How brokerage transfers actually work

About this episode

Patrick McKenzie discusses how the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS) works and its implications for investment account transfers.

Patrick McKenzie reads from his 2024 Bits About Money essay on ACATS, the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service that governs how Americans move investment accounts between brokerages, then updates it with regulatory developments (and industry infighting) from early 2026. The essay covers why a system underpinning trillions of dollars in assets was deliberately designed to skip verifying whether transfers are actually authorized, what the three-business-day shot clock means in practice, and how a bad actor armed with a stolen identity and a mobile app can drain someone's retirement account before they notice it's gone. (Good news, though: they’ll almost certainly get it back. Bad news: quite stressful, and it often isn’t obvious when staring at the zero that this is a recoverable condition.) – Full transcript available here: https://www.complexsystemspodcast.com/acats/ – Presenting Sponsors: Mercury & Granola If you have more interesting hobbies than managing your money, Mercury Personal is built for you. It allows you to automate movement between accounts—allocating paychecks and tax prep the moment they hit—with a sensible permissions model for partners or accountants…

People in this episode

Host: Patrick McKenzie

Topics covered

• brokerage transfers
• investment accounts
• financial security
• regulatory developments
• identity theft

Keywords

• brokerage
• ACATS
• investment
• identity theft
• financial regulation

Sponsors

Mercury, Granola

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ACATS

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