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 and you never have to call Edelman Financial Engines. Edelman Financial Engines itself doesn’t charge to leave: its Form ADV states plainly that it “does not receive any” of the custodian-side transfer or account-closing fees you might be charged. What you actually pay depends on which of Edelman’s three custodians holds your account. The majority of Edelman clients are custodied at Charles Schwab, where a full outgoing transfer runs $50.00 per account, per Schwab’s own July 2026 pricing guide for independent-advisor clients. If your account sits at Axos Advisor Services instead, its own fee schedule lists a $150.00 full transfer-out fee. Fidelity, the third option, publishes no comparable line item on its own fee schedule: an honest gap, not a confirmed $0.
The published numbers
From Edelman Financial Engines’ (Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.) Form ADV Part 2A (March 31, 2024), Item 5: “…account closing fees…Edelman Financial Engines does not receive any of these fees.” Its Wrap Fee Brochure (March 31, 2026) names the custodians directly: “…currently include Fidelity, Axos Advisor Services, and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (‘Schwab’). The majority of Edelman Financial Engines client assets are custodied at Schwab.” From the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors (July 2026): “Full transfer (out) of assets: $50 per account.” From the Axos Advisor Services Standard Fee Schedule for Clients of Registered Investment Advisors (as of October 2024): “Transfers … Full Transfer Out Fee $150 … assessed per account closure and charged at the time of transaction.” Fidelity’s own Brokerage Commission and Fee Schedule lists no equivalent line item; left as an honest gap rather than assumed.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Edelman Financial Engines’ own exit fee | $0.00: it “does not receive any” of the custodian-side transfer/closing fees (Form ADV, Item 5) |
| Full transfer-out at Schwab (majority of EFE clients) | $50.00 per account (Schwab’s own July 2026 pricing guide for independent-advisor clients) |
| Full transfer-out at Axos Advisor Services | $150.00 per account (Axos’ own October 2024 fee schedule) |
| 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 $50 to $150 exit fee, depending on your custodian, decides nothing. 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 Edelman Financial Engines charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Edelman Financial Engines’s own fee disclosure.
Before you decide to leave Edelman Financial Engines, check whether it owes you a fiduciary duty in the first place.
Not sure Edelman Financial Engines is the right fit at all? See its minimum investment, straight from its own Form ADV Part 2A brochure.
Sources
- Edelman Financial Engines (Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.), “Form ADV Part 2A” (March 31, 2024, via SEC IAPD): https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/reports/ADV/104510/PDF/104510.pdf
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Edelman Financial Engines firm summary (CRD 104510): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/104510
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Edelman Financial Engines Form CRS: https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_104510.pdf
- Edelman Financial Engines, “Wrap Fee Brochure” (March 31, 2026): https://www.edelmanfinancialengines.com/content/dam/efe/corporate-brand/Legal-Documents/Wrap_Fee_Brochure.pdf
- Charles Schwab, “Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors” (July 2026): https://disclosures.schwab.com/SchwabDashboard/61256/REG23060SI.pdf
- Axos Advisor Services, “Standard Fee Schedule for Clients of Registered Investment Advisors” (as of October 2024): https://assets.axos.com/o9ov1v03uwqk/elWQiJBw03RYOnJjgmyUT/2fea9a4e5413de842e88864ef6b4d6ec/aas-standard-fee-schedule.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 18, 2026, drawing on Edelman Financial Engines’s own Form ADV/wrap-fee brochure 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 Edelman Financial Engines 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.
Nine more exits, each with a firm-named custodian and a confirmed transfer figure: Fiducient Advisors, Waverly Advisors, Ballentine Partners, CW Advisors, Merit Financial Advisors, HBKS Wealth Advisors, Aldrich Wealth, Grimes & Company, and The Wealth Consulting Group.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.