Reality Radio for a really great future.

We're talking real money.

You know, it's funny.

Sometimes investing does feel a little like the Wild West.

There's just very little regulation.

A lot of people doing whatever they want.

You are kind of left to your own devices.

You know, the phrase caveat mTOR definitely applies.

You need to take care of yourself.

You need the six-shooter on your hip, not a literal one, a figurative one, to protect yourselves against people who are going to take

advantage of you. And much of the industry can be a very confusing place. It really can. Welcome to

Talking Real Money. I'm Don McDonald, along with Tom Cock, and this is the place where we try

to make money makes sense.

And today, we're going to take a closer look at one of our favorite brokerage firms,

Charles Schwab, and Tom has written a little screenplay about Schwab called Charles Schwab, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Can you do the... There you go. Yeah, it's okay. And you call them a broker. I prefer to call them a custodian because I think that's what they do. But they're a broker. No, they're... No, no, no, no. I know. I know. I'm not disagreeing. But to me, to our clients... to us and our company, they don't really. Well, they do act as a broker, though, because they make the trades. That's true. But they hold the securities. They hold the securities. And I think as a custodian for registered investment advisors like us, they're the best. I've worked with others. We've worked with Fidelity before. We worked some others. I think Schwab's the best. They built out this. Yeah, Ameritrade, I think. Well, they bought them. But, I mean, they built out this part of the business better than I think than anybody else. But that's my opinion. So, and yes, I know to many, as you said, brokerage, because where do they come from? Well, they come from,

what did it cost you to buy and sell a stock back in the day before Schwab started offering

the discount? I mean, it was like $50. It was some ridiculous number, right? It was somewhere

between 2 and 20 percent, depending on the size of the trade. Crazy.

And Schwab came along and they were the first, I think, right?

To be kind of a discount broker.

Yeah, discount.

Right.

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