The accounts discussed in this section are known as fiduciary accounts. A fiduciary is a third party who oversees another person’s assets. Fiduciaries must put their client’s interests ahead of their own and act in the client’s best interest. Every account type in this section shares that core feature.
Fiduciary accounts are governed by the Uniform Prudent Investor Act (UPIA), which requires fiduciaries to invest with a holistic (big-picture) perspective. For example, if you’re managing an account for a risk-averse investor, the portfolio could still include a few aggressive investments as long as the overall structure reflects a conservative approach. A fiduciary’s performance isn’t judged by one or two positions - it’s judged by the overall results of the portfolio they build.
We’ll discuss these fiduciary registrations in this section:
A discretionary account gives a financial professional trading authority over an account. If you don’t have the time or knowledge to manage your own brokerage account, you can give your broker power of attorney (POA), which allows them to make investment decisions on your behalf. When a firm has POA over a customer’s account, it can make investment decisions without getting the customer’s approval for each trade.
To make suitable decisions, the firm needs the customer to answer the firm’s suitability questions. As you may recall, suitability questions (such as net worth and annual income) are voluntary. However, if the customer doesn’t answer them, the firm can’t provide recommendations. The same rule applies to discretionary accounts.
Discretionary accounts require extra supervision because of the authority they give financial professionals. If your broker has POA on your account, they have significant control over your assets. For that reason:
A discretionary order is one where the financial professional makes a decision for the customer about any of the following:
Asset: what security is being bought or sold
Action: whether the security is being bought or sold
Amount: how many shares or units are being bought or sold
Many people remember this as the “AAA” rule. If the financial professional chooses the asset, action, or amount, the order is discretionary and requires a POA.
In some cases, a financial professional can make limited decisions without the order becoming discretionary. Both of the following may be decided without POA and without discretionary status:
Price of the security
Time of the trade
A financial professional may choose the price and/or time of a transaction without the trade being considered discretionary, as long as the trade is completed within one day. If it takes more than one day to complete, the order becomes discretionary and requires a POA.
Discretionary accounts are often marketed as wrap accounts. These accounts bundle services - typically asset management and general account maintenance - into a single fee. Instead of paying separate service fees and trade commissions, the customer pays one “wrapped” fee.
Wrap account fees are usually charged as assets under management (AUM) fees. For example, a customer with a $100,000 account would pay an annual fee of $1,000 if the wrap fee is 1% of AUM.
Wrap accounts are considered investment advisory products. Financial professionals must be properly licensed as investment adviser representatives to sell them, which typically involves passing the Series 65 or Series 66 exams.
Custodial accounts are opened for minors under age 18. A custodian opens the account and manages the assets on the minor’s behalf, but the assets belong to the minor. Custodians are typically parents, but they can be anyone. Each custodial account allows only one custodian and one minor.
To open a custodial account for a child, you generally need the child’s Social Security number (SSN), because taxes are reported under the minor’s SSN. Reporting taxes under the minor’s SSN can be beneficial because minors typically have little or no taxable income.
The two types of custodial accounts are UGMA (Uniform Gifts to Minors Act) and UTMA (Uniform Transfer to Minors Act), named after the laws that created them. UGMA accounts came first and require the custodian to transfer control of the assets to the minor at the age of majority (usually 18 or 21, depending on the state). UTMA accounts were created later and allow the custodian to delay the transfer of assets (up to age 25, depending on the state).
In addition to acting in the minor’s best interest, custodians must avoid certain aggressive investment strategies in UGMA and UTMA accounts. In particular, short sales, margin, and some option strategies are prohibited due to the risk involved.
All gifts to a minor’s custodial account are irrevocable - they can’t be taken back. The custodian may withdraw funds only to pay for items that directly benefit the child*, or the custodian may leave the assets in the account until they must be turned over at adulthood. Also, the assets in a custodial account can’t be transferred to a different beneficiary. In other words, once a contribution is made, it becomes the minor’s money.
*Withdrawals from custodial accounts may not be used for essential living expenses, which include food, clothing, and shelter. However, they may be spent on non-essential items that will directly benefit the child, including the cost of summer camp, a computer, a car, education expenses, etc.
When someone can’t manage their own finances, a court may appoint a guardian to oversee that person’s assets. This typically involves mental incapacitation or an inability to manage money. Guardianship accounts are opened by financial firms after they receive the proper court appointment. Once established, the account owner’s assets are placed into a guardianship account and may be managed only by the court-appointed guardian.
Similar to custodial accounts, guardianship accounts must avoid risky strategies involving short sales, margin, and some option strategies.
A trust account is a type of fiduciary account created for the benefit of a specific beneficiary. A trust is a legal entity, and it involves several parties with different responsibilities.
The grantor creates and funds the trust. To create it, the grantor uses legal services to draft a trust agreement. In that agreement, the grantor specifies the trust’s objectives, how it will be managed, and who the beneficiary is. Trust objectives can vary - for example, paying for a child’s college education or supporting an elderly parent.
The grantor names trustees in the trust agreement. Trustees manage the trust as fiduciaries and must follow the instructions in the trust agreement. When a trust account is opened at a brokerage firm, the trustees have the authority to trade and transact in the account.
The trust is managed for the sole benefit of its beneficiaries, which may be a person or an organization. Beneficiaries don’t control the trust; the trustees do. However, the trustees’ role is to serve the trust and its beneficiaries.
Trust accounts are fiduciary accounts, but they aren’t subject to the same suitability standards as typical fiduciary accounts. If the trust agreement allows it, trustees may use riskier investment strategies. Trust accounts may also be opened as margin accounts if the trust agreement specifically authorizes margin. When a trust account is opened, the brokerage firm requests the trust agreement to determine whether margin is permitted.
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