His successor, Rick Wurster, is facing a vastly different financial landscape from the one Schwab encountered when he started his company in 1971. The market then was inhospitable to retail investors, with fixed fees and an uneven playing field that tilted in favor of Wall Street fat cats. Schwab swooped in, aligning the firm’s interests with those of its customers by first lowering, then altogether eliminating, costly trading fees, helping reshape the industry.