While many of us spent Labor Day weekend eating too much, relaxing with loved ones or jamming to a collection of money-related pop classics from Financial Planning's new Sound Investments playlist series, Charles Schwab had a big weekend three years in the making. 

A high-stakes account transition that saw more than 7,000 advisory firms and $1.3 trillion in assets make the move to Schwab from TD Ameritrade went off without a hitch, according to company execs who provided an in-depth blow by blow of the undertaking to kick off the abridged workweek. 

Schwab Advisor Services Managing Director Jess Heffron said the lack of hitches was the point. From years of educational materials being distributed to impacted advisors tolessons learned from previous account migrations made along the way, there were a number of factors that stripped the stress out of what was a make or break week for the new-look Schwab.

So instead of major crashes and collapses, Schwab support staff flooding the zone over the holiday weekend were left to wrangle UI questions and password resets. 

"Since the deal was announced and we started the planning, our theme has been no surprises. For our advisors for the continuity of their business, we really had to avoid that," Heffron said. "The last three-plus years really was all about planning and practice to lead this weekend, which really could not have gone smoother. And again, I think that's by design.

"We're extremely pleased with how it went this weekend, and now we're really focused on that next phase. … We're entering a period of change management."

TD Ameritrade and Schwab provide custodial services to a combined network of more than 14,000 RIAs. In total, between 18 million and 20 million accounts will be moved over the course of the entire integration, according to Schwab officials. 

Check out the full story — including some insight into what Schwab Advisor Services Head Bernie Clark is going to spend the week worrying about now that the transition is complete — only at Financial Planning. 

Anything else on your mind? Drop me a line at justin.mack@arizent.com. Have a great weekend!

Regards,
Justin

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