Give the gift of ownership.
Start someone's investing journey by gifting fractional shares, available for most U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs.
Give a gift that can grow.
Help someone learn by investing
Gifting shares can be a meaningful way to introduce someone—especially teens and young investors—to how the market works.
Make investing more accessible
Gift a share of most U.S.-listed stocks or ETFs with as little as $1.
Give something with long-term potential
Unlike many traditional gifts, shares have the potential to grow in value over time.
3 steps for gifting fractional shares:
Common fractional shares questions
A fractional share is when you own less than one whole share of a company. Fractional shares allow you to invest in stocks based on a dollar amount, so you may end up with a fraction of a share, a whole share, or more than one share.
To gift a share, you'll need to open or use an existing Schwab One® Custodial Account for the recipient. Once the account is set up and funded, you can choose from most U.S.-listed stocks or ETFs and decide how much you'd like to give—either by dollar amount or number of shares.
After you place the trade, the investment is held in the custodial account on behalf of the recipient, and you can continue adding to it over time.
Yes, proportionate to the percentage of the share you own.
A custodial account is an account that's set up and managed by an adult on behalf of a young person who's legally a minor. A minor is typically someone who's younger than 18 or 21, depending on the state. While the adult custodian controls the account, the assets in the account are the property of the minor. Once the minor reaches the "age of majority" (legal adult age in their state), they will take control of the assets in the account. Learn more about the potential benefits and limitations of a custodial account.
You can open and fund a custodial account online. In addition to information about yourself, you'll need the minor's contact details, birth date, and Social Security number. Note that trading in the account can only occur once the custodial account is open and funded. Learn more and open a custodial account.
Voting: If you own less than one whole share of stock, you will generally be able to participate in mandatory corporate actions such as stock splits, mergers, or spin-offs, but you will not be able to participate in any shareholder vote or voluntary corporate actions like tender offers and certain rights offerings.
Transferability: If you want to transfer your account or specific share positions to another broker, only whole shares can be transferred. Your fractional shares that cannot be transferred or reorganized will be liquidated at prevailing market prices, and the proceeds will be credited to your account. Since your fractional shares cannot be transferred, your overall SIPC coverage may be affected.
Corporate action: If you receive fractional shares as the result of a stock split or other corporate action, we may sell the shares either on the open market or to the issuer or transfer agent, and you are entitled to receive your pro rata portion of the proceeds of such sale. If sold on the open market, the sale price may differ from that offered to certain registered owners by the issuer or transfer agent.
Fractional shares at Schwab are available for most U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs.
Limits on fractional share investing can vary based on the type of order and other factors. Any applicable minimums or maximums will be displayed during the trading experience.
The Schwab Stock Slices offering is now referred to simply as fractional shares. You can now invest in most U.S.-listed stocks or ETFs for as little as $1.
Yes, to place an order for fractional shares through Schwab, you will need to have an eligible Schwab brokerage account (e.g., custodial, individual, joint account, etc.).
There are no commissions when you place a fractional shares trade online through Schwab.
Multiply your current fractions by the whole number shares of the stock split to see what your future whole or fractional share holdings will be upon completion of the stock split. For example, if you owned .15 of a share and the company announced a 4-1 split, you could anticipate holding .60 (.15 x 4) of a share when the stock split is complete.
If you held .43 shares of the same company at the completion of the same 4-1 stock split, you'd have 1.72 shares. This equates to a whole share and a fractional share.
