UF Health Central Florida 401(k): What Physicians Need to Know Before Contributing
- Daniel Harris
- Apr 29
- 6 min read
You’re juggling patient charts, academic meetings, and call schedules — and your retirement plan may be the last thing on your mind. But for physicians employed by UF Health Central Florida, the 401(k) plan is a powerful tool to grow long-term wealth — if you use it strategically.
Here’s what you need to know.
Key Facts About the UF Health – Central Florida 401(k) Plan
Plan Type: 401(k)
Administrator: Dawna Kennedy UF Health (Plan Sponsor): https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawna-e-kennedy-ms-sphr-ab23532 and Fidelity Investments (financial firm vendor)
Eligibility: Employees aged 20 and older can join the Plan starting the month after their hire date.
Employer Contributions: 100% match of the first 4% of your compensation that you contribution so if you put in 4% they put in 4% so you'll get 8% of your salary into the 401(k) (as of the last update)
Vesting Schedule: Vesting is immediate so as soon as the employer contributes to your 401(k) you are vested in their 401(k).
Investment Options: Overall the investment options are excellent, with the exception of the fact that this plan would likely benefit from adding a BrokerageLink Account at Fidelity (a self-directed brokerage account for the best savers and the most sophisticated investors - which many similar plans have)
Here is a list of some investment options in the plan (these lists do change every year so check your actual plan list of investments to know what your current options are:
Fund Name | Type |
JPM US EQUITY L | Mutual fund |
VANG INFLATION PROT ADM | Mutual fund |
DRIEHAUS EM GRTH IS | Mutual fund |
MFS INTL GROWTH R6 | Mutual fund |
MFS VALUE R6 | Mutual fund |
METWEST TOT RTN BD P | Mutual fund |
PIM RAE US SM I | Mutual fund |
JH DSCPL VAL MDCP I | Mutual fund |
FID TREASURY ONLY MM | Mutual fund |
FID US BOND IDX | Mutual fund |
FID 500 INDEX | Mutual fund |
FID INTL INDEX | Mutual fund |
FID EXTD MKT IDX | Mutual fund |
FID SMALL CAP GR K6 | Mutual fund |
FID BALANCED K6 | Mutual fund |
FID FDM IDX INC PRM | Mutual fund |
FID FDM IDX 2020 PRM | Mutual fund |
FID FDM IDX 2025 PRM | Mutual fund |
FID FDM IDX 2030 PRM | Mutual fund |
FID FDM IDX 2035 PRM | Mutual fund |
FID FDM IDX 2040 PRM | Mutual fund |
FID FDM IDX 2045 PRM | Mutual fund |
FID FDM IDX 2050 PRM | Mutual fund |
FID FDM IDX 2055 PRM | Mutual fund |
FID FDM IDX 2060 PRM | Mutual fund |
FID FDM IDX 2065 PRM | Mutual fund |
IVY MID CAP GROWTH C | Common/collective trust |
GG FKLN GROWTH S |
MORLEY STABLE VALUE | Common/collective trust |
Commentary of the investment options: Overall the investment options in this plan are pretty good in my view. Generally speaking a money market fund is almost always going to be better than a stable value fund in today's environment (as of this writing on 4/29/25) and a Fidelity BrokerageLink Account could substantially improve this plan in our view.
The One-Size-Fits-All Fund That Might Not Fit You at All
Target date mutual funds are designed to simplify investing by aligning your portfolio allocation with your age. They’re a convenience — an investment product modeled to resemble a service. To use a medical analogy, it’s like receiving a package of medications in the mail each month from the government — without ever having seen a doctor, had your lab work done, or discussed the specific issues you're facing.
These medications aren't chosen based on your lab tests, bloodwork, or the actual conditions you're dealing with. Instead, they're selected based on statistical age-related risks. In your 30s or 40s, you might receive antidepressants or pain relievers; in your 60s, cancer medications; in your 70s, treatments for heart disease. Surgeries and procedures would be scheduled and carried out regardless of your individual needs or goals — simply based on what’s common at your age.
