Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: you open the account at the receiving firm and sign the transfer form there; the new firm pulls the account through ACATS. Northwestern Mutual Investment Services prices the exit at $125.00 on a single row that covers closing and transferring out. The line to plan for is the footnote underneath it: an unpaid annual fee is charged at closing in addition to that $125.00, so an IRA leaving in February can carry two charges out, not one. If your account is advisory rather than brokerage, a second company and a second contract are involved, and the notice period is 30 days. This page states only what Northwestern Mutual itself publishes.
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The published numbers
Every figure below was read out of the NMIS account fee schedule, form 61-1576 (REV 0626), Effective May 1, 2026, retrieved from northwesternmutual.com on September 3, 2026. The schedule says of itself: “All fees are subject to change.”
| What NMIS charges | Amount | How it is charged |
|---|---|---|
| Closing/Transfer Out Fee | $125.00 | Per account |
| Account Maintenance Fee | $50.00 + 0.0079% | Annual, capped at $50 per year |
| Coverdell ESA Annual Fee | $25.00 + 0.0079% | Annual, capped at $25 per year |
| Customer Name Safekeeping | $48.00/position/year | Per position, per year |
| Registered Alternative Investments Fee | $35.00/position/year | Per position, per year |
| Private Placements Safekeeping | $4.00/position/month | Per position, per month |
| Eligibility Review | $300.00 | Per review |
| Restricted Stock Processing Fee | $40.00/$90.00 | Per processing, $90 for full service |
The exit charge is one row, and the footnote is the part to read. The schedule prints “Closing/Transfer Out Fee 2 $125.00” and attaches footnote 2 to it, which reads: “If not previously paid for the current year, the annual fee for Advisory IRA, Brokerage IRA and Coverdell ESA accounts will be charged at the time the account closes in addition to the closing/transfer out fee.” That is an explicit instruction that the annual fee stacks on the way out. It is the opposite of the arrangement at firms whose schedules say a termination charge and a transfer charge cancel each other, as Merrill Edge’s and Morgan Stanley’s do, so a Northwestern Mutual IRA closed mid-year should be budgeted at the $125.00 plus whatever annual fee has not yet been collected for that year.
The schedule does not name which annual fee footnote 2 means, so here is what it can be. Footnote 2 says only “the annual fee for Advisory IRA, Brokerage IRA and Coverdell ESA accounts”. The only annual rows the schedule carries are the Account Maintenance Fee and the Coverdell ESA Annual Fee, both quoted as a flat amount plus 0.0079%. Footnote 6 caps what actually reaches you: “the Account Maintenance fee billed to your account will not be more than $50 per year ($25 for Coverdell ESA)”. Footnote 7 then exempts it outright in a case worth checking, since “The $50.00 Account Maintenance Fee ($25 for Coverdell ESA) is exempted if a single account, or a combined household, holds greater than $250,000 in assets with NMIS held through our Clearing Firm”. If your household is above that line, the annual fee that would otherwise ride out with you may not be owed at all. We do not print a single combined exit number, because the schedule does not publish one and the answer depends on what you have already paid this year.
Two companies, two contracts, and only one of them charges the $125.00. The fee schedule is NMIS, the broker-dealer that custodies the account. Advisory work sits with a different entity: the schedule itself states that “Investment advisory and trust services are offered through Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company”. If you are in a Signature advisory program, the termination clause is NMWMC’s, and it reads: “Either you or NMWMC may elect to terminate the Advisory Client Agreement at any time without cause by providing 30 days’ prior written notice of such termination to the other party.” On money already paid: “For accounts that have been charged advisory fees, you will receive a refund of Advisory Fees paid in advance pro-rated from the date of termination through the end of the quarter. No fee adjustments will be made for appreciation or depreciation in the Portfolio value during a quarter.” The advisory brochure is also explicit that the brokerage charges are separate from the advisory fee: “Certain brokerage related fees such as the Account Maintenance Fee, Cash Sweep Access Fee, SEC fees, wire transfer fees, account termination fees, stock certificate processing and other miscellaneous NMIS fees that a client might incur are also charged to the client. These brokerage account fees are not for investment advice and are in addition to the Annual Advisory Fee you pay for this Program.” In practice that means two things to do rather than one, and the 30 day clock is the one that decides your timing.
