightower Advisors LLC50, 2635,516not reported
At Investment Advisers Inc.50, 2635,059not reported
Kohmann Bosshard Financial Ser50, 2634,119not reported
Tci Wealth Advisors Inc.50, 2633,139not reported
Ascension Wealth Partners LLC50, 2630,599not reported
Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC50, 2628,592not reported
Armor Investment Advisors LLC50, 2627,531not reported
Ep Wealth Advisors LLC50, 2625,609not reported
Rwa Wealth Partners LLC50, 2625,418not reported
The Colony Group LLC50, 2624,333not reported
Cerity Partners LLC50, 2623,590not reported
Longview Financial Advisors Ll50, 2622,593not reported
Interocean Capital Group LLC50, 2621,241not reported
Wealthspire Advisors LLC50, 2621,165not reported
Freestone Capital Management L50, 2620,904not reported
Signaturefd LLC50, 2620,340not reported
Capital Advisors Inc.50, 2619,165not reported
Wealth Enhancement Advisory Se50, 2618,497not reported
Williams Jones Wealth Manageme50, 2617,368not reported
Fisher Investments50, 2615,860not reported
Lutz Financial Services LLC50, 2615,195not reported
Plante Moran Financial Advisor50, 2613,825not reported
Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC50, 2613,278not reported
Capital Advantage Inc.50, 2612,715not reported
Trellis Wealth Advisors LLC50, 2612,576not reported
The Burney Company50, 2612,497not reported
Ironwood Investment Counsel Ll50, 2612,068not reported
Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.50, 2611,939not reported
Roffman Miller Associates Inc.50, 2611,462not reported
Schaefer Financial Management50, 2610,896not reported
Signature Estate & Investment50, 2610,817not reported
Private Capital Management LLC50, 2610,548not reported
Wcg Wealth Advisors LLC50, 2610,412not reported
Lodestar Private Asset Managem50, 2610,400not reported
Pure Financial Advisors LLC50, 2610,377not reported
Destination Wealth Management50, 2610,360not reported
Heritage Financial Services50, 269,625not reported
Chicago Partners Investment Gr50, 269,368not reported
Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio50, 269,161not reported
Empirical Financial Services L50, 268,629not reported
Gyl Financial Synergies LLC50, 268,368not reported
Kaltbaum Capital Management Ll50, 267,961not reported
Financial Synergies Wealth Adv50, 267,911not reported
Mount Tamalpais Asset Manageme50, 267,789not reported
Apriem Advisors50, 267,612not reported
Gemmer Asset Management LLC50, 267,016not reported
Boulay Financial Advisors LLC50, 266,910not reported
Zega Investments50, 266,852not reported
Moller Wealth Partners Inc.50, 266,664not reported
Badgley Phelps Wealth Managers50, 266,260not reported
Zega Financial LLC50, 266,139not reported
Steelpeak Wealth LLC50, 266,070not reported
Spectrum Asset Management Inc.50, 265,948not reported
Buckingham Strategic Partners50, 265,625not reported
Wealth Mgmt Solutions LLC50, 265,399not reported
Pittenger & Anderson Inc.50, 265,273not reported
Berkeley Capital Partners LLC50, 265,267not reported
Avior Wealth Management LLC50, 265,242not reported
Cary Street Partners50, 265,099not reported

Source

DatasetDOL EFAST2 Form 5500 bulk data (FOIA)
Form year2024
Filing ACK_ID20251113121430NAL0001050211001
Dataset last refreshedJuly 28, 2026

Bulk dataset at askebsa.dol.gov ↗ · Look up the filing on EFAST2 ↗

Filings lag by design: a plan can file up to 9½ months after its year ends, so this is the newest data on file. Why filings lag

This is an amended filing. It replaces the sponsor's earlier submission for the same year.

Cite this page

401(k) Monitor, "SchwabPlan Retirement Savings And Investment Plan: Form 5500 facts", from DOL EFAST2 filing 20251113121430NAL0001050211001, plan year ended December 31, 2024. 401(k) Monitor Score 40 out of 100 (exact value 40.28).