Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated September 18, 2026. Quick answer: you open an account at the receiving firm and sign the transfer form there; the new firm pulls the accounts through ACATS. TC Services’ own Private Asset Management (PAM) brochure does not state a separate proration or refund clause for ending the advisory relationship itself, so that step is an honest gap rather than a confirmed $0. What TIAA does publish clearly is the account-transfer cost: its own TIAA Brokerage Customer Account Agreement (brokerage accounts provided by TIAA Brokerage, a division of TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC, and carried by Pershing LLC) lists “Transfers: Outgoing full Account” at $50.00 per transfer, with no charge for partial transfers. A separate $130.00 IRA termination fee applies to closing a retirement account, except that the same agreement’s footnote 4 says it does not apply to the TIAA IRA or the Investment Solutions IRA Self-Directed brokerage Account, or when the assets move to another TIAA IRA.
The published numbers
TC Services’ own Private Asset Management (PAM) Brochure (Form ADV Part 2A, March 31, 2026) discusses proration only for account-householding and mid-quarter deposits, and states no explicit refund or proration clause for ending the advisory relationship itself: an honest gap, not assumed to be $0. The transfer cost is published separately, in TIAA’s own Brokerage Customer Account Agreement (Retail): “Brokerage accounts are provided by TIAA Brokerage, a division of TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC, Member FINRA and SIPC, and are carried by Pershing LLC.” Its fee schedule states: “Transfers: Outgoing full Account, $50 per transfer, no charge for partial transfers” and, separately, “IRA termination fee: $130”, footnoted: “Termination fee does not apply to the TIAA IRA or Investment Solutions IRA Self-Directed brokerage Account, or if the assets from a TIAA IRA Account are transferred to a new or existing TIAA IRA Account.”
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| TC Services’ own PAM advisory-termination charge | No proration/refund clause found this session for ending the advisory relationship itself; honest gap, not $0 |
| Outgoing full account transfer | $50.00 per transfer, no charge for a partial transfer (TIAA Brokerage Customer Account Agreement) |
| IRA termination fee | $130.00 per account, but footnote 4 says it does not apply to the TIAA IRA or the Investment Solutions IRA Self-Directed brokerage Account, or to TIAA-to-TIAA IRA transfers (same agreement) |
| 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 TIAA Wealth Management charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from TIAA Wealth Management’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- TC Services, “Private Asset Management Brochure” (Form ADV Part 2A, March 31, 2026): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1028127
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC firm summary (CRD 20472): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/20472
- TIAA, “Brokerage Customer Account Agreement (Retail)”: https://www.tiaa.org/public/pdf/BrokerageAccountCustomerAgreement.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 18, 2026, drawing on TIAA Wealth Management’s own Form ADV/fee schedule plus any named affiliate’s own published fee schedule, with sources linked inline; any figure we could not independently confirm this session on a firm-owned or affiliate-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.
Four more exits, each with a firm-named custodian and a confirmed transfer figure: Procyon, Vista Capital Partners, Peak Financial Advisors, and Wealth Strategies Group.