Schwab Funds Win Two 2009 Lipper Awards

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., (CSIM), the asset management arm of The Charles Schwab Corporation, announced that two of its funds have won the 2009 Lipper Awards as best in their fund categories.

The Schwab Target 2040 Fund (SWERX) won as “Best Mixed-Asset Target 2040 Fund over Three Years” out of 66 qualified funds and the Schwab California Tax-Free Bond Fund (SWCAX) was awarded “Best California Intermediate Municipal Debt Fund over Ten Years” out of 19 qualified funds.

“The Lipper Awards are meaningful because they honor consistent total return performance, not just short-term returns,” said Jeff Mortimer, Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of CSIM. “We appreciate that Lipper has again recognized Schwab’s commitment to providing great value to our clients.”

The Schwab Target 2040 Fund is designed to offer good value and asset allocation for investors with a planned date of retirement of 2038 or later. It gives clients a one-fund solution, with a diversified portfolio of holdings including underlying Schwab Funds and Laudus Funds, which is professionally managed and rebalanced with the target retirement date in mind.

“We believe our more conservative investment strategy for the Schwab Target 2040 Fund, relative to some others in the category, has helped it outperform its competitors in a very challenging market,” Mortimer said.

The Schwab California Tax-Free Bond Fund seeks high current income exempt from federal and California personal income tax and federal alternative minimum tax (AMT), consistent with capital preservation. It invests primarily in investment-grade municipal securities from California issuers, with an average maturity of three to ten years.

“Bond funds have always been an important investment product for us, and we are proud of our income management team’s work on behalf of investors,” Mortimer said.

Lipper, Inc., a subsidiary of Reuters, is a global mutual fund research company. The Lipper Fund Awards program highlights funds that have excelled in delivering consistently strong total return performance, relative to peers. Lipper designates award-winning funds in most individual classifications for the three-, five-, and ten-year periods. Open-end funds, closed-end funds and variable insurance products are considered for awards.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment value will fluctuate, and shares when redeemed, may be worth more or less than original cost.

Before investing, please read carefully and consider information contained in the prospectus, including investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Request a prospectus at schwabfunds.com or by calling 1-877-824-5615. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Fund Management

Jeff Mortimer, CFA, is Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc (CSIM). He has overall responsibility for Schwab Funds and managed accounts. He joined CSIM in October 1997. Jeff has more than 15 years experience in asset allocation analysis and mutual fund selection. He earned an MBA degree, with an emphasis in finance, from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 1992.

Daniel Kern, CFA, is a managing director and portfolio manager of the Schwab Target Funds, Schwab MarketTrack Portfolios and Schwab Monthly Income Funds. He is responsible for the day-to-day management of these funds. He was appointed portfolio manager in 2008. Prior to joining the firm in 2003, he worked for more than 13 years in the investment management industry. Dan received an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A in Economics from Brandeis University.

Kenneth Salinger, CFA, joined Schwab in March 2008 as a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, leading the team responsible for daily trading and management of all national and state-specific tax-free bond funds. He is also responsible for overseeing the management of the Municipal Money Market Funds. Prior to joining Schwab, Ken was a Senior Portfolio Manager for Wells Capital Management, working on a team that managed over $5 billion in municipal bond assets. From 1992 until 2006, Ken worked at American Century, where he was a Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager with responsibility for daily management of a number of national and state specific municipal bond funds. Ken holds a B.A. from the University of California at San Diego and has been a Chartered Financial Analyst since 1997.

John Shelton, CFA, has day-to-day responsibility for the management of the Schwab Municipal Money and Municipal Bond Funds. John joined the Municipal Portfolio Management team in August of 2000. Prior to joining the Portfolio Management Team, he was an associate in Schwab's management training program. John received a B.A. in Finance and a minor in Economics from Morehouse College. John is a member of the Association for Investment Management and Research, the California Society of Municipal Analysts and the Security Analysts of San Francisco.

About Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc.

Founded in 1989, Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., a subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation, is one of the nation's largest asset management companies with more than $236 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2008. It is among the country's largest money market fund managers and is the third-largest provider of retail index funds. In addition to managing Schwab proprietary funds, CSIM provides oversight for the institutional-style, sub-advised Laudus Fund family. CSIM currently manages 84 mutual funds.

About Charles Schwab

The Charles Schwab Corporation (Nasdaq:SCHW) is a leading provider of financial services, with more than 300 offices and 7.4 million client brokerage accounts, 1.5 million corporate retirement plan participants, 475,000 banking accounts, and $1.0 trillion in client assets. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company provides a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC, www.sipc.org), and affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through its Advisor Services division. The Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC) provides banking and mortgage services and products. More information is available at www.schwab.com. (0409-8198) ATL47078 (04/09)

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