November 2, 2026South Jersey7 min read
Your money does not move when your advisor does. Assets sit at a custodian, not at the advisory firm, so a retirement, a sale, or a move to a different firm changes who advises you rather than who holds the account. What does change is the relationship, the fee schedule, and sometimes the investment approach, and none of those is automatic. You will be asked to sign something, and that signature is the decision point.
The reassuring part of this subject is structural. Most independent advisory firms do not hold client assets. The assets sit with a qualified custodian, a separate institution, and the advisory firm has authority to manage and trade them rather than possession of them.
Investment advisers are required to maintain client funds and securities with a qualified custodian, and clients receive account statements directly.1 That separation is why an advisory firm changing hands does not put the money at risk, and it is also why receiving statements directly from the custodian matters: it is an independent record of what you hold.
So the question is not whether your money is safe. It is who is now advising on it, under what terms, and whether you agreed to that.
| Event | What it usually means for you |
|---|---|
| Internal succession | Another adviser at the same firm takes the relationship. The agreement and fees usually continue unchanged. |
| The firm is sold or merges | A new owner takes over. Your advisory agreement may be assigned, which generally requires your consent. |
| Your adviser moves to another firm | Nothing happens automatically. You choose whether to follow them or stay with the original firm. |
| The adviser retires with no plan | The least orderly outcome, and the one worth asking about in advance. |
The second row carries the most consequence. Under the Investment Advisers Act an advisory contract generally cannot be assigned to another party without the client's consent, and a change of control of the firm can constitute such an assignment.2 That protection exists precisely so a client is not transferred along with a book of business without being asked.
In practice consent arrives as a form, often described as routine, sometimes with a deadline attached and occasionally structured so that not responding counts as agreement. It is worth slowing down at exactly that moment.
Three things are worth reading before signing. Whether the fee schedule is the same, because a new owner may run a different one. Whether the services are the same, since planning included under one firm may be billed separately under another. And who specifically will handle the relationship, by name rather than by team.
This is not legal advice. How assignment and consent operate depends on your specific advisory agreement and the structure of the transaction. Read the agreement, and if the terms are unclear, ask for the answer in writing before you sign anything.
You are also entitled to the new firm's Form ADV Part 2A, and it is the fastest way to see fees, services, and conflicts in one place. If the brochure differs materially from what you had, that is not a technicality, it is the new arrangement.
Death or sudden illness is the version nobody plans for, and the one where the absence of a succession plan is felt immediately.
The assets remain safe at the custodian, but discretionary trading, rebalancing, and distribution instructions can stall while authority is sorted out. For a household drawing monthly income, a stall is not a theoretical problem.
Two practical protections. Know who your custodian is and how to contact them directly, independent of the advisory firm, because that is your route to the account if the firm is unreachable. And keep your own copy of the current plan, the withdrawal arrangement, and the beneficiary designations, so continuity does not depend on one person's memory. That reasoning is the same one behind How to Tell If Your Retirement Plan Is Still Working.
The best time to ask is at the start of a relationship, when nothing is happening and the answer is unguarded.
What is the succession plan? A named person or a signed continuity agreement is a different answer from an intention.
Who else knows my situation? If only one person does, that is a single point of failure regardless of how good they are.
Who is the custodian, and how do I reach them directly? Worth knowing before you need it.
If the firm were sold, what would I be asked to do? The answer tells you whether they have thought about it from your side.
How old is the adviser, and what is the plan for the next twenty years? Blunt, and fair, for a relationship meant to outlast a career. Our article on what to bring to a first meeting covers the rest of that conversation.
Maisch Financial Group is a small, independent firm in Mount Laurel, and that is a fair thing to probe on this question rather than a thing to gloss over. Client assets are held at a qualified custodian rather than by us. Our team is deliberately close-knit, which means more than one person is familiar with a client's situation rather than it living with a single adviser.
If continuity matters to you, ask us the questions above directly. We would rather answer them at the start than have you discover the answer at the worst possible moment.
Sewell covers much of the Washington Township area and is one of Gloucester County's busiest suburban communities, and we help its families coordinate the many moving pieces of a retirement plan. Continuity comes up there in a particular form: households that have worked with the same adviser for twenty years and are now watching that person approach their own retirement. Anyone searching for a financial advisor in NJ at that point is not starting from scratch, they are trying to work out whether to follow someone, stay with a firm, or move entirely. Our retirement income planning, investment management, tax planning, estate and legacy planning, and health care and Medicare planning are delivered as one engagement, which also means more than one person knows the plan. Sewell is a short drive from our Mount Laurel office, and we also meet by phone or video. The communities we serve are listed on our cities served page.
The investments stay where they are. Most independent advisory firms do not hold client assets; a qualified custodian does, and the firm has authority to manage rather than possession. What changes is who advises you. That may be another adviser at the same firm, a new owner if the firm is sold, or a decision for you to make if your adviser moves elsewhere.
Generally not without your consent. Under the Investment Advisers Act an advisory contract cannot be assigned to another party without client consent, and a change of control of the firm can constitute an assignment. In practice consent arrives as a form, sometimes structured so that not responding counts as agreement, which is exactly when it is worth reading carefully.
Three things. Whether the fee schedule is the same, because a new owner may run a different one. Whether the same services are included, since planning bundled under one firm may be billed separately under another. And who specifically handles the relationship, by name. Request the new firm's Form ADV Part 2A, which sets out fees, services, and conflicts in one document.
Assets remain safe at the custodian, but discretionary trading, rebalancing, and distribution instructions can stall while authority is resolved, which matters if you are drawing monthly income. Two protections help: knowing your custodian and how to contact them directly, independent of the advisory firm, and keeping your own copy of the current plan, withdrawal arrangement, and beneficiary designations.
It is a genuine choice rather than an automatic move, and the decision has two halves. The person, meaning whether the relationship and their understanding of your situation is what you valued. And the firm, meaning fees, custodian, services, and the standard of care that applies. Those can point in different directions, which is why it is worth examining both rather than deciding on loyalty alone.
Sources
How these provisions apply depends on a firm's registration, its custody arrangements, and the terms of your own advisory agreement. This article describes how the rules generally operate. Verify a specific firm's registration and disclosures through adviserinfo.sec.gov, and read your agreement for the terms that govern your relationship.
They are fair questions to put to any firm, including this one, and we would rather answer them at the start than have you find out later.