Blind Trust

Blind trusts come in handy if you are a politician or business owner who wants to avoid any kind of conflict of interest. The person setting up the trust (grantor) nor the beneficiary (the person who will one day receive the proceeds) have any knowledge or control over how much is in the trust or what investments are being bought or sold. It can either be revocable (able to change later) or irrevocable (can't be changed or terminated). So obviously you need to find someone you really "trust" to be the third party trustee, which can be an individual or an institution such as a bank. If you are a U.S. senator and own a large amount of stock in a company you might be regulating or deregulating, a blind trust avoids most accusations that you are biased. Or you might own stock in a company you work for and want to avoid any situation where someone could say you traded on inside information. Other big users of blind trusts include lottery winners in order to keep the amount of their winnings hidden from pesky relatives or hucksters trying to get their hands on the money. Blind trusts are expensive to set up and maintain, but could come in handy to depending on your own circumstances.