Prudent man rule

Last updated

The prudent man rule is based on common law stemming from the 1830 Massachusetts court formulation, Harvard College v. Amory [1] The prudent man rule, written by Massachusetts Justice Samuel Putnam (1768-1853), directs trustees "to observe how men of prudence, discretion and intelligence manage their own affairs, not in regard to speculation, but in regard to the permanent disposition of their funds, considering the probable income, as well as the probable safety of the capital to be invested."

Contents

Under the prudent man rule, when the governing trust instrument is silent concerning the types of investments permitted, the fiduciary is required to invest trust assets as a "prudent man" would invest his own property with the following factors in mind:

The application of these general principles depends on the type of account administered. The prudent man rule continues to be the prevailing statute in a small number of states, in particular with regards to investments permitted by mutually-chartered institutions such as savings banks and insurance companies.

Investment choices

The prudent man rule requires that each investment be judged on its own merits and that speculative or risky investments must be avoided. Under the prudent man rule, certain types of investments, such as second mortgages or new business ventures, are viewed as intrinsically speculative and therefore prohibited as fiduciary investments. As with any fiduciary relationship, margin accounts and short selling of uncovered securities are also prohibited.

In contrast with the modern Prudent Investor Rule, isolated investments in a portfolio may be imprudent on individual merits at the time of acquisition, however, as a part of a portfolio, the investment could be prudent. Thus, a fiduciary may not be held liable for a loss in one investment.

Trend

Since the prudent man rule was last revised in 1959, numerous investment products have been introduced or have come into the mainstream. For example, in 1959, there were 155 mutual funds with nearly $16 billion in assets. By year-end 2000, mutual funds had grown to 10,725, with $6.9 trillion in assets. [2] In addition, investors have become more sophisticated and are more attuned to investments since the last revision of the Rule. As these two concepts converged, the prudent man rule became less relevant. This discounting of the relevance of the prudent man rule is more the result of market forces than it is of the needs of individuals for "safety of capital". The 10,000+ mutual funds of 2000 have grown to over 15,000 mutual funds in 2006.

The prudent man rule in its broader interpretations implies that the fiduciary should perform enough due diligence to ensure that the company meets the investment needs of the investors. Typical due diligence includes discussions with management, vendors and customers, as well as proper evaluation of any risk factors that might affect the performance of the company or its securities.

The modern interpretation of the "prudent man rule" goes beyond the assessment of each asset individually to include the concept of due diligence and diversification. This is sometimes referred to as the "Prudent Investor Rule". The logic is this: an asset may be too risky to put all your money in (thus failing the prudent man rule) but may still be very diversifying and therefore beneficial in a small proportion of the total portfolio.

See also

Related Research Articles

Passive management is an investing strategy that tracks a market-weighted index or portfolio. Passive management is most common on the equity market, where index funds track a stock market index, but it is becoming more common in other investment types, including bonds, commodities and hedge funds.

A mutual fund is an investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in Europe, and the open-ended investment company (OEIC) in the UK.

A money market fund is an open-ended mutual fund that invests in short-term debt securities such as US Treasury bills and commercial paper. Money market funds are managed with the goal of maintaining a highly stable asset value through liquid investments, while paying income to investors in the form of dividends. Although they are not insured against loss, actual losses have been quite rare in practice.

A syndicated loan is one that is provided by a group of lenders and is structured, arranged, and administered by one or several commercial banks or investment banks known as lead arrangers.

A "fund of funds" (FOF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment. A fund of funds may be "fettered", meaning that it invests only in funds managed by the same investment company, or "unfettered", meaning that it can invest in external funds run by other managers.

A unit trust is a form of collective investment constituted under a trust deed. A unit trust pools investors' money into a single fund, which is managed by a fund manager. Unit trusts offer access to a wide range of investments, and depending on the trust, it may invest in securities such as shares, bonds, gilts, and also properties, mortgage and cash equivalents. Those investing in the trust own "units", whose price is called the "net asset value" (NAV). The number of these units is not fixed and when more is invested in a unit trust, more units are created.

The Uniform Prudent Investor Act(UPIA), which was adopted in 1992 by the American Law Institute's Third Restatement of the Law of Trusts ("Restatement of Trust 3d"), reflects a "modern portfolio theory" and "total return" approach to the exercise of fiduciary investment discretion.

David Frederick Swensen was an American investor, endowment fund manager, and philanthropist. He was the chief investment officer at Yale University from 1985 until his death in May 2021.

A registered investment adviser (RIA) is a firm that is an investment adviser in the United States, registered as such with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or a state's securities agency. The numerous references to RIAs within the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 popularized the term, which is closely associated with the term investment adviser. An investment adviser is defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an individual or a firm that is in the business of giving advice about securities. However, an RIA is the actual firm, while the employees of the firm are called Investment Adviser Representatives (IARs).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GTCR</span> American private equity firm

GTCR LLC is a Chicago, Illinois-based private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout, leveraged recapitalization, growth capital and rollup transactions. The firm principally invests in high-growth industries, including financial services & technology, healthcare, information services & technology, and growth business services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States trust law</span> Law regulating a wealth-holding legal instrument

United States trust law is the body of law that regulates the legal instrument for holding wealth known as a trust.

Stanley C. Golder was an American financier and venture capitalist.

Jones v. Harris Associates L.P., 559 U.S. 335 (2010), is a case decided by the United States Supreme Court in which investors claimed that the fees they paid to an investment advisor were too steep, violating the Investment Company Act of 1940.

Nestle v National Westminster Bank plc [1992] EWCA Civ 12 is an English trusts law case concerning the duty of care when a trustee is making an investment.

Cowan v Scargill [1985] Ch 270 is an English trusts law case, concerning the scope of discretion of trustees to make investments for the benefit of their members. It held that trustees cannot ignore the financial interests of the beneficiaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Investment fund</span> Way of investing money alongside other investors

An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages include an ability to:

In structured finance, a tranche is one of a number of related securities offered as part of the same transaction. In the financial sense of the word, each bond is a different slice of the deal's risk. Transaction documentation usually defines the tranches as different "classes" of notes, each identified by letter with different bond credit ratings.

<i>Harvard College v. Amory</i>

Harvard College v Amory (1830) 26 Mass 446 is a US trusts law case, which repeated the famous formulation of the "prudent man rule", that people in charge of other people's money must exercise due care and skill, and look after the money as if it were their own.

In Trust Law, the Duty of Prudence traditionally includes the duty of a trustee to administer a trust with a degree of care, skill and caution. The degree of care required depends both on the jurisdiction on the trustee's actual or purported skill, for example if they have an accounting background, they must exercise professional care. At a minimum, a trustee is required to act with the care of a "prudent person" would in dealing with the assets of another, given the purposes, terms, and other circumstances of the trust.

References

  1. ↑ 9 Pick. (26 Mass.) 446 (1830). The formulation has a longer history, however, see Belchier v Parsons (1754) 96 ER 908, regarding a trustee in bankruptcy
  2. ↑ as reported by CDA/Wiesenberger
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.