The news: Charles Schwab will expand its investor education offering in 2026. The brokerage firm and wealth manager plans to offer more in-person and virtual education events, grow its digital investor education library, add to its coaching sessions, and add programming for its media affiliate.

Trendspotting: Schwab’s focus on sophisticated content marketing—including newsletters, podcasts, a quarterly magazine, live coaching, and financial education courses—sets it apart. Most competitors’ advisory content is limited to blog posts, calculators, and some personal financial management tools embedded in digital banking. Our US Mobile Banking Emerging Features Benchmark 2025 notes that top banks commonly offer a calculator for credit score impact and the ability to see recurring charges, for example.

Implications for wealth managers: Financial education is a core product for attracting and retaining the emerging affluent—clients with less than $1 million in assets but high wealth-building potential. This segment is highly attuned to financial stability, inflation, and the cost of living, and clients expect guidance that helps them make sense of increasingly complex financial decisions.

Meeting those expectations requires an experience that goes beyond self-directed investing to deliver effective financial planning, ongoing engagement, and an advice-driven relationship. FIs competing for the emerging affluent will need a sophisticated content marketing strategy to elevate their offerings.