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Source: WiserAdvisor’s service descriptionWhat may not move as it is
ACATS moves what the receiving firm is willing and able to hold. The rows to read first on your own statement are the per-position ones, because a firm does not price the storage of something its clients do not hold: $48.00/position/year for a security registered in your own name, $35.00/position/year for a registered alternative investment, and $4.00/position/month for a private placement. Positions like those are the ones a receiving firm most often declines, and the question to ask is literal: “Can you hold every position on this statement?” Anything they cannot hold has to be sold or delivered out, and in a taxable account that sale is a realised gain in the year you switch. Insurance and annuity contracts issued by Northwestern Mutual are not brokerage positions and do not travel through ACATS at all; those are a separate conversation with the issuer. The categories that commonly do not transfer.
Closing the account vs transferring it: the $125.00 transfer-out fee
Closing an account and transferring it are different events. A transfer in kind moves your holdings to the new firm as they are. Closing by selling everything and withdrawing the cash is a liquidation. A liquidation is a taxable event; a transfer in kind is not, see IRS Publication 550 and Publication 590-B.
How do I close a Northwestern Mutual account?
To leave without selling, open the account at the receiving firm and start the transfer there. To close by liquidating, sell the holdings and withdraw the cash. The charge for moving the account is covered in the next answer.
What is the Northwestern Mutual transfer out fee?
The NMIS account fee schedule (form 61-1576) lists “Closing/Transfer Out Fee” at $125.00, charged per account.
What is the Northwestern Mutual ACAT fee?
ACATS is the system the receiving firm uses to pull an account. The amount published for sending an account out is $125.00, from the NMIS account fee schedule (form 61-1576).
The sequence
1. Pull a current statement for every account, showing the exact registration, the account numbers and the complete holdings list. The receiving firm works from that, not from memory. 2. Ask the receiving firm what it cannot hold. The question is literally “Can you hold every position on this statement?”, and anything they cannot hold has to be sold or delivered out, which in a taxable account is a realised gain in the year you switch. The categories that commonly do not transfer. 3. Open the receiving account and sign the transfer form there. Under FINRA Rule 11870 the delivering firm then has one business day to validate the instruction or take exception to it, and three business days after validation to complete the transfer. 4. Send a dated termination letter for the record, and the generator writes it, then confirm in writing that billing has stopped.
Two things to get right
Cost basis. Under IRC §6045A the delivering broker must furnish a transfer statement carrying basis for covered securities within 15 days of the transfer. Keep your final Northwestern Mutual statements anyway, and check the first statement at the new firm for positions showing a missing or zero basis. Retirement accounts move as a direct transfer, trustee to trustee, not as a distribution to you. Why that distinction matters. Budget the $125.00 plus any annual fee still unpaid for the current year, and start the 30 day advisory notice before the transfer paperwork if you are in a Signature program. Whether the exit charge is worth paying at all is a question of what you are moving to: our benchmark of published adviser fee schedules puts the weighted median annual cost near $2,000 to $2,500 on $250,000. The benchmark. The general mechanics: switching financial advisors, and what switching costs across firms. To put the exit charge next to the fee you would stop paying, the switching advisors cost calculator returns the break-even in months.
Comparing exit steps at more than one firm? How to leave Baird, Betterment, Citi, Commonwealth Financial Network, Equitable Advisors, Janney Montgomery Scott and Oppenheimer, fee by fee and form by form.
Considering an independent broker-dealer network instead of a captive insurance-affiliated firm? Cetera Advisor Networks, reviewed here, including two recent SEC enforcement actions.
Want to know what Northwestern Mutual charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Northwestern Mutual’s own fee disclosure.
Before you decide to leave Northwestern Mutual, check whether it owes you a fiduciary duty in the first place.
Weighing whether to move ahead? Read the full Northwestern Mutual review, including its fiduciary status and what it costs to leave.
What does leaving cost elsewhere? Compare the published exit fee at 115 advisory firms and brokerages, each taken from that firm’s own schedule or its custodian’s.
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