The Uniform Prudent Investor Act of 1994 adopted in the Commonwealth of Virginia allows trustees to invest for total return instead of following the former criteria for prudent investment under the following fundamental conditions: 

1) the standard of prudence is applied to any investment as part of a total portfolio rather than to individual investments; 

(2) the trade-off in all investing between risk and return is identified as the fiduciary’s central consideration; 

(3) all categorical restrictions on types of investments are abrogated; 

(4) the long-familiar requirement that fiduciaries diversify their portfolios is integrated into the definition of prudent investing. 

(5) trustees are now permitted to delegate investment and management functions.