Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated September 18, 2026. Quick answer: you open an account at the receiving firm and sign the transfer form there; the new firm pulls the accounts through ACATS. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc. (“CIRA”) requires 30 days’ written notice to end an investment-management program agreement, and any prepaid unearned fee is promptly refunded, except if you terminate after the first five days from account opening, CIRA’s own Form ADV says it “may retain up to $500” of that quarter’s prepaid fee. That is a real, if modest, exit cost most of the RIAs in this series do not have. Beyond that, CIRA does not custody assets itself; its own brochure names Schwab Advisor Services, Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, and Pershing Advisor Solutions as “the most common” custodians. If you are custodied at Schwab, budget an additional $50.00 per account for a full outgoing transfer, per Schwab’s own July 2026 pricing guide. Fidelity and Pershing publish no comparably clear figure, so both are honest gaps rather than assumed to be $0.
The published numbers
From Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc.’s Form ADV Part 2A Disclosure Brochure (July 2026): “Written notice of at least 30 days is required for investment management programs unless all parties mutually agree on an earlier termination date. Any prepaid, unearned fees are promptly refunded to you. If termination of the Program Agreement occurs after five (5) days from account opening, we may retain up to $500 of the prepaid Account Fee for the current quarter. Fee refunds will be determined on a pro rata basis using the number of days services are actually provided during the final period.” The same brochure names the custodians: “CIRA has a number of approved custodians. While there are others, the most common are Schwab Advisor Services, Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, and Pershing Advisor Solutions.” From the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors (July 2026): “Full transfer (out) of assets: $50 per account.” Fidelity and Pershing publish no comparably clear figure on their own documents; neither is published here as confirmed.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| CIRA’s own exit charge | $0 if you leave in the first 5 days; up to $500 of the current quarter’s prepaid fee may be retained after that (Form ADV) |
| Full transfer-out at Schwab | $50.00 per account (Schwab’s own July 2026 pricing guide for independent-advisor clients) |
| Fidelity / Pershing | No clearly comparable published figure found this session; honest gap, not $0 |
| ACATS validation + completion window | 1 business day to validate, 3 business days to complete (FINRA Rule 11870) |
Find the right next step for your situation
About how much do you have invested? Pick the range that fits; your next step appears immediately below.
Since you have $250,000 or more, a network of vetted advisers may fit.
If your portfolio is $250,000 or more, this connects you (free, with no obligation to hire anyone) with 2 to 3 vetted advisors.
Before you start, what actually happens. 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. Clear Money Guide is paid when you complete the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone.
Opens on WiserAdvisor’s site in a new tab.
A possible $500 hold-back decides less than your custodian does. What you move to decides everything.
Price the destination before you plan the exit. The matching service below introduces you to advisers who pay to meet you.
Before you start, what actually happens. 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.
The Kapitalwise form opens here; you stay on this page.
What happens when you press the button
It asks about nine questions: age, investable assets, location; then your name, email and phone number, and verifies the phone by text. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
Prefer flat-fee or hourly pricing instead? Compare ranges here.
Answer againThe 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 Cambridge Investment Research charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Cambridge Investment Research’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., “Form ADV Part 2A Disclosure Brochure” (July 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1055573
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc. firm summary (CRD 134139): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/134139
- Charles Schwab, “Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors” (July 2026): https://disclosures.schwab.com/SchwabDashboard/61256/REG23060SI.pdf
- Fidelity, “Brokerage Commission and Fee Schedule”: https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/Brokerage_Commissions_Fee_Schedule.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 18, 2026, drawing on Cambridge Investment Research’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.
Three more exits with firm-owned, no-custodian-ambiguity transfer figures: Fifth Third Wealth Advisors, HomrichBerg, and Huntington Private Bank.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.