Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated September 23, 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. Acorns’ own Form ADV names outgoing asset transfers as a chargeable “irregular occurrence” without stating an amount, but Acorns’ own client Program Agreement supplies the real number: $35.00 per ETF or stock position you hold, not one flat fee per account. A three-fund portfolio costs $105 to move in full; a one-fund portfolio costs $35. This is Acorns’ own unified schedule, so it applies the same way no matter which of its three custodians (RBC, Drivewealth, or Forge Trust, depending on the product) actually holds your position.
The published numbers
From Acorns Advisers, LLC’s Wrap Fee Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A, Appendix 1, August 2026), Item 4: “Certain additional fees may be charged to a client for specifically requested services or irregular occurrences (for example, manual rollovers, outgoing asset transfers, and in-kind withdrawals).” No dollar amount appears in the ADV itself. The same brochure names the custodians: “Acorns Securities utilizes RBC Capital Markets, LLC as custodian… Acorns Securities utilizes Drivewealth, LLC as custodian… for Custom Portfolios… Acorns utilizes Forge Trust to serve as custodian and administrator of Acorns Later Accounts.” The actual figure is in Acorns’ own client Program Agreement (Schedule 1, “Additional Fees”), fetched fresh from acorns.com on September 23, 2026, whose Asset Transfers table lists: Account Transfer (Incoming): Free; Asset Transfer (Outgoing): $35 per ETF/stock; In-kind Withdrawal (Free Delivery) of ETF Shares/stock: $35 per ETF/stock; Acorns Later Account Manual Rollovers (Incoming): $25 per account.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Acorns’ own account-closure charge | $0.00 beyond the fee below; no separate termination fee found (Wrap Fee Brochure) |
| Outgoing asset transfer | $35.00 per ETF or stock position (Acorns Program Agreement, Schedule 1) |
| Incoming asset transfer | Free |
| Acorns Later Account manual rollover (incoming) | $25.00 per account (same Program Agreement, Schedule 1) |
| 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 descriptionClosing the account vs transferring it: the $35.00 per ETF or stock position 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 an Acorns 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 Acorns transfer out fee?
The Acorns Program Agreement, Schedule 1 lists “Outgoing asset transfer” at $35.00 per ETF or stock position.
What is the Acorns ACAT fee?
ACATS is the system the receiving firm uses to pull an account. The amount published for sending an account out is $35.00 per ETF or stock position, from the Acorns Program Agreement, Schedule 1.
The 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 Acorns charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Acorns’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- Acorns Advisers, LLC, Wrap Fee Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A, Appendix 1, August 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1055520
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Acorns Advisers, LLC firm summary (CRD 165926): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/165926
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Acorns Advisers, LLC Form CRS: https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_165926.pdf
- Acorns, Program Agreement (Schedule 1, Additional Fees): https://www.acorns.com/program-agreement/
Methodology. This page was built September 23, 2026, drawing on Acorns’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.
Weighing whether to move ahead? Read the full Acorns 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.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.