Fiduciary responsibilities. Now, fiduciary relationship was first established as part of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, so it's been around for quite some time. And it states that an advisor must always act in the best interest of their clients and place their client's best interest ahead of their own. It also means that an advisor must make sure to provide financial advice that sound and accurate and free from conflicts. And if there are conflicts, they must be disclosed. Now, one key important note is not all financial professionals act as a fiduciary. Some examples of a fiduciary are advisors that fall into that Investment Advisors Act of 1940, or 40 Act advisors, trustees to a trust or a foundation, and all ERISA plans, so defined contribution plans, defined benefit plans would fall into that category. On the other hand, many broker dealers and insurance agents are simply required to operate under what is known as a suitability standard and not a fiduciary standard. And that means that those professionals can only recommend investments that are suitable for their clients. Unlike a fiduciary standard, the suitability standard does not compel professionals to put clients' needs and interests ahead of their own at all times. So they can take commissions for recommending and placing investments. And so there's a sales aspect to these relationships that every client should be aware of. Now, in recent years, the Department of Labor, or the DOL, created additional rules in an attempt to broaden that fiduciary umbrella to include all retirement accounts, so any 401K or IRA accounts that any advisor is working on for a client. Now, it's seen some pushback throughout the industry. And some recent court rulings and some pushback by the current administration leaves its future uncertain at this point. Now, there is a guidance for fiduciaries in terms of legal doctrine and acts that guide them through their fiduciary responsibilities. First, the Prudent Man Rule. And the Prudent Man Rule, as seen here, comes from case law from the 1920s where Harvard sued a trustee for losses, so this doctrine was written by the courts and can be seen as guidance for fiduciaries. In summary, it tells us that advisors should invest in assets that only a reasonable person, reasonable man would consider. And it also requires that advisors look for low probability of permanent loss investments. Now, the Prudent Man Rule was quite simple and not all that in depth. And then later on in 1992, the Uniform Prudent Investor Act was enacted, and it builds on that Prudent Man Rule and essentially brings it up to date. It provides additional guidance to investment managers regarding the standards for managing portfolios. And the key difference here is that it incorporates Modern Portfolio Theory into its guidance. So that means that investment managers need to base their decisions upon the entire portfolio, and are allowed to base their decisions around an entire portfolio, and not individual assets. So, individual securities that were once too risky to include in a portfolio, let's say maybe derivatives, are now potentially acceptable based upon the concept of a portfolio's total risk. Additional key guidance that it gives, diversification, it's fundamental in risk management and is therefore ordinarily required under the Prudent Investor Act. Risk must always be analyzed. So the level and nature of an investment risk or portfolio risk should be consistent with the client's ability to tolerate and desire to take on risk. Minimizing costs in managing the portfolio whenever possible. And care in selecting other advisors. Now, one of the major complaints about the Prudent Man Rule is that it did not specifically allow for trustees, for example, to delegate investment management out to other parties. Now it is allowed, especially encouraged, if it's in the investor's best interest.
