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. Principal Securities, Inc.’s Direct Advisory Accounts program routes client assets to a third-party money manager (“TPMM”), and its own Form ADV explicitly defers custody questions to each TPMM’s own disclosure brochure rather than naming one firm-wide custodian. If your TPMM is AssetMark, AssetMark Trust Company’s own Custody Agreement states a $125.00 Account Termination Fee, charged once all accounts under the agreement are closed. If your TPMM is SEI Investment Management Corporation, no comparable dollar figure was located this session; treat that as an honest gap rather than assumed to be $0.
For a closer look at this firm: Principal Securities Review, Is Principal Securities a Fiduciary? and Principal Securities Minimum Investment.
The published numbers
From AssetMark Trust Company’s own Custody Agreement (form R239, July 2024): “Upon termination of all of Client’s Accounts established pursuant to this Agreement a $125 Account Termination Fee will be charged. This fee will not be assessed on withdrawals from or changes to the Account or if the Client terminates the Account within five days of opening the Account.” Principal Securities, Inc.’s own Direct Advisory Accounts Form ADV Part 2A Brochure (dated March 30, 2026), Item 15: “Please refer to the TPMM’s Form ADV Part 2A disclosure brochure for information related to custody of Advisory Client assets in each TPMM Program.” A separate Principal Securities document, the firm’s general Advisory Account Fee Schedule, lists a $125.00 full-transfer/termination figure tied to Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions custody, but that fee schedule applies to Principal’s own discretionary wrap programs, not to the Direct Advisory Accounts/TPMM program this page covers, so it is not used here.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Principal Securities’ own general exit charge | $0.00 extra: custody and its costs are the TPMM’s, per Item 15 of the firm’s own Form ADV |
| Account termination if custodied via AssetMark Trust Company | $125.00 per account (AssetMark Trust Company’s own Custody Agreement) |
| Account termination if custodied via SEI Private Trust Company | no confirmed figure this session; an honest gap, not assumed to be $0 |
| ACATS validation + completion window | 1 business day to validate, 3 business days to complete (FINRA Rule 11870) |
Compare your next step
Just comparing fees? Keep reading the fee guide.Optional next step
Explore an adviser match
Compare the services and the full fee before deciding whether to hire anyone.
- No fee to request a match
- No obligation to hire
Expect questions about your situation, your name, email and phone, and phone verification by text. A match is not guaranteed.
The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Kapitalwise sends your details to advisers who pay for the introduction, so expect calls and texts. Clear Money Guide is paid when you submit the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. This is free to you and there is no obligation to hire anyone.
Opens here. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
How our partner relationships workCompare an adviser match before you decide
Ask about the full fee, what it covers and how the adviser is paid. A match is an introduction, not a recommendation from Clear Money Guide.
- Free matching service
- No obligation to hire
The matching service is run by WiserAdvisor, an independent advisor-matching company. It opens on their site, asks for your ZIP code and a few questions, and matches you with 2 to 3 vetted advisors. It is free to you. WiserAdvisor states the service is built for portfolios of $250,000 and above. By submitting, you consent to emails, phone calls and text messages from WiserAdvisor and up to three advisors, so expect to be contacted. Advisers pay for the introduction. Clear Money Guide is paid when you complete the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. There is no obligation to hire anyone.
Continue to WiserAdvisorOpens on WiserAdvisor’s site in a new tab.
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 Principal Securities charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Principal Securities’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- AssetMark Trust Company, Inc., Custody Agreement (form R239, July 2024): https://site.assetmark.com/~/media/assetmark/files/cash/r239_assetmark_custagr.pdf?la=en&hash=BC9B4782634FBD5A092190E185497C4DC2DEA1A9
- Principal Securities, Inc., Direct Advisory Accounts Form ADV Part 2A Brochure (March 30, 2026): https://secure02.principal.com/publicvsupply/GetFile?fm=MM10943C&ty=VOP&EXT=.VOP
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Principal Securities, Inc. firm summary (CRD 1137): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/1137
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Principal Securities, Inc. Form CRS: https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_1137.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 25, 2026, drawing on Principal Securities’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.