Charles Schwab

1 week ago | schwab.com | Michael Townsend

Modal can be closed by pressing Escape key. MIKE TOWNSEND: April 2025 was quite a month for investors. For the five-week period that began on March 31 and ended at the close of trading on May 2, the S&P 500® was up exactly 0.95%. But that hardly tells the story. Look beneath the surface of that essentially flat market, and we find a roller coaster. The S&P 500 dropped by more than 14.2% in a span of just six trading days, then rebounded 17.6% over the next 18 trading days.

1 week ago | schwab.com | Mark Riepe

Modal can be closed by pressing Escape key. MARK RIEPE: I'm Mark Riepe. I head up the Schwab Center for Financial Research, and this is Financial Decoder, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. It's a show about financial decision-making and the cognitive and emotional biases that can cloud our judgment. This is a shorter show than normal and I'm recording on May Day, that’s May 1. And what makes this day special is that May 1 is National Investing Day.

2 weeks ago | schwab.com | Liz Ann Sonders |Kevin Gordon

In mid-March, we penned a report on rising recession risk—which as a reminder, was prior to the "Liberation Day" announcement, and subsequent delays on the implementation of tariffs. Reading it again is a good primer for this report. It has become no easier to gauge the trajectory of the economy since then; especially since a recession would be a "policy choice" of sorts. Barring more of a permanent backpedal, recession odds appear to us to be better than even.

3 weeks ago | schwab.com | Michael Townsend

MIKE TOWNSEND: Last week was a relatively calm one in Washington. Congress is taking a break, so there were no battles on Capitol Hill. And there were no major tariff announcements from the White House. That's probably a good thing, because everyone from members of Congress to foreign leaders to investors to shoppers is still trying to sort out the implications from the sweeping tariff plan the president unveiled earlier this month.

4 weeks ago | schwab.com | Rob Williams

If you're thinking of retiring within the next 10 years, you may feel like you're confronting quite a few "what ifs" and unknowns. Many retirees say transitioning from saving to living off their savings is one of their most stressful challenges. But thinking ahead through some of the most critical questions—like how much you'll have, how much you'll need, when to take Social Security, and how taxes could affect your savings—and then putting a realistic plan in place, can help.