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The trust capital needs to last for Michael's lifetime and Paul and Karen therefore need to be confident that the combination of the investment returns achieved and withdrawals made (including the costs of management and advice) will allow this to be the case.

• They are concerned that after dealing with a succession of advisers, all of whom seem to promise outperformance but then fail to deliver it, the value of the costs that the trust is paying and the risk that it is taking is not being returned in terms of additional performance.
• While they question whether the value being added by the advisers justifies the costs, they do not feel that they can spare the time to manage the trust themselves and therefore suspect that delegation is a better option, given their concern to ensure continuity after their own deaths.
• The trust's current portfolio contains a number of pooled funds as well as substantial holdings in individual shares, which were recommended as a way to achieve additional returns over the market as a whole since the manager could select those with good potential.
• They are worried that since they are both in their late 40s, and are the only trustees, the premature death of one of them could create a problem for the trust at a time when circumstances would be difficult anyway.