Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated September 18, 2026. Quick answer: you open an account at the receiving firm and sign the transfer form there; the new firm pulls the accounts through ACATS and you never have to call Carson Wealth. Carson (CWM, LLC) itself charges nothing extra to end the relationship: its Form ADV requires just seven days’ written notice, with any prepaid fee refunded pro-rata for the period actually served. But CWM does not custody your assets itself; per its own Form ADV, accounts are “held primarily by Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, Charles Schwab and Co, Inc., or other qualified custodians.” If you are custodied at Schwab, budget $50.00 per account for a full outgoing transfer, per Schwab’s own July 2026 pricing guide for independent-advisor clients. Fidelity’s own official fee schedule lists no equivalent transfer-out line item, so that figure is an honest gap rather than a confirmed $0.
The published numbers
From CWM, LLC’s Form ADV Part 2A (December 2025): “The Agreement shall continue in effect until terminated by either party by giving to the other notice in writing at least seven (7) days prior to the date of termination… If a contract is terminated after fees have been collected for a given period, a prorated refund of such fees will promptly be credited to you for that period.” The same brochure names the custodians: “Advisory accounts will be held primarily by Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, Charles Schwab and Co, Inc., or other qualified custodians as approved by CWM, LLC.” From the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors (July 2026), under Account Activity Fees: “Full transfer (out) of assets: $50 per account.” Fidelity’s own Brokerage Commission and Fee Schedule contains no comparable line item for a full account transfer out; left as an honest gap rather than assumed to be $0.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Carson Wealth’s own exit charge | $0.00 extra: pro-rated refund of any prepaid fee, 7 days’ written notice (Form ADV) |
| Full transfer-out at Schwab | $50.00 per account (Schwab’s own July 2026 pricing guide for independent-advisor clients) |
| Partial transfer-out at Schwab | $0.00 per account |
| ACATS validation + completion window | 1 business day to validate, 3 business days to complete (FINRA Rule 11870) |
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Source: WiserAdvisor’s service descriptionThe sequence
1. Pull a current statement for every account, showing the exact registration, account numbers and complete holdings list. 2. Check the holdings for anything that will not move. Ask the receiving firm directly: “Can you hold every position on this statement?” Anything they cannot hold has to be sold, and in a taxable account that 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 and three business days after validation to complete. 4. Send a dated termination letter for the record: the generator writes it, and 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 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. Whether a transfer fee 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.
Want to know what Carson Wealth charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Carson Wealth’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- CWM, LLC, “Form ADV Part 2A” (December 2025): https://carsonhub.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/CWM-LLC-ADV-Part-2A-December-2025.pdf
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, CWM, LLC firm summary (CRD 155344): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/155344
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, CWM, LLC Form CRS: https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_155344.pdf
- Charles Schwab, “Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors” (July 2026): https://disclosures.schwab.com/SchwabDashboard/61256/REG23060SI.pdf
- Fidelity, “Brokerage Commission and Fee Schedule”: https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/Brokerage_Commissions_Fee_Schedule.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 18, 2026, drawing on Carson Wealth’s own Form ADV/wrap-fee brochure/fee schedule plus each named custodian’s own published fee schedule, with sources linked inline; any figure we could not independently confirm this session on a firm-owned or custodian-owned document is named as an honest gap above rather than presented as verified. Nothing here is personalized financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. See our Editorial Policy, Corrections, Affiliate Disclosure, and Disclaimer.
Three more exits, each with a published transfer figure: Raymond James, LPL Financial, and Empower Personal Wealth.
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.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.