Meet Charlie Schwab, CFP®
Financial Planner
1st
Language I Ever Spoke Was German
0
Regrets Switching To A Career In Financial Planning
#30
My Sports Hero—Steph Curry
38
Age of My Family’s Parrot
In the Office
I joined Define Financial in 2026 because the firm’s commitment to retirement and holistic planning matched exactly the kind of work I wanted to do.
My focus is building and refining personalized retirement plans—digging into the details, running the models, and stress-testing each client’s unique situation. I’m drawn to the analytical side of this work, but the goal is never complexity for its own sake. It’s clarity.
I want every client to fully understand where they stand today and feel genuinely confident about what comes next. That translation—from complex to clear—is what I find most rewarding about this work.
Behind the Scenes
I didn’t start out in financial planning.
My career began in a biotech lab doing research. I loved the science, but over time I found myself wanting work centered on people and meaningful conversations — not pipettes and data sets.
A few months off to travel gave me the space to discover personal finance. What started as researching ways to set myself up for the future quickly became something I couldn’t stop thinking about.
That curiosity led me to earn my CFP® designation and make the switch to full-time financial planning. I’ve never looked back.
Outside of the Office
Well-Traveled
My mother’s family is in Germany and my wife’s family is in the Philippines, so international trips tend to double as family reunions. We try to tack on a new country whenever we can.
Home Chef
I enjoy pushing my skills in the kitchen. During the pandemic I went deep — brewing beer, baking bread, making Pho from scratch. The experiments haven’t stopped since.
Athlete
I’ve played soccer my whole life and still play in a weekly rec league. I recently took up golf and am navigating all its humbling ups and downs.
Music Fan
Live music is my thing. Small local shows, big festivals, all of it. The playlist runs from Green Day and The Shins to Deadmau5 and Kendrick Lamar.
