WCI #449: Unions, ACATS Fraud, Vesting, HSAs, and ETFs: What Doctors Need to Know

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Dec 11, 2025

Discover the pros and cons of unions for healthcare workers and their impact on job security. Learn how to guard against ACATS fraud, including key protective measures like multi-factor authentication. Get insights into vesting rules to understand what you keep when leaving a job. Explore upcoming changes to HSA eligibility and the benefits of ETF versus mutual fund investments for tax efficiency. This lively mix of financial advice offers practical tips tailored for medical professionals!

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ADVICE

Treat Employees To Prevent Unions

Treat doctors well to avoid unionization; poor treatment is what drives employees to form unions.
If you want a union, expect fees, standardized pay, and majority-rule bargaining will replace individual deals.

INSIGHT

Tradeoffs Of Union Protection

Union membership brings protections like better review processes and legal representation for discrimination or breach cases.
It can also shelter poor performers and remove individual negotiation leverage for high performers.

ADVICE

Lock And Monitor Brokerage Accounts

Use multi-factor authentication, paperless statements, and secure your email to reduce ACATS transfer fraud risk.
Enable outgoing-transfer locks (e.g., Fidelity's lock), set alerts, and contact your broker immediately if you spot anomalies.

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Today's episode tackles a wide mix of practical questions. We explore the pros and cons of unions for doctors, how to protect yourself from ACATS fraud, and what you need to know about vesting rules. We also dig into an asset allocation question, upcoming changes to HSA plans in 2026, and whether it makes sense to exchange a mutual fund for its ETF counterpart. It's a packed episode with insights you can put to use right away.

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The White Coat Investor has been helping doctors, dentists, and other high-income professionals with their money since 2011. Our free personal finance resource covers an array of topics including how to use your retirement accounts, getting a doctor mortgage loan, how to manage your student loans, buying physician disability and malpractice insurance, asset allocation & asset location, how to invest in real estate, and so much more. We will help you learn how to manage your finances like a pro so you can stop worrying about money and start living your best life. If you're a high-income professional and ready to get a "fair shake" on Wall Street, The White Coat Investor is for you!

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00:00 WCI Podcast #449 01:19 Unions in Healthcare 05:43 ACATS Fraud: What You Need to Know 16:43 Vesting in Employer's Retirement Accounts 19:42 Rebalancing vs. Paying Capital Gains 27:33 HSA Eligible Healthcare Plans 34:34 Swapping Mutual Funds for ETFs