Trust is a vital part of every relationship. We trust our parents and romantic partners to love us, our business colleagues to follow through on their promises, and the people we hire for services such as doctors or psychotherapists to do a good job of helping us. We even trust complete strangers to follow social rules and not take advantage of us. And yet, no matter how hard we try, it’s often difficult to build or rebuild trust. Trust is a brain process that binds representations of self, other, situation, and emotion into a neural pattern called a semantic pointer. It’s a complex and mysterious thing that doesn’t necessarily correlate with any precise prediction of behavior, and it is easily damaged by events such as betrayal or traumatic experiences.

Whether it’s in your personal relationships, work environment, or your finances, a lack of trust is emotionally draining and can prevent your life from reaching its full potential. When you trust others, you feel calm and safe. But when you don’t have that feeling, you can’t relax and let yourself be vulnerable. That’s because the world isn’t always safe and it can be difficult to know when someone is about to stab you in the back.

A lack of trust can also be devastating to your financial health and lead you to make bad decisions, like investing in risky assets or assuming excessive debt. It can also cause you to avoid investing and miss out on lucrative opportunities, or it may deter you from seeking professional help for money issues that could be costly in the long run.

One way to overcome the challenge of building trust is through a trust fund. In a trust, you put your assets in the hands of an administrator (a trustee) who will manage them according to your instructions. This can be an individual, a company or a foundation. The trustee is responsible for carrying out your wishes and administering the trust according to its terms, including distributing funds to beneficiaries.

It’s important to choose a trustee with the right qualifications, experience and resources. A good trustee is a fiduciary and must act ethically in the beneficiary’s best interests. They should also have knowledge of estate planning and tax law to ensure the trust is administered in accordance with state and federal regulations. A trusted trustee can help you minimize taxes, protect your assets and avoid the time and expense of a probate proceeding.

A trust fund can also protect your assets from a beneficiary’s creditors or from other claims that could arise after your death. For example, you can use a trust to keep your family’s assets from being sold or spent by a family member who may be dealing with a mental illness, drug addiction, bankruptcy, divorce or other challenges that could jeopardize their ability to manage money. A professional trustee is not tied to family dynamics and can objectively administer your trust in your best interest.