Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated September 25, 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. Park Avenue Securities LLC custodies advisory and brokerage accounts, including its VestWise program, at Pershing LLC. Park Avenue’s own Form ADV brochures state a $125.00 termination fee for Individual Retirement Accounts and certain ERISA plans, collected by Pershing and marked up by Park Avenue by as much as 150%. For a non-retirement (taxable) account, no Park-Avenue-published dollar figure for a transfer-out or closing charge was located this session; treat that as an honest gap rather than assumed to be $0.
The published numbers
From Park Avenue’s own VestWise Form ADV Part 2A Brochure (PAS017974-VestWise, 6/2026): “In addition, Individual Retirement Accounts (‘IRAs’) will be assessed a $125 termination fee upon account termination. These related charges are collected by Pershing; however, Park Avenue marks up the noted charges by as much as 150% and retains the markup.” The identical $125.00 figure is confirmed in Park Avenue’s own main Firm Brochure (“IRAs & Certain ERISA Plans: $125.00 termination fee”) and its Signature Portfolio and UMA/SMA Select Strategist Select brochures. A note on the custodian: Pershing LLC, Park Avenue’s actual clearing/custody entity, is a DIFFERENT legal entity from Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC, whose own separately published Schedule of Maximum Charges states a $150.00 account-termination figure that does not apply here. No non-retirement transfer or closing dollar figure appears in any Park Avenue brochure read this session; VestWise’s own public FAQ discloses only the 0.45% annual fee, no exit charge.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Park Avenue’s own general account-closure charge | $0.00 beyond the fees below; no separate flat closing fee found for non-retirement accounts |
| IRA or certain ERISA plan termination | $125.00 (Park Avenue’s own Form ADV brochures, collected by Pershing and marked up by Park Avenue) |
| Non-retirement (taxable) account transfer-out | no confirmed Park-Avenue-published figure this session; an honest gap, not 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 Park Avenue Securities charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Park Avenue Securities’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- Park Avenue Securities LLC, VestWise Form ADV Part 2A Brochure (PAS017974-VestWise, June 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1048783
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Park Avenue Securities LLC firm summary (CRD 46173): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/46173
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Park Avenue Securities LLC Form CRS: https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_46173.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 25, 2026, drawing on Park Avenue Securities’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.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.