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. Rockwood Wealth Management, LLC’s Form ADV Part 2A states “Upon termination of an account any prepaid, unearned fees will be promptly refunded, and any earned unpaid fees will be promptly due and payable.” Rockwood Wealth Management, LLC names two possible custodians in its brochure, with no single default: Fidelity, and Charles Schwab Institutional. 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’s own published fee schedule has no comparable line item for a full transfer-out, an honest gap rather than a confirmed $0.
The published numbers
From Rockwood Wealth Management, LLC’s own Rockwood Wealth Management, LLC, “Form ADV Part 2A Brochure” (March 19, 2026), Item 5, “Termination of Agreement and Fees” (page 7): “Upon termination of an account any prepaid, unearned fees will be promptly refunded, and any earned unpaid fees will be promptly due and payable. The refund is calculated based on a pro-rata basis for the portion of the quarter completed.” The same brochure names its custodians (Item 12: Brokerage Practices, “Selecting Brokerage Firms” (page 12)): “RWM recommends the following brokerage firms (which are also qualified custodians) to clients: Fidelity, Charles Schwab Institutional.” 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’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.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| Rockwood Wealth Management’s own exit charge | $0.00 extra: pro-rated refund of any prepaid fee (Form ADV) |
| Full transfer-out at Schwab | $50.00 per account (Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own Charles Schwab, “Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors” (July 2026)) |
| Full transfer-out at Fidelity | Honest gap: no comparable line item found |
| 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 Rockwood Wealth Management charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Rockwood Wealth Management’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- Rockwood Wealth Management, LLC, “Form ADV Part 2A Brochure” (March 19, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1021522
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Rockwood Wealth Management, LLC firm summary (CRD 137481): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/137481
- 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 Rockwood Wealth Management’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.