Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated September 25, 2026. Quick answer: you open an account at the receiving firm and sign the transfer form there; the new firm pulls the account through ACATS. M1 Advisory Services LLC, which runs the managed-portfolio product branded M1 Finance, does not custody your assets itself: taxable accounts are held directly at the affiliated broker-dealer, M1 Finance LLC, and IRAs are custodied at Apex Clearing Corporation with M1 Finance LLC acting as introducing broker. M1’s own published Fee Schedule (one document covering both self-directed and advisory accounts) lists $100.00 for a Direct Account Transfer (Outgoing), and a separate $100.00 IRA Termination Fee per event, so closing and transferring out an IRA costs $200.00 total.
More on this firm: M1 Finance Review, Is M1 Finance a Fiduciary? What Its Own Form CRS Says and M1 Finance Minimum Investment.
The published numbers
From M1’s own Fee Schedule (last updated August 2026): “Direct Account Transfers… Outgoing… $100” and, under “Other,” “IRA Termination Fee (per event)… $100.” From M1 Advisory Services LLC’s own Form ADV Part 2A Brochure (dated July 8, 2026), Item 15: “These accounts are custodied either at M1 Finance LLC or, for certain accounts including Individual Retirement Accounts, at Apex with M1 Finance LLC acting as introducing broker-dealer.” Item 5 directs clients to the same fee schedule for “custodial fees, account maintenance fees, transfer fees, wire transfer fees, IRA administration fees, and other account-level charges.” This is a single, shared fee schedule for the whole platform, advisory included, not a brokerage-only document that might not apply to advisory clients.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| M1’s own general account-closure charge | $0.00 beyond the fees below; no separate flat termination fee found |
| Direct account transfer (outgoing, non-retirement) | $100.00 (M1’s own Fee Schedule) |
| IRA termination (per event, in addition to the transfer fee above) | $100.00 (same schedule); a full IRA exit therefore totals $200.00 |
| Transfer-on-death account transfer | $200.00 per transfer, a related charge on the same schedule |
| 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 M1 Finance charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from M1 Finance’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- M1 Finance, M1 Fee Schedule (last updated August 2026): https://m1.com/legal/disclosures/miscellaneous-fees/
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, M1 Advisory Services LLC firm summary (CRD 249787): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/249787
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, M1 Advisory Services LLC Form CRS: https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_249787.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 25, 2026, drawing on M1 Finance’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.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.