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The law requires high standards from trustees
My lawyer tried to explain it to me. "In Roman Law, Bonus et diligens paterfamilias refers to the notion of the prudent and careful man. As with many legal concepts it goes deeper than that - implying that the standard of care to be observed is not that which the ordinary man generally observes in the management of his own affairs but that of the prudent and careful man."
In a nutshell, what he meant was that while a man (or woman) may act as he pleases with his own property he's not at liberty to do so with trust property.
It's a key point in the debate regarding what level of knowledge and conduct is required for retirement fund trustees charged with protecting the interests of a member of a retirement fund. In that regard there are two main schools of thought.
The first holds that the board of trustees should be fully member elected, regardless of expertise. The implication is that requisite knowledge will be shared by expert consultants (at a fee). The second argument holds that trustees should have expert knowledge in the running of a retirement savings fund.
Pierre Pretorius, legal and compliance executive at Old Mutual Employee Benefits, is a firm proponent of the second view. "Trustees are effectively in control of a large pool of assets. As in the case with a large company, the board should have leadership expertise, bolstered by a strong contingent of independent professional trustees, whether they're members of the fund...