Interface Walkthrough
Screens and categories, at the level of what each button means. Broker-neutral, no fund names — the choosing stays yours.
At Schwab, cash in an investment account typically shows as a cash balance or a sweep money market position, depending on the account. Either way: if your deposit's line reads as cash, nothing has been invested yet.
Trade → Mutual Funds (or All-In-One Trade). You choose the account, the fund, and a dollar amount. Mutual fund orders execute at the day's closing price.
Automatic Investment Plan (AIP) is Schwab's scheduled-buying tool for mutual funds you hold — fixed dollars, your dates.
Every reader sees the same three categories. This page teaches the kinds — it never picks one for you. Picking one for you, from your situation, is what advisers are licensed to do.
One fund built around a year — roughly your retirement year. It holds a mix of stock and bond funds and slowly shifts steadier as the year approaches. Different companies run theirs differently and charge differently.
Funds that copy a published list — for example, a list of large US companies, or a list spanning the whole stock market — instead of picking winners. Usually the lowest yearly cost on the menu, because copying is cheap to run.
Cash-like funds holding very short-term loans. Steady value, modest yield, barely any movement. This is where uninvested money often sits — parked, not growing.
Interfaces change their layouts over time; the categories and the order do not. If a screen name differs slightly from this page, follow the category, not the pixel.
The Filled Plan pack, the first-account walkthrough pack, the first-30-days plan, the full catch-up tables, the decoder card deck, and the order workbook — one pack, one-time payment.