Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: most things transfer intact. The exceptions have a name in the rulebook: FINRA Rule 11870 says that “to the extent any account assets are not readily transferable, with or without penalties, such assets may not be transferred within the time frames required by this Rule,” and requires that “the customer will be contacted in writing” about what to do with them. Practically, they get sold — and in a taxable account, selling is a realised gain. Find yours before you sign the transfer form, because after that you are choosing under a deadline.
The categories
Proprietary house funds. A fund sponsored by the firm you are leaving usually cannot be held elsewhere, so it must be liquidated to move. This is the largest and most common category. Mutual funds the receiving firm does not offer. Distinct from proprietary funds and just as blocking: the new firm’s platform simply may not carry the share class. Sometimes a conversion to a different share class of the same fund solves it — ask. Annuities and insurance contracts. Governed by the contract, not by the transfer rules; a contingent deferred sales charge may apply on surrender, and whether the contract can move to the new firm without being surrendered is contract-specific. Fractional shares. Typically liquidated rather than transferred; small amounts, but they generate a taxable event and a stray cash balance. Non-traded and illiquid holdings — non-traded REITs, private placements, limited partnerships — may be transferable only with the sponsor’s cooperation, on the sponsor’s timetable. Anything on margin or pledged as collateral must be settled first. Held-away or accommodation positions the new custodian will not accept at all.
The tax consequence, by account type
This is the whole ballgame. In an IRA, Roth IRA or 401(k), a forced sale costs you nothing in tax — selling inside a retirement account is not a taxable event. In a taxable account, a forced sale of a long-held, low-basis position can be the single largest cost of the whole switch, larger than any transfer fee by an order of magnitude. So the honest answer to “what will this cost me?” is different for every account you hold, and has to be asked account by account. The four situations where switching triggers tax.
How to find yours in ten minutes
Pull a current statement with the full holdings list. Send it to the receiving firm with one question: “Can you hold every position on this statement, and if not, which ones and why?” They will tell you, in writing, before you commit — this is a routine request. For anything on the exception list, ask three follow-ups: can it be converted to a share class you can hold; can it stay behind in a residual account rather than being sold now; and what is the realised gain if it is sold. Leaving a single stubborn position behind at the old firm, and paying its maintenance fee, is often cheaper than the tax on selling it. Then continue with the ordinary transfer process and the fee side.
Ask what cannot move before you sign, not after.
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