The prudent process, written down as it happens.
The duty is to show a considered process. Most offices reconstruct it from email.
- Source
- Trust instrument
- Set by
- Trust officer
- Approved by
- Co-trustee
What the standard asks. What the ledger holds.
| What a prudent-investor standard asks | What the ledger holds, automatically |
|---|---|
| Consider the purposes, terms, distribution requirements and circumstances of the trust | Spending rate, reserve and targets, each citing the trust instrument, the IPS or the minutes, with the trustee's approval. |
| Evaluate each investment as part of the whole portfolio with a risk and return objective reasonably suited to the trust | Each position's bucket and downside factor, reviewed and approved; the FORTRESS answer sealed with unapproved classifications counted. |
| Diversify, unless the trustee reasonably determines that, because of special circumstances, the trust's purposes are better served without diversifying | Concentration answers sealed on each book date; a decision to hold a concentrated position recorded with its rationale. |
| Incur only costs that are appropriate and reasonable | Manager alpha after fees against each manager's stated benchmark, sealed, with any change of watch status dated. |
| Monitor, and act with reasonable care in delegating | Decisions with review dates, the Docket of what is due, and every answer reproducible as the trustee saw it. |
Phrased after the Uniform Prudent Investor Act. Counsel decides what the standard requires; the ledger makes the record exist either way. Not legal or investment advice.
The quarter starts from the page it ended on.
- 01
Assumed
Sourced to a document, approved.
- 02
Sealed
Numbers sealed on the assumptions in force.
- 03
Decided
Hold, watch or act, with a review date.
- 04
Reviewed
Next quarter opens on the Docket.
Sealed before anyone decides. Approved by two people.
People leave. The reasoning stays.
A co-trustee is replaced
The new one reads the ledger, not an inbox.
The principal dies
The reasoning does not.
A beneficiary's counsel asks
A proof page and a decision row.
Checkable without taking our word.
Yours to take
Every row exports; the ledger is ordinary double-entry.
Controls, published
Checked by machine, each with its last result.
No advice
It computes and records. Decisions are the trustee's.
Does ParetoAlpha give investment advice?
No. It computes and records. The assumptions are the family's and its advisers'; the decisions are the trustee's. The ledger shows what was chosen, from which document, by whom, and what the numbers were when the decision was taken.
What can a beneficiary's counsel see?
Whatever the trustee chooses to share: a proof page shows the number, the rows, the policy in force with source and approver, and the decisions recorded against it. Roles scope what each person sees; a beneficiary sees their branch and nothing else.
Does writing the reasons down create exposure?
Ask your counsel; it is their call in each case. A record like this is discoverable and not privileged. A prudent-investor standard looks at the process followed at the time, not the outcome, and a record made at the time is how process is shown. What is hard to defend is a sound decision with nothing behind it, reconstructed years later from email. We are glad to take that question from counsel directly.
Can records be altered later?
Not without it showing. Assumptions are superseded on a date and never edited or deleted; the database refuses an overlapping history. Proofs cannot change without the fingerprint showing it. Decisions are append-only. Every write is logged with who and when.
What if you disappear?
The record does not depend on us. Every assumption, entry, proof and decision exports as plain rows on request, the ledger underneath is ordinary double-entry accounting, and the daily fingerprint of the record is published outside the system, so a proof stays checkable whether or not we exist.
What does it deliberately not do?
It does not estimate what a public filing returned. The cohort work is holdings facts only: how many names carry a book, what share sits in the ten largest, what was added and let go. Returns would need a market-data licence we do not hold. A number we cannot check does not go on a page. It does not need a live feed to start. The book loads from the exports your custodian, platform or accountant already produces, which is also the version your auditor can follow. Direct bank and custodian connections are built and switch on per client. It brings no index data with it. Comparisons run against the series the client licenses or supplies. The series in the demo are invented, labelled as invented, and the system refuses to attach them to a real client's report. It will not give you an opinion. It computes and records. The hurdle, the reserve, the benchmark and the buckets are the client's and its advisers'; the decision is the trustees' or the principals'. Nothing here is investment advice. It will not guess. Until the figures an answer rests on are on the ledger with a source and an approver, it names the missing input and waits. Once your policy numbers are signed, it answers, and the answer can be checked.
What if the family office changes staff?
The ledger does not leave with the CFO. The next person reads why the hurdle is what it is, when it changed, who approved it, and what was decided on each quarter's numbers.