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Chuck Schwab, founder and Chairman of Charles Schwab Corp. takes a victory lap.

As the man who helped start the discount brokerage revolution after the securities and exchange Commission dismantled the fixed-price Commission system on the exchange back in 1975, his firm’s decision to cut commissions to $ 0 is just “completing the path” it began more than 40 years ago, he said at an event for his new book “Invested” in new York on Thursday.

“Wall street wouldn’t do that, let me assure you,” Schwab said. “It should have been done by other people not connected to wall street.” The insensitivity of large financial services firms to the average investor is one of the main themes of Schwab’s book, in which he describes the surprise and joy he felt when he learned that mega-broker jermermermermermerl Lynch decided to use his reforms as a reason to raise commissions on small transactions, opening doors for rivals like his firm to satisfy the average Joe.

In another attempt to compete with Robinhood and other online upstarts, Schwab told the Wall Street Journal that his firm will soon allow clients to trade in fractional shares to help investors who do not have the capital to buy whole shares.

Schwab has reason to be optimistic. Although the announcement led all four of these publicly traded brokerage stocks to retreat on fees, Schwab performed better. Since October 1, TD Amertitrade shares have fallen 22.2%, E-Trade shares have lost 10.6%, and Interactive Brokers Group Inc. lost 14.9 percent. Charles Schwab shares, meanwhile, lost just 5.7%, as of Thursday’s close.

Schwab’s stock superiority reflects its more diversified revenue base. The firm collects only 8% of its revenue from trading fees, while more than half comes from making profits by investing idle cash left in customer accounts. It also receives income from asset management fees and back office services for institutional investors.

In a conversation after his book promostion, Schwab told MarketWatch that the issue is important and that he supports the SEC’s recent efforts to force brokers to disclose more about the practice, arguing that his firm never allows these payments to get in a way to find a better price.

“Robina, they do not participate that I know, in higher prices,” he said. “If you are a firm like us, we demand a price increase from the market maker and we pass that along to our customers.”

Another problem some observers have with brokerage price wars is that trading has become too cheap and easy, encouraging investors to make unwise trades. David Bize, an Oklahoma city-based financial planner told MarketWatch that DIY investors have had low-cost deals for years that provided enough rope to hang themselves.” No amount of spending will drive even more deals, which he said “most people do poorly rather than a’ buy and hold ‘ approach that would be better for them.”

Schwab disagreed. “With commissions out of the formula, investing is more efficient,” he said. “Commissions get in the way of investment activity and asset allocation and they are an unnecessary burden on the investor.”

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