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. Transamerica Financial Advisors, LLC’s open advisory program, TFA365, is custodied at National Financial Services LLC (“NFS,” a Fidelity clearing affiliate). TFA publishes NFS’s client fee schedule directly on its own public disclosures page: $125.00 per event for an Outgoing Account Transfer Fee, and a separate $125.00 per event Retirement Account Termination fee.
The published numbers
From TFA’s own NFS Client Brokerage Account Fee Schedule (document code TFA10228R4/9.25), published on TFA’s own public disclosures page: “Outgoing Account Transfer Fee… $125.00… Per Event” and, under General Account Maintenance Fees, “Retirement Account Termination… $125.00… Per Event.” TFA365’s own Form ADV Part 2A Appendix 1 (Wrap Fee Brochure) confirms the custodian relationship: “NFS is the broker-dealer and custodian for TFA365 accounts; securities transactions will be executed through, and assets held at, NFS,” and points to “certain brokerage fees associated with the client’s NFS brokerage account” for termination costs, exactly the fee schedule quoted above. Transamerica ALPHA and Transamerica ONE, TFA’s two other advisory programs, are closed to new business per the brochure’s own Item 2; TFA365 is the only program open to new retail clients, so its schedule is the one this page cites.
| What | Figure |
|---|---|
| TFA365’s own general account-closure charge | $0.00 beyond the fees below; no separate flat closing fee found |
| Outgoing account transfer (non-retirement) | $125.00 per event (TFA’s own NFS Client Brokerage Account Fee Schedule) |
| Retirement account termination | $125.00 per event (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 Transamerica Financial Advisors charges before you decide whether to leave? See the dollar breakdown from Transamerica Financial Advisors’s own fee disclosure.
Sources
- Transamerica Financial Advisors, LLC, NFS Client Brokerage Account Fee Schedule (form TFA10228R4/9.25): https://www.tfaconnect.com/disclosures
- Transamerica Financial Advisors, LLC, TFA365 Form ADV Part 2A Appendix 1 (Wrap Fee Brochure): https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=1035963
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Transamerica Financial Advisors, LLC firm summary (CRD 16164): https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/16164
- SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, Transamerica Financial Advisors, LLC Form CRS: https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_16164.pdf
Methodology. This page was built September 25, 2026, drawing on Transamerica 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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