| 06 October 2009

Schwab (SCHW) offered up a recent bit of advice for investors as a way to drum up business for its advisers and online brokers. Recommendations included the typical investing gems like "know yourself," "develop a plan" and "educate yourself." But one of the more interesting aspects of this effort is Schwab's development of a nice little microsite focused on education and advice called "Schwab Money and More."

The site features an assortment of financial calculators and a smattering of personal finance advice. You can learn how to get out of debt or how much house you can afford. But most interesting is the roll-out of a peer comparison tool. While it's basically just a new and unique way to get you to look at the results of their survey, we like the approach.

The survey in question is the Generation-X Attitudinal Segmentation Study, which was completed in July 2007.  But rather than force you to read the study or post highlights that may or may not be relevant to you, the peer comparison tool allows you to quickly self-select your relevancy and only see the results of those who are similar to you.

For example, you can choose your age, level of income and whether or not you're married or have kids, and then see how many people like you contribute regularly to a retirement account. Whether or not this information is actionable is probably up to the individual and their circumstances. Nevertheless, we found the information worth a look. People like me, for example, have typically saved just under $5,000 for an emergency fund. A pitiful amount, to be sure.

Funding surveys and reporting results is a tried-and-true method for generating interest in a brokerage. It not only generates press, if done right it encourages investors to seek more information. TD Ameritrade (AMTD), for example, recently released a survey called "Women and Money: TD AMERITRADE Survey Finds Women Anticipate Getting by with Less in Retirement." And Fidelity Investments released a survey finding that, "Investors Lack Basic Understanding Of Roth Ira Benefits, As Roth Ira 2010 Conversion Opportunity Nears."