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How to Leave Peak 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. Peak Financial Advisors LLC’s Form ADV Part 2A states “The engagements outlined above can be cancelled by either party in writing with 30 days notice.” Peak Financial Advisors LLC names exactly one custodian in its brochure: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. Advisor Services. If you are custodied at Schwab, budget $50.00 per account, per Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own current fee schedule.

The published numbers

From Peak Financial Advisors LLC’s own Form ADV Part 2A (September 2026), Item 5, Fees and Compensation: “The engagements outlined above can be cancelled by either party in writing with 30 days notice. Any unused portion of fees collected in advance will be refunded within ten (10) business days via bank check written directly to the client as outlined in the investment management agreement.” The same brochure names its custodian (Item 15, Custody): “Peak Financial Advisors is currently using Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. Advisor Services to custody client assets.” From Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors: “Full transfer (out) of assets” at “$50 per account”

WhatFigure
Peak Financial Advisors’ own exit chargeNo exit fee of its own stated; refund terms are in the Form ADV
Full transfer-out at Schwab$50.00 (Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors)
ACATS validation and completion window1 day to validate, 3 days to complete under FINRA Rule 11870 (measured in business days)

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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.

Sources

Methodology. This page was built September 28, 2026, drawing on Peak 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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