Strategic Enhancements Made to Schwab Target Funds

Expense Reduction And Portfolio Changes Announced That Will Help Investors
Realize Their Financial Goals In Various Market Environments
SAN FRANCISCO--(Business Wire)--
Charles Schwab Investment Management, the asset management arm of the Charles
Schwab Corporation, today announced strategic changes to its target-date mutual
funds to enhance the portfolios and reduce expenses. The aim of these
enhancements is to help investors more effectively achieve their long-term
retirement savings goals.

The changes include reducing expenses charged to investors by roughly 13 to 23
basis points, adjusting the asset allocation "glide path" to be more
conservative as investors approach retirement while adding equity exposure in
the early years, and adding index strategies and third-party investment adviser
funds to the selection of underlying funds invested in by each of the seven
target-date portfolios.

"We conducted a strategic review of our Schwab Target Date mutual fund lineup to
evaluate the best investment approach given market conditions and investors`
changing long-term expectations and current interest in more conservative
investment options," said Peter Crawford, senior vice president for investment
management services. "We emerged from the review confident that our funds remain
strong and competitive, but we also identified several changes we could make to
improve them and help investors meet their goals in various market
environments."

The specific enhancements announced today by Schwab in its Target Funds
include:

* Reducing expense ratios by an estimated 13 to 23 basis points
* Higher fixed income exposure beginning ten years from target date, to help
increase protection of principal and generate periodic income approaching and
during retirement
* Adding third-party funds managed by third party investment managers for
improved style diversification and enable access to additional asset classes
* Higher equity exposure in early years of funds, with the goal of building
wealth before target date.
* Extending the "glide path" for an additional five years to continue 20 years
after target retirement date

Jeff Mortimer, senior vice president and chief investment officer for Charles
Schwab Management, noted that "the Schwab Target 2040 Fund (SWERX) was recently
honored by Lipper1 for best consistent performance over three years in its
category, and that both the Target 2030 and Target 2040 funds earned an overall
rating of five-stars by Morningstar2. With these changes we believe we can be
even better across all seven portfolios, providing investors with continuing
opportunities to achieve returns suited to their financial goals."

The Schwab Target Date Funds are designed to offer a one-fund solution with good
value and asset allocation based on the anticipated year of retirement. They
offer clients a diversified portfolio of holdings in underlying Schwab Funds,
Laudus Funds and now third-party investment managers, professionally managed and
rebalanced with the target date in mind. For more information on the changes to
the Schwab Target Funds, visit http://www.schwab.com/target or call
1-877-682-6461.

Performance quoted is past performance and is no guarantee of future results.
Current performance may be negative.Visit schwab.com for more recent performance
data.

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 1-800-435-4000.Please read
the prospectus carefully before investing.

1 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.

2 The Overall Morningstar Rating is a weighted average of the funds' three-,
five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar rating metrics. Morningstar
Overall and 3-year ratings for Schwab Target 2030 and 2040 Funds are 5 and 5
stars, respectively. As of 03/31/2009 there were 87 funds in the Target Date
2026-2030 category and 78 funds in the Target Date 2036-2040 category for the
overall rating and 3-year period. Morningstar proprietary ratings reflect
historical risk-adjusted performance as of 03/31/2009. For each fund with at
least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating based on
a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a
fund's monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads and
redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding
consistent performance. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund
within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the
distribution percentages.) The top 10% of the funds in an investment category
receive 5 stars.

The Funds are subject to market volatility and risks associated with the
underlying investments. Risks include exposure to international and emerging
markets, small company and sector equity securities, and fixed income securities
subject to changes in inflation, market valuations, liquidity, prepayments, and
early redemption.

Diversification does not eliminate the risk of investment losses.

Schwab Affiliate Funds include Schwab Funds and Laudus Funds. Schwab Funds and
Laudus Funds are advised by Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., an
affiliate of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. The Laudus Group of Funds includes the
Laudus Rosenberg Funds and Laudus Mondrian Funds, which are part of the Laudus
Trust and distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc., and the Laudus MarketMasters
Funds, which are part of Schwab Capital Trust and distributed by Charles Schwab
& Co., Inc. Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. and ALPS Distributors, Inc. are
unaffiliated entities. The aggregate fees Schwab or its affiliates receive from
Schwab Affiliate Funds are greater than the remuneration Schwab receives from
other fund companies participating in the Mutual Fund OneSource Service.

Fund Management

Daniel Kern, CFA, is a managing director and portfolio manager of the Schwab
Target Funds, Schwab MarketTrack Portfolios, and the Schwab Monthly Income
Funds. He is responsible for the day-to-day management of the asset allocation
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.

About Charles Schwab Investment Management

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 7.5 million client brokerage accounts,
1.5 million corporate retirement plan participants, 508,000 banking accounts,
and $1.1 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. (0409-8648)

Charles Schwab
David Weiskopf, 415-636-5753
david.weiskopf@schwab.com
or
SunStar PR
Melissa Murphy, 703-894-1056
mmurphy@isunstar.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009