How to Leave Merit Financial Advisors: the $50 Schwab Transfer Fee

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. Merit Financial Group, LLC’s Form ADV Part 2A states “Upon notification of termination or within a reasonable time after learning of your termination of our services, we will seek to return pro-rata, a refund of unearned advisory fees.” Merit Financial Group, LLC names four possible custodians in its brochure, with no single default: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, SEI Investments Management Corp, and Argent Trust Company. If you are custodied at Schwab, budget $50.00 per account, per Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own current fee schedule. Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC / National Financial Services LLC (Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services)’s own published fee schedule has no comparable line item for a full transfer-out, an honest gap rather than a confirmed $0. No primary-source public fee schedule was located for SEI Investments Management Corp, an honest gap rather than a confirmed figure. No primary-source public fee schedule was located for Argent Trust Company, an honest gap rather than a confirmed figure.

The published numbers

From Merit Financial Group, LLC’s own Merit Financial Group, LLC, “Form ADV Part 2A Brochure” (June 8, 2026), Item 5, Fees and Compensation (page 17): “Upon notification of termination or within a reasonable time after learning of your termination of our services, we will seek to return pro-rata, a refund of unearned advisory fees. You will remain responsible for any unearned and unpaid fees.” The same brochure names its custodians (Item 12, Brokerage Practices, Broker Selection (pages 34-35)): “Merit has entered custodian / broker-dealer relationships with Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services (“FIWS” or “Fidelity”), Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab), and SEI Investments Management Corp (“SEI”). Where we act as trustee for ESOP plans, we recommend that our clients use Argent Trust Company, (“Argent”) and/or Schwab as the qualified custodian.” 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.” Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC / National Financial Services LLC (Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services)’s own Fidelity, “Brokerage Commission and Fee Schedule” contains no comparable line item for a full account transfer out; left as an honest gap rather than assumed to be $0. No primary-source public fee schedule was located for SEI Investments Management Corp; left as an honest gap rather than assumed to be $0. No primary-source public fee schedule was located for Argent Trust Company; left as an honest gap rather than assumed to be $0.

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 Merit Financial Advisors charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Merit Financial Advisors’ own fee disclosure.

Sources

• Merit Financial Group, LLC, “Form ADV Part 2A Brochure” (June 8, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1047500
• SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Merit Financial Group, LLC firm summary (CRD 142457): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/142457
• 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 28, 2026, drawing on Merit Financial 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.

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