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. Sand Hill Global Advisors, LLC’s Form ADV Part 2A states “SHGA reserves the right to stop work on any account for which payment of fees is more than 60 days overdue.” Sand Hill Global Advisors, LLC names two possible custodians in its brochure, with no single default: Fidelity Institutional, and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.. If you are custodied at Schwab, budget $50.00 per account, per Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own current fee schedule. Fidelity Institutional’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 Sand Hill Global Advisors, LLC’s own Firm Brochure (Part 2A of Form ADV) (March 30, 2026), Item 5, Fees and Compensation, “Past-Due Accounts and Termination of Agreement” (page 11): “SHGA reserves the right to stop work on any account for which payment of fees is more than 60 days overdue. In addition, SHGA reserves the right to terminate any engagement where a Client has knowingly withheld pertinent information which, in SHGA’s judgment, hinders the firm’s ability to provide reliable and appropriate financial advice. Any unused portion of fees collected in advance will be refunded.” The same brochure names its custodians (Item 12, Brokerage Practices, “Selecting Brokerage Firms” (page 17)): “Typically, SHGA recommends that client transactions be executed through and investments custodied with Fidelity Institutional (“Fidelity”) or Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”). Schwab and Fidelity are both unaffiliated registered broker-dealer/custodians.” From Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.’s own Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors: “Full transfer (out) of assets: $50 per account.” Fidelity Institutional’s own 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 |
|---|---|
| Sand Hill Global Advisors’ 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 Pricing Guide for Clients of Independent Investment Advisors) |
| 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 Sand Hill Global Advisors charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Sand Hill Global Advisors’ own fee disclosure.
Sources
- Sand Hill Global Advisors, LLC, “Firm Brochure (Part 2A of Form ADV)” (March 30, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1032133
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Sand Hill Global Advisors, LLC firm summary (CRD 111295): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/111295
- 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 Sand Hill Global 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.
Before you decide to leave Sand Hill Global Advisors, check whether it owes you a fiduciary duty in the first place.
What does it take to open an account? See Sand Hill Global Advisors’s minimum investment, straight from its own Form ADV Part 2A brochure.
What does leaving cost elsewhere? Compare the published exit fee at 115 advisory firms and brokerages, each taken from that firm’s own schedule or its custodian’s.
Leaving a different firm? See the exit guides for all 189 firms, with the four steps every exit shares.