Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated September 28, 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. Kingswood Wealth Advisors, LLC’s Form ADV Part 2A states “Upon 30-days written notice to KWA, the client has the right to terminate his or her advisory agreement with KWA without penalty or payment of additional fees.” Kingswood Wealth Advisors, LLC’s own Form ADV Part 2A also states that it deducts $50.00 per account from that refund as its own termination fee, on top of whatever the custodian charges below. Kingswood Wealth Advisors, LLC names three possible custodians in its brochure, with no single default: Charles Schwab & Company, Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., and RBC Capital Markets, LLC. If you are custodied at Schwab, budget $50.00 per account, per Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own current fee schedule. If you are custodied at Raymond James, budget $125.00 per account, per Steward Partners Investment Solutions, LLC’s own fee schedule for Raymond James-custodied accounts, which states that the fees it lists are the fees charged by Raymond James. No primary-source public fee schedule was located for RBC Capital Markets, LLC, an honest gap rather than a confirmed figure.
The published numbers
From Kingswood Wealth Advisors, LLC’s own Kingswood Wealth Advisors, LLC, “Form ADV, Part 2A Brochure” (March 31, 2026), Item 5, Fees and Compensation, “Termination Fees” (page 14): “Upon 30-days written notice to KWA, the client has the right to terminate his or her advisory agreement with KWA without penalty or payment of additional fees. In the event the Client has paid in advance for any service and the advisory contract is terminated before the end of the billing period, the Advisor will refund any pro-rata amount due to client, after deducting the $50 termination fee per account as disclosed in the IMA.” The same brochure names its custodians (Item 12, Brokerage Practices, “Broker-Dealer Selection” (page 28)): “KWA’s primary custodians are Charles Schwab & Company, Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. (RJFS), and RBC Capital Markets, LLC, which are used for custody of customer assets and execution of customer transactions.” From Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own Charles Schwab, “Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors” (July 2026): “Full transfer (out) of assets: $50 per account.” From Steward Partners Investment Solutions, LLC, “Fee Schedule (Raymond James)” (July 21, 2025): “ACAT Outgoing Transfer 1 $125 $125” No primary-source public fee schedule was located for RBC Capital Markets, LLC; left as an honest gap rather than assumed to be $0.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Kingswood Wealth Advisors’ own exit charge | $50.00 per account (Form ADV), beyond the pro-rated refund |
| Full transfer-out at Schwab | $50.00 per account (Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own Charles Schwab, “Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors” (July 2026)) |
| Full transfer-out at Raymond James | $125.00 (“ACAT Outgoing Transfer”) (Steward Partners Investment Solutions, LLC, “Fee Schedule (Raymond James)” (July 21, 2025)) |
| Full transfer-out at RBC | Honest gap: no comparable line item found |
| ACATS validation and completion window | 1 day to validate, 3 days to complete under FINRA Rule 11870 (measured in business days) |
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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 Kingswood Wealth Advisors charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Kingswood Wealth Advisors’ own fee disclosure.
Sources
- Kingswood Wealth Advisors, LLC, “Form ADV, Part 2A Brochure” (March 31, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1058697
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Kingswood Wealth Advisors, LLC firm summary (CRD 288792): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/288792
- Charles Schwab, “Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors” (July 2026): https://disclosures.schwab.com/SchwabDashboard/61256/REG23060SI.pdf
- Steward Partners Investment Solutions, LLC, “Fee Schedule (Raymond James)” (July 21, 2025): https://www.stewardpartners.com/files/118678/Fee%20Schedule%20RJ%2098000_20250721.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 28, 2026, drawing on Kingswood Wealth Advisors’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.