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. BMO Private Wealth’s advisory business runs through Stoker Ostler Wealth Advisors, Inc., a part of BMO Financial Group. Ending the advisory agreement itself costs nothing extra beyond fees prorated through the termination date. Stoker Ostler does not custody your assets itself; its own Form ADV names only Charles Schwab and National Financial Services (Fidelity) as recommended 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. Fidelity publishes no comparable figure, an honest gap rather than assumed to be $0.
The published numbers
From Stoker Ostler Wealth Advisors, Inc.’s Form ADV Part 2A (March 31, 2026), Item 5: “A client agreement can be terminated by either party for any reason. If a client terminates their client agreement, the client is still obligated to pay advisory fees prorated through the date of termination.” Item 12 names the custodians: “we recommend that clients establish accounts with the following broker-dealers… Schwab Advisor Services (‘Schwab’)… [and] National Financial Services, Inc. (‘Fidelity’)…” From the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors (July 2026), Account Activity Fees: “Full transfer (out) of assets: $50 per account.” No Fidelity/NFS dollar figure appears anywhere in the Stoker Ostler brochure. A note on the entity name: the roster’s stale top-level CRD for BMO Private Wealth (137115, BMO Harris Financial Advisors, Inc.) is inactive at the SEC; Stoker Ostler Wealth Advisors, Inc. (CRD 111320) is the entity actually behind the live BMO Private Wealth fee page on this site, and is the one cited throughout.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Stoker Ostler’s own exit charge | $0.00 extra: advisory fees prorated through the termination date (Form ADV) |
| Full transfer-out at Schwab | $50.00 per account (Schwab’s own July 2026 pricing guide for independent-advisor clients) |
| Fidelity (NFS) | Fidelity’s own published fee schedules carry no comparable, clearly attributable outgoing-transfer line item for accounts custodied there; left as an honest gap rather than assumed to be $0. |
| 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 BMO Private Wealth charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from BMO Private Wealth’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- Stoker Ostler Wealth Advisors, Inc., Form ADV Part 2A (March 31, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1037081
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Stoker Ostler Wealth Advisors, Inc. firm summary (CRD 111320): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/111320
- Charles Schwab, “Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors” (July 2026): https://disclosures.schwab.com/SchwabDashboard/61256/REG23060SI.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 23, 2026, drawing on BMO Private 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.
Weighing whether to move ahead? Read the full BMO Private Wealth review, including its fiduciary status and what it costs to leave.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.