
Market Knowledge Tools
Access a collection of Market Knowledge Tools (MKT)—reports designed to help inform business decisions for your firm and chart your strategic direction. Clients can use their Schwab Advisor Center® credentials to download full white papers.
Featured topic
A foundation for success
How do you address the complexities of growing your firm and creating an enduring business? This executive summary outlines Schwab's practice management point of view, exploring how Top Performing Firms achieve next-level success. The document includes links to additional whitepapers on each of the five Guiding Principles for Advisory Firm Success, providing actionable insights that allow you to address the areas that matter to you most.

Most recent MKT reports
-
Maximizing firm growth—Five keys to building a successful referral strategy
Firms that grow faster than industry averages take a deliberate approach to generating referrals. This report explores five common principles successful firms incorporate into their referral strategy to drive firm growth.
-
The value of a talent strategy: Compensation results from the 2021 RIA Benchmarking Study
Using results from the 2021 RIA Benchmarking Study, this report provides a comprehensive look at compensation to help firms develop a strong compensation strategy and plan. Effective compensation planning serves as a primary tool for attracting, motivating, and retaining a firm's most important strategic asset—superior staff.
-
Expanding ownership—Leveraging firm equity to maximize talent and accelerate growth
An effective equity ownership program can play an essential role in both talent strategy and succession planning, two key ingredients in an independent advisory firm's long-term success. This comprehensive Guiding Principle Series (GPS) Insight paper provides a step-by-step framework, deep case studies, and hypothetical firm illustrations to help investment advisors navigate their options and create or evolve a program that fits their firm.
-
Top Performing Firms: Mastering strategic planning—A practical guide to charting your firm’s future
This white paper highlights the discipline of strategic planning as a powerful tool many RIA firms use to grow profitably. Adapting concepts from thought leaders in the field of strategic planning and strategy, the report breaks down the strategic planning process into manageable steps.
Other useful resources
-
Read more MKTs
To see all previous reports, log in using your Schwab Advisor Center® credentials.
-
Insights for investment advisors
If you’re not yet a client of Schwab, you can still unlock access to exclusive insights, expertise, and analysis from Schwab Advisor Services.