How do I roll a 401(k) into an M1 IRA, and what does it cost on a small balance?

By Kaz · Published 6 October 2026 · How this site checks figures

Summary

You open an M1 traditional or Roth IRA, start the rollover in the app under Move Money, and have the old plan send a check payable to Apex Clearing with your name and M1 IRA account number, mailed to Apex in Dallas. M1 says it charges nothing to receive the rollover. On a small balance the cost shows up later: M1's fee disclosure, updated May 2026, charges $3 a month to customers who hold only an IRA and less than $10,000 in total M1 assets, and leaving costs $100 for the transfer plus $100 to close the IRA.

Example: the same fees on $6,000 and on $60,000

Example: two people roll an old 401(k) into an M1 traditional IRA and hold nothing else at M1. One brings $6,000, the other $60,000. Both clear M1's $500 minimum for retirement accounts.

	$6,000 rollover	$60,000 rollover
Rollover fee charged by M1	$0	$0
Monthly IRA fee (under $10,000 in M1 assets)	$3, or $36 a year	$0
That fee as a share of the balance	0.60% a year	0%
Leaving later: outgoing ACAT plus IRA closure	$200	$200
Exit cost as a share of the balance	3.3%	0.33%

Fees are from M1's pricing and help pages, checked October 6, 2026. The $3 is waived for anyone with at least $10,000 in total M1 assets or an active M1 personal loan, and M1 says you'll "only ever pay a maximum of $3 per month" however many accounts you have.

The larger balance doesn't avoid the exit cost; it just makes it smaller in percentage terms. On $6,000, five years of the $3 fee ($36 × 5 = $180) plus the $200 exit comes to $380. What each broker charges to transfer an IRA out shows M1's $200 as the highest total on that list, matched only by SoFi when its $100 closing fee applies, and the fee calculator turns a yearly fee into a long-run figure for your own balance.

The steps, in M1's order

Open the IRA first, because the account number goes on the check. M1 says to open a traditional IRA "to maintain tax-deferred (pre-tax) status," and a Roth IRA for Roth money. If the old plan held both, you need one of each; M1 allows one traditional and one Roth IRA per person, and a spouse can't roll into your account.
In the app or on the website: Home, Move Money, Transfer from another brokerage, then 401(k)/403(b)/457(b), and answer the rollover questions.
Call the old plan yourself. "M1 cannot initiate rollovers on your behalf."

If you aren't using Capitalize, the check details are:

Payee: M1's rollover page says "Apex Clearing FBO [Your Name]"; its help FAQ says "Apex Clearing" with your name and M1 IRA account number on the memo line. A check written to "Apex Clearing FBO" your name, with the account number on the memo line, matches both descriptions.
Address: Apex Clearing c/o BPO, 350 North St. Paul Street #1300, Dallas, TX 75201.
Timing: allow 14 days for mail before contacting M1, and M1 says it can take "up to 2 weeks" for funds to land.

Once the money arrives, it "will be invested automatically if auto-Invest is enabled." If auto-invest is off, the cash sits until you buy something.

If the check comes to you

A check made out to you rather than to Apex is a 60-day rollover. M1's FAQ says the check "must be deposited into your M1 IRA within 60 days of the distribution date," and if tax was withheld, you have to deposit the full original amount, including the withheld part, to avoid tax on the difference. The 60-day and 20% withholding rules has the arithmetic.

M1 also says that rolling pretax money into a Roth IRA "is a taxable event." That applies at any broker, not just M1.

M1 doesn't charge an advisory fee on its managed portfolios through December 2027, which the robo-advisor IRA fees in dollars compares with six other services. The rollover steps and current fees are on M1's rollover page.

Sources

Written by Kaz, an independent publisher.
Corrections: the contact form.