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Schwab International Index Fund
Schwab International Index Fund®
Investment Objective
The fund’s goal is to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the total return of large, publicly traded non-U.S. companies from countries with developed equity markets outside of the United States.
Fund Fees and Expenses
This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and Example below.
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees
Schwab International Index Fund
Schwab International Index Fund
USD ($)
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) none
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
Schwab International Index Fund
Schwab International Index Fund
Management fees 0.06%
Other expenses none
Total annual fund operating expenses 0.06%
Example
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those time periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Your actual costs may be higher or lower.
Expenses on a $10,000 Investment
Expense Example
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Schwab International Index Fund | Schwab International Index Fund | USD ($) 6 19 34 77
Portfolio Turnover
The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in the annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 7% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
To pursue its goal, the fund generally invests in stocks that are included in the MSCI EAFE® Index†. It is the fund’s policy that under
normal circumstances it will invest at least 80% of its net assets (including, for this purpose, any borrowings for investment purposes) in these stocks; typically, the actual percentage is considerably higher. The fund will notify its shareholders at least 60 days before changing this policy.
The fund generally will seek to replicate the performance of the index by giving the same weight to a given stock as the index does. However, when the investment adviser believes it is in the best interest of the fund, such as to avoid purchasing odd-lots (i.e., purchasing less than the usual number of shares traded for a security), for tax considerations, or to address liquidity considerations with respect to a stock, the investment adviser may cause the fund’s weighting of a stock to be more or less than the index’s weighting of the stock. The fund may sell securities that are represented in the index in anticipation of their removal from the index, or buy securities that are not yet represented in the index in anticipation of their addition to the index. The fund does not hedge its exposure to foreign currencies. However, the fund may use forward contracts to lock in exchange rates for the portfolio securities purchased or sold, but awaiting settlement. These transactions establish a rate of exchange that can be expected to be received upon settlement of the securities.
The MSCI EAFE Index includes stocks from Europe, Australasia and the Far East, and as of December 31, 2020, it consisted of the following 21 developed market country indices: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
The fund may invest in derivatives, principally futures contracts, and lend its securities to minimize the gap in performance that naturally exists between any index fund and its corresponding index. This gap occurs mainly because, unlike the index, the fund incurs expenses and must keep a small portion of its assets in cash for business operations. By using futures, the fund potentially can offset a portion of the gap attributable to its cash holdings. In addition, any income realized through securities lending may help reduce the portion of the gap attributable to expenses.
The fund may concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in an industry or group of industries to the extent that the index the fund is designed to track is also so concentrated.
Principal Risks
The fund is subject to risks, any of which could cause an investor to lose money. The fund’s principal risks include:
†
Index ownership — “MSCI EAFE®” is a registered mark of MSCI and has been licensed for use by the Schwab International Index Fund. The Schwab International Index Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by MSCI and MSCI bears no liability with respect to the fund. The Statement of Additional Information contains a more detailed description of the limited relationship MSCI has with the fund.
Market Risk. Financial markets rise and fall in response to a variety of factors, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably. Markets may be impacted by economic, political, regulatory and other conditions, including economic sanctions and other government actions. In addition, the occurrence of global events, such as war, terrorism, environmental disasters, natural disasters and epidemics, may also negatively affect the financial markets. As with any investment whose performance is tied to these markets, the value of an investment in the fund will fluctuate, which means that an investor could lose money over short or long periods.
Equity Risk. The prices of equity securities rise and fall daily. These price movements may result from factors affecting individual companies, industries or the securities market as a whole. In addition, equity markets tend to move in cycles, which may cause stock prices to fall over short or extended periods of time.
Investment Style Risk. The fund is an index fund. Therefore, the fund follows the securities included in the index during upturns as well as downturns. Because of its indexing strategy, the fund does not take steps to reduce market exposure or to lessen the effects of a declining market. In addition, because of the fund’s expenses, the fund’s performance may be below that of the index. Errors relating to the index may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index provider for a period of time. In addition, market disruptions could cause delays in the index’s rebalancing schedule. Such errors and/or market disruptions may result in losses for the fund.
