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. TD Wealth’s US advisory business is TD Private Client Wealth LLC (“TDPCW”), whose accounts are custodied and cleared at Pershing LLC (a different legal entity from Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC, so that firm’s separately published $150 figure does not apply here). TDPCW publishes its own dollar figure directly: its Brokerage Fee Schedule lists $90.00 for “Account Transfers (Terminations & Transfer Requests received from Contra Firm),” and a separate $95.00 IRA Termination Fee.
The published numbers
From TD Private Client Wealth LLC’s own Brokerage Fee Schedule: “Account Transfers (Terminations & Transfer Requests received from Contra Firm)… $90” and “IRA Termination Fee… $95.” The same schedule confirms the custodian relationship: “Some of the fees referenced in the Schedule of Fees are charged by Pershing LLC, TDPCW’s custodian and clearing broker. TDPCW may add additional fees as a markup in its discretion.” A same-brand trap to avoid: a separate $135.00 “Termination and Transfer Fee” belongs to TD Waterhouse Private Investment Counsel Inc., a subsidiary of the Toronto-Dominion Bank operating under the identical “TD Wealth” brand in Canada, a different country and a different legal entity from TD Private Client Wealth LLC (US, CRD 164484), so it is not used here.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| TDPCW’s own general account-closure charge | $0.00 beyond the fees below; no separate flat closing fee found |
| Account transfer (termination / transfer request from the receiving firm) | $90.00 (TDPCW’s own Brokerage Fee Schedule) |
| IRA termination | $95.00 (same schedule) |
| Annual custody fee (custody accounts only) | $200.00 per year, a related charge on the same schedule |
| 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 TD Wealth charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from TD Wealth’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- TD Private Client Wealth LLC, Brokerage Fee Schedule: https://www.td.com/content/dam/tdb/document/pdf/investing/brokeragefee-schedule-en.pdf
- TD Private Client Wealth LLC, Managed Account Program Brochure: https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1048264
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, TD Private Client Wealth LLC firm summary (CRD 164484): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/164484
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, TD Private Client Wealth LLC Form CRS: https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_164484.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 25, 2026, drawing on TD Wealth’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.
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.