Sources
Every number we use comes from a public filing or a published study. Here is each one, where it comes from, and a link so you can check it yourself.
| What we say | Where it comes from | Check it |
|---|---|---|
| Only about 1 in 8 Utah 401(k)s include a self-directed brokerage account. | U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings, 2024 plan year: Utah-based plans with 100 to 5,000 active participants that report feature code 2R (participant-directed brokerage accounts): 76 of 597. | Search Form 5500 filings (EFAST2) |
| About 1 in 4 401(k)s nationally offer a brokerage window. | Plan Sponsor Council of America, 67th Annual Survey (25%); Vanguard, How America Saves 2026 (23% of Vanguard plans). | PSCA · Vanguard How America Saves 2026 |
| Intermountain Health and the State of Utah offer the Schwab PCRA. | Utah Retirement Systems PCRA materials; Intermountain Health's 2024 Form 5500 audited financial statements (Schwab self-directed accounts). | URS PCRA brochure · Form 5500 search |
| The State of Utah's savings plans hold more than $400 million in the Schwab PCRA. | Utah Retirement Systems, 2024: about $405.9 million in the PCRA across its 401(k), 457 and IRA savings plans. | Utah Retirement Systems |
| Only about 1 in 8 Texas 401(k)s include a self-directed brokerage account. | U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings, 2024 plan year: Texas-based plans with 100 to 5,000 active participants that report feature code 2R (participant-directed brokerage accounts): 518 of 3,977. | Search Form 5500 filings (EFAST2) |
| The State of Texas's own Texa$aver program offers the Schwab PCRA. About 5 cents of every dollar in Texa$aver is in its self-directed brokerage account. | Employees Retirement System of Texas, Texa$aver plan-year 2027 overview (self-directed brokerage account: Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account); ERS Board and Investment Advisory Committee materials, December 2023 (self-directed brokerage account about 5% of program assets). | ERS Texas (Texa$aver) |
| The Southwest Airlines pilots' 401(k) offers the Schwab PCRA. | Southwest Airlines Pilots Retirement Savings Plan highlights (Schwab Retirement Plan Services, 03/2024). | Plan highlights |
| Texas's largest employers with a self-directed brokerage account in their 401(k): AT&T, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Chevron and Texas Instruments. | AT&T, Southwest Airlines and Chevron: 2024 plan financial statements (SEC Form 11-K). American Airlines and Texas Instruments: the employers' published 401(k) plan materials. Ranked by 401(k) participants, 2024. | AT&T 11-K · Southwest 11-K · Chevron 11-K · TI plan notice |
| Schwab PCRA costs: no account fee from Schwab; $0 online trades of U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs; $0 to buy no-transaction-fee mutual funds online; $0 online for new-issue CDs and Treasuries; $25 for a broker-assisted trade; up to $49.95 to buy a transaction-fee mutual fund. | Charles Schwab, PCRA pricing guide (April 2026), as published by Utah Retirement Systems. Your 401(k) may add its own fees; Utah's state 401(k) charges $12 a quarter. | Schwab PCRA pricing (URS copy) |
| 74% of 401(k) savers wouldn't take a job without a 401(k). 27% feel very confident making 401(k) decisions alone; 51% with professional help. | Schwab 401(k) Participant Study, July 2025 (1,100 participants). | Schwab release, July 29, 2025 |
| 83% of Gen Z and 78% of millennials want personalized investment advice for their 401(k). | Schwab 401(k) Participant Study, 2023. | Schwab pressroom |
| About 1 in 4 workers have left a job, or considered it, over benefits. | Bank of America, 2025 Workplace Benefits Report: 24%. | Bank of America 2025 report |
| Vanguard's research puts the value of good advice at about 3% a year, on average, over time. | Vanguard, "Putting a value on your value: Quantifying Adviser's Alpha." Vanguard estimates its framework "can add about 3% in net returns," built from components measured in basis points of return. Vanguard notes the value varies by client and the largest gains come intermittently, not evenly each year. It is an estimate, not a guarantee. | Vanguard Adviser's Alpha (June 2025 edition) |
| Executives are often the ones who ask for a brokerage window. | PLANSPONSOR reporting on why employers add self-directed brokerage accounts (a plan consultant's observation). | PLANSPONSOR |
| "Your plan may even allow them to manage your PCRA." | Charles Schwab, Personal Choice Retirement Account overview. | schwab.com/pcra |
| Schwab PCRA participant balances and holdings (for example, the most widely held stock). | Schwab SDBA Indicators, Q2 2026, as reported by 401(k) Specialist. Balances are averages for participants with $5,000 to $10 million; advised versus non-advised is a correlation, not a cause. | 401(k) Specialist, Sept 2026 |
| 2026 limits: $24,500 401(k) deferral, $7,500 IRA, $72,000 total, catch-up amounts and Roth IRA income limits. | IRS Notice 2025-67. | IRS Notice 2025-67 |
| Company figures, such as how many cents of every dollar in a 401(k) sit in the Schwab window. | Each company's own 2024 Form 5500 and the audited financial statements filed with it. | Form 5500 search |
How we use numbers
We quote studies in their own words and keep their limits with them. Surveys describe what people said, not what will happen to you. Averages are averages. Nothing here is a promise of results, and your own 401(k)'s documents govern what it allows.
See something that looks wrong? Tell us and we'll check it.