Market Capitalization Risk. Securities issued by companies of different market capitalizations tend to go in and out of favor based on market and economic conditions. During a period when securities of a particular market capitalization fall behind other types of investments, the fund’s performance could be impacted.
Large-Cap Company Risk. Large-cap companies are generally more mature and the securities issued by these companies may not be able to reach the same levels of growth as the securities issued by small- or mid-cap companies.
Tracking Error Risk. As an index fund, the fund seeks to track the performance of the index, although it may not be successful in doing so. The divergence between the performance of the fund and the index, positive or negative, is called “tracking error.” Tracking error can be caused by many factors and it may be significant.
Foreign Investment Risk. The fund’s investments in securities of foreign issuers involve certain risks that may be greater than those associated with investments in securities of U.S. issuers. These include risks of adverse changes in foreign economic, political, regulatory and other conditions; changes in currency exchange rates or exchange control regulations (including limitations on currency movements and exchanges); the imposition of economic sanctions or other government restrictions; differing accounting, auditing, financial reporting and legal standards and practices; differing securities market structures; and higher transaction costs. These risks may negatively impact the value or liquidity of the fund’s investments, and could impair the fund’s ability to meet its
investment objective or invest in accordance with its investment strategy. There is a risk that investments in securities denominated in, and/or receiving revenues in, foreign currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar. To the extent the fund’s investments in a single country or a limited number of countries represent a large percentage of the fund’s assets, the fund’s performance may be adversely affected by the economic, political, regulatory and social conditions in those countries, and the fund’s price may be more volatile than the price of a fund that is geographically diversified.
Concentration Risk. To the extent that the fund’s or the index’s portfolio is concentrated in the securities of issuers in a particular market, industry, group of industries, sector, country or asset class, the fund may be adversely affected by the performance of those securities, may be subject to increased price volatility and may be more vulnerable to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting that market, industry, group of industries, sector, country or asset class.
Derivatives Risk. The fund’s use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. The fund’s use of derivatives could reduce the fund’s performance, increase the fund’s volatility, and could cause the fund to lose more than the initial amount invested. In addition, investments in derivatives may involve leverage, which means a small percentage of assets invested in derivatives can have a disproportionately large impact on the fund.
Liquidity Risk. The fund may be unable to sell certain securities, such as illiquid securities, readily at a favorable time or price, or the fund may have to sell them at a loss.
Securities Lending Risk. Securities lending involves the risk of loss of rights in, or delay in recovery of, the loaned securities if the borrower fails to return the security loaned or becomes insolvent.
For more information on the risks of investing in the fund, please see the “Fund Details” section in the prospectus.
Performance
The bar chart below shows how the fund’s investment results have varied from year to year, and the following table shows how the fund’s average annual total returns for various periods compared to that of the index. This information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. All figures assume distributions were reinvested. Keep in mind that future performance (both before and after taxes) may differ from past performance. For current performance information, please see www.schwabfunds.com/​schwabfunds_prospectus.
Annual Total Returns (%) as of 12/31
Bar Chart
Best Quarter: 16.15% Q2 2020
Worst Quarter: (23.21%) Q1 2020
Average Annual Total Returns as of 12/31/20
Average Annual Returns - Schwab International Index Fund
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Schwab International Index Fund 8.14% 7.66% 5.61%
After Taxes on Distributions | Schwab International Index Fund 7.80% 7.07% 5.01%
After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | Schwab International Index Fund 5.29% 6.05% 4.48%
Comparative Index (reflects no deduction for expenses or taxes) MSCI EAFE Index (Net) [1] 7.82% 7.45% 5.51%
[1] The net version of the index reflects reinvested dividends net of withholding taxes, but reflects no deductions for expenses or other taxes.​
The after-tax figures reflect the highest individual federal income tax rates in effect during the period and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns depend on your individual tax situation. In addition, after-tax returns are not relevant if you hold your fund shares through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan, an individual retirement account (IRA) or other tax-advantaged account.