8 Best Charles Schwab Mutual Funds Of 2026

The Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund delivers exposure to the overall U.S. stock market at a very low cost. That 0.02% expense ratio is tough to beat.

As the name implies, Schwab’s S&P 500 Index fund attempts to mirror the performance of the most popular measure of the U.S. stock market, the S&P 500 index. This large-cap blend, passively managed index fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in the benchmark index

About 19% of SWPPX’s portfolio is in its top three holdings, Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia. That’s somewhat similar to the index itself. Fund weightings by industries and individual stocks are also nearly identical to the S&P 500’s.

Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth Index Fund (SWLGX) tracks the Russell 1000 Growth Index with over 380 equities. The Russell 1000 Growth Index is focused on large-cap U.S. growth firms like Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Broadcom, to name a few.

The fund carries a very reasonable expense ratio of 0.035% and has been in existence since December 2017. So, there is around a decade of performance history.

Performance has been especially strong during growth-favored market environments: It returned 18.56% in 2025, with a standout 2024 with returns above 30% and gains exceeding 42% in 2023. Information technology dominates the holdings for the fund, representing over 50% of the portfolio allocation.

The motto of the Schwab 1000 Index Fund (SNXFX) is that it “covers approximately 90% or more of the total U.S. stock market capitalization.” So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the top 10 holdings are dominated by names like Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.com, among other “Magnificent 7” stocks. These are well-known U.S. tech companies with large market capitalizations, focused on the AI revolution.

In terms of sector weighting, the core sectors that make up more than half of the portfolio are information technology, followed by communication services and financials.

Between 2020 and 2025, SNXFX delivered returns above 17%, apart from 2022, a down year for the S&P 500, too.

With an allocation to Schwab Fundamental U.S. Large Company Index Fund, you’ll gain exposure to blue-chip companies. It’s allocated a little differently than the Schwab 1000 Index Fund (SNXFX), which tilts toward tech megacap companies. There’s a more consistent spread of more than 700 equities among sectors. Technology, while the largest in portfolio allocation, is about 19%. Financial services, health care, communications services and energy also have weightings above 10%.

The fund seeks to invest in stocks included in the RAFI Fundamental High Liquidity US Large Index. According to the fund’s prospectus, “The index is comprised of the largest U.S. companies by fundamental size.”

Schwab Fundamental International Equity Index Fund (SFNNX) is heavily focused on international stocks, with nearly 98% of the portfolio in non-U.S. equities. The lineup of the dominant holdings includes names you have probably heard before – Samsung, Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, Toyota Motor Corp. and Rio Tinto. But the top 10 holdings only represent around 15% of the portfolio, as the fund invests in over 800 equities.

In terms of allocation by countries, Japan represents nearly a quarter, followed by the U.K. at around 15%. But it should be noted that the fund is volatile, subject to geopolitical shifts and has an aggressive equity composition.

In terms of performance, SFNNX showed outsized gains in 2025, with total returns hitting past 40% compared to the prior year, when the return was a meager 2.26%.

The Schwab Fundamental Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund (SFENX) is a Morningstar five-star medalist—which means it’s among the top 10% of funds in the category. SFENX generated positive returns in 2023, 2024 and 2025, at 18.89%, 12.30%, and 29.17%, respectively. But it experienced down years during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and in 2022 (a year when the S&P 500 also posted negative returns). The fund is also very exposed to China and Taiwan, which collectively make up more than half the portfolio’s allocation.

According to SFENX’s prospectus, the purpose of this fund is to invest at least 80% of its net assets in the index that it follows: the RAFI Fundamental High Liquidity Emerging Markets Index. Some top holdings include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Alibaba, China Construction Bank Corp., Tencent Holdings, JD.com and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

When investing in emerging markets, keep in mind that these countries typically don’t have the same uniform accounting as developed countries, and that can pose a greater risk.

The Schwab MarketTrack Growth Portfolio (SWHGX) offers diversification across U.S. and international markets.

According to the fund prospectus, SWHGX holds 80% in equities, 16% in fixed income and 4% in cash or cash equivalents, and its reported holdings are close in range to those targets. As a result, you gain exposure to stocks, bonds and cash within a single fund.

A distinguishing feature of the fund is its Russian-doll nesting-like structure—it’s a fund composed of other funds. Its largest holding is the Schwab S&P 500 Index (SWPPX), accounting for just over 20% of the portfolio, followed by the Schwab U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (SWAGX) at slightly more than 15%. Other funds included are the Schwab International Index (SWISX), Schwab Fundamental U.S. Large Company Index (SFLNX), Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth Index (SWLGX) and Schwab Fundamental International Equity Index (SFNNX).

The advantage of the fund-of-funds approach is automatic portfolio rebalancing—and that helps maintain its target allocations over time.

From a performance perspective, the fund has been consistent. Between 2019 and 2025, its only negative year was 2022, the same year as the S&P 500 pullback. Outside of that, annual returns from 2020 through 2025 ranged from roughly 11% to just over 18%.

The investment focus is in the fund’s name: municipal bond fund. Over 99% of the Schwab Opportunistic Municipal Bond Fund’s invested exposure is in muni bonds. These bonds, sometimes called “munis,” are debt securities issued by states, cities and other government entities.

SWHYX holds higher-grade bond securities, nearly all of which are graded BBB or higher, with most of the securities having maturities of seven or more years.

In terms of the other funds on our list of Best Charles Schwab mutual funds, SWHXY has the highest net expense ratio of 0.50%. Note that this fund is not an index fund and is actively managed, hence the extra cash charged.

The fund’s prospectus highlights that its objective is “generating interest income that is not subject to federal income tax.” SWHYX currently issues a yield (interest income) of around 4%.