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. Mutual of Omaha Investor Services, Inc.’s Form ADV Part 2A states “If the Managed Account Services are terminated prior to the end of a quarter, the fee for the last billing period will be pro-rated and MOIS will refund any investment advisory fees paid to MOIS in advance that exceed the pro-rated fee for this final billing period.” Mutual of Omaha Investor Services, Inc. names exactly one custodian in its brochure: Pershing. If you are custodied at Pershing, budget $150.00 per account, per Pershing’s own current fee schedule.
The published numbers
From Mutual of Omaha Investor Services, Inc.’s own Form ADV Part 2A Brochure (March 31, 2026), Item 5, Fees and Compensation (page 17): “If the Managed Account Services are terminated prior to the end of a quarter, the fee for the last billing period will be pro-rated and MOIS will refund any investment advisory fees paid to MOIS in advance that exceed the pro-rated fee for this final billing period.” The same brochure names its custodian (Item 12, Brokerage Practices (page 27)): “Pershing serves as the qualified custodian and introducing broker-dealer for FSP, SMA, UMA, and some APM accounts offered through MOIS’s Managed Account Services program.” From Pershing’s own Schedule of Maximum Charges: “Account Termination $150.00 per account.” The brochure names only “Pershing” without the full legal suffix; the standing $150 fact is applied on the basis that the brochure’s Pershing is the same Pershing/BNY Mellon custody family used elsewhere on this site. The $150 figure applies to MOIS’s own Managed Account Services (FSP/SMA/UMA/APM) program specifically; MOIS’s separate Third-Party Money Manager and Retirement Plan Advisory Services accounts are held at whichever custodian the third-party manager/annuity provider uses, not addressed here.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Mutual of Omaha Investor Services’ own exit charge | $0.00 extra: pro-rated refund of any prepaid fee (Form ADV) |
| Full transfer-out at Pershing | $150.00 per account (“Account Termination”) (Pershing’s own Schedule of Maximum Charges) |
| ACATS validation and completion window | 1 day to validate, 3 days to complete under FINRA Rule 11870 (measured in business days) |
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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 Mutual of Omaha Investor Services charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Mutual of Omaha Investor Services’ own fee disclosure.
Sources
- Mutual of Omaha Investor Services, Inc., “Form ADV Part 2A Brochure” (March 31, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1034445
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Mutual of Omaha Investor Services, Inc. firm summary (CRD 611): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/611
- Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC, “Schedule of Maximum Charges”: https://www.pershing.com/content/dam/pershing/documents/pdfs/disclosures/pas-schedule-of-maximum-charges.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 28, 2026, drawing on Mutual of Omaha Investor Services’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.
Before you decide to leave Mutual of Omaha Investor Services, check whether it owes you a fiduciary duty in the first place.
What does it take to open an account? See Mutual of Omaha Investor Services’s minimum investment, straight from its own Form ADV Part 2A brochure.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.