I want to be clear, I don’t have an issue with target date funds. They exist because they provide a scalable, low-effort attempt at a solution — a productized version of a personalized financial service. Think of how much money you could save in health care if there were no people in it (except for surgeons and anesthesiologists). If no one had to actually look at the patients, and you just gave them products, it would be a lot less expensive to provide healthcare but it also might be a lot lower quality too. Target Date Funds became the default largely because plan sponsors are granted legal immunity for using them, and they came onto the market with the motivation to help the 10% of people who left their 401(k)s or 403(b) in cash, do something productive with their money. But what surprised many was how often people stayed with these funds our or inertia and never closely considered what destination the fund was likely to take them to and whether that was a good fit for their needs. In short, I think there is a disconnect between a percpetion with customers that these funds are extremely well thought out solutions to their problems, instead of just a generalized guess of what you might want and need based on your age and knowing nothing else about you - similar to the medicine and surgery examples given above.
Target Date Funds may serve a valuable purpose, and for some people, they may work extremely well — especially when personal goals happen to align well with solely age-based assumptions. But to save on overhead, personalization or real knowledge about the customer of these prodcuts has to be sacrificed. And that can set people on a financial path that differs significantly from where they might want to end up and what kind of journey they might want to travel to get there.
This isn't meant to shame anyone who chooses that a target date fund is right for them, instead it is meant to give you a more complete view or how these products fit into the big picture.
If I'm not sure if my investments are right for me, where should I go for more information
There are basically two options here. You can talk to a fiduciary financial advisor (this is kind of like asking whether a medicine is a tool that can help you - the best person to direct that question to is your doctor) or you can read the prospectuses of funds and in those prospectuses the fund company will usually discuss the material risks of each investment. That is a good, reliable free (in terms of money but not time) way to figure out what you are getting into with each investment if that is something you want to do.
Physician Considerations
High earners should ask: Are you maxing out contributions?
UF physicians near retirement: Do you know your vesting status?
Evaluate how your plan complements state pension options (if any)
Why This Matters
Many physicians neglect their 401(k) because of complexity or time — but doing so can leave six figures (or more) on the table over your career. You’ve worked hard to get here — now it’s time to make your money work hard for you.
How We Help
At Dr. Harris & Co., we work exclusively with physicians. We understand compensation models, practice buy-ins, contract structures — and how to integrate your employer plan into your full financial life. If you're looking for an expert who understands doctors, we’d love to help.
Important Information for your consideration: Unless you have a signed written advisory agreement with D.R. Harris & Co., neither D.R. Harris and Co. nor Daniel Harris are your financial advisor and you should do your own research, and talk to your own professional advisors before acting on anything in this article. Also, you should check with your plan documents, your benefits or HR people at work to confirm any of the information in this article, which we believe is accurate but we could be wrong and we recommend that you do your own research to confirm any information you come across in this article. The views stated in this article are our personal views only and they should not be taken as facts.
About Daniel Harris
Daniel Harris is the founder and President of D.R. Harris & Co., a national, fee-only fiduciary financial advisory firm based in La Jolla, CA. With over two decades of experience in providing financial advice to physicians, Daniel is dedicated to helping physicians navigate the complexities of their financial lives. He earned his B.A. from Stanford University and his J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law, where he focused on tax law—knowledge he uses to craft tax-efficient financial strategies for his clients.
Throughout his career, Daniel has observed over $1 billion in securities transactions, providing him with invaluable experience in wealth management, tax strategy, and financial planning. As a fiduciary, Daniel is required to put client interests above his own, or tell you when he isn't doing so. This helps align the interests and helps incentivize giving advice that is objective, product and firm neutral and designed to help clients achieve their long-term financial goals.
At D.R. Harris & Co., Daniel works directly with physicians to create personalized financial strategies that address the unique challenges they face, from student loan management to retirement planning and all the life events and transitions in between. His goal is to help physicians manage their financial future with confidence, so they can focus on their careers and families with minimal financial worry or stress.
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