Beth Chang Director of Equity Fund and ETF

Beth Chang
Director, Equity Fund and ETF Product Management
Charles Schwab

Beth grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and earned a Bachelor’s Degree (BA) from Middlebury College in Vermont. Her major was in East Asian Studies* with a minor in International Business. She also has a Series 7 Broker’s License.

When Beth graduated in 1990, the job market was similar to what graduates are facing today, a tough job market. She spent a couple of years temping and moved to California. While working for a management consulting firm, she was exposed to marketing and strategic planning, which led to several jobs helping Internet start ups during the dot-com boom.

However, Beth wanted a more structured environment offered by a bigger company. “I always had Schwab on my radar because I learned that I had a passion for education and wanted to contribute to people in a way that is beyond consumer products. I wanted to work in the business world rather than for a non-profit. Schwab does a good job of helping the average person who doesn’t really care about finances, but has to deal with their money and has to save for retirement.”

“Everyone is interested in money. The idea of making money is real to the average person. Helping people to connect retirement, aspirations and goals appeals to me as a smart way of educating people about planning and saving for their goals.”

Beth has been working at Charles Schwab for 8 years. She said the first 5 or 6 years were spent understanding what clients wanted and helping Schwab focus their efforts on meeting these client needs. Because Schwab ETF’s are becoming popular, she is currently looking at the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) business/industry.

Beth finds her biggest challenge is making things real for clients.  There are many regulations that the saving for their goal is faced with. What they can and can’t say in their material affects how they can help clients understand what they need to read and understand.

“What I love about my career is when I get to deliver on something where I think I made a difference for the average person and I helped help them to be a little smarter about being able to retire with the money they have made.”

Keys to success are patience and a passion about the ins and outs of finance.

The biggest changes in the financial industry are both the popularity of investing in ETF’s and the way the average person needs to invest today. The reality is the stock market is not your grandmother’s stock market. Beth thinks that the smart person today should work with a personal financial advisor because the average consumer does not understand the many financial products that are available and does not have time to keep up with all the changes. Beth says “What an investor needs is a diversified plan that makes sense for their goals.”

Beth enjoys spending time with her family and loves sports. She was a runner and soccer player. Another love is teaching children about nutrition.

*The East Asian Studies Program is the Study of the East Asian Region. Language was part of it. Students chose Chinese (Mandarin or Japanese)  and studied the history, economics, politics, and art of Eastern Asia)