No one cares about your money more than you do.

The question is whether you are acting in your own best interests when you manage it.

It's a big question in the financial-services world right now because of the ongoing battle over the fiduciary standard, the rule that financial advisers — who get paid for their advice or counsel — must put the client's best interests first, whereas a broker (who sells specific investment products) must only provide suggestions that are "suitable."

At the John C. Bogle Legacy Forum, hosted by Bloomberg Link at the Museum of American Finance in New York this week, the man of the hour — Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle — talked about how fund companies should be fiduciaries, too.

It's something he has harped on for decades; it's why Vanguard has been "a leader with no followers," according to Bogle, charging the lowest fees in the business, because that is in the consumer's best interest. Quite simply, he noted that the only thing keeping other fund firms from acting the same way toward their customers is "the profit motive."

Obviously, personal profit motives drive the investment decisions of individuals, but so do emotions, habits, knowledge and more. When you consider the responsibilities that a fiduciary has to their clients and apply them to individuals, it's clear that plenty of people are not acting like a fiduciary when they run their own portfolio. They're acting in ways that are counter to their best interests.

To see how that's possible, consider the six key fiduciary duties that are requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisers Act of 1940, the rule requiring investment advisers to "serve the best interest of its clients."

Recognize what it means if you are falling short on these tasks as they apply to individuals; you might care for your money more than anyone else, but you're not giving it the utmost level of concern and protection.

Serve the client's best interest.

For advisers, this is about conflicts of interest; for consumers, the conflict is the emotions that often are at odds with the strategy they're pursuing.

That's why, for individuals, this is about knowing their own investment temperament. If they're prepared to invest for the long haul, they should focus on building an appropriate asset-allocation plan that they can live with.

They should then spend the rest of their lives trying to avoid the conflicts of interest, the times when market noise gets loud and makes them want to deviate from the plan to do what feels good at the moment.

Without that kind of long-term disposition, an investor needs to set up a strategy that can stomach comfortably without flailing around every time there's a market surge or decline.

Act in utmost good faith.

For advisers, this is about being honest and honorable; for individuals, it's about making money in a fashion that is fair and reasonable.

When individual investors start to factor the misery of others into their decisions — when they feel they can profit because someone else is stupid — they're acting like a lot of money-management firms, but they've stopped acting like a fiduciary.

Act prudently, with the care, skill and judgment of a professional.

Advisers live by the "prudent-man standard," the question of whether a prudent person would take the actions being suggested for their clients; individual investors must act like that proverbial prudent man.

According to the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, "a prudent process requires investigating and assessing an investment's characteristics — not just performance — based on objective and quantifiable data."

Investors who fail to include independent research into their investment decisions — who act on hot tips, media recommendations or gut instincts without more due diligence — have left their best interests behind.

Avoid conflicts of interest.

Advisers can't eliminate all of their conflicts of interest; neither can individual investors. There will always be forces and emotions that have the potential to work at odds with long-term goals and objectives. Avoiding and minimizing those issues is essential for acting in your own best interests.

Disclose all material facts.

Advisers must make sure clients know all the facts and circumstances they're facing; for individuals, this means educating themselves on the little things, the expenses, compensation, fees and other issues related to the investments they own.

It means delving into the paperwork and doing the little things that most investors hate doing. If you're not looking at investment statements, prospectuses and other documents that are part of the "material facts," you're not acting in your own best interests.

Control investment expenses.

Bogle likes to say: "The investor gets what he doesn't pay for." Every dollar that doesn't go to pay expenses is one that stays in an investor's pocket. Before accepting higher expenses, make sure there's a reason to believe that you will get what you pay for — something better than you might expect from a lower-cost alternative — and that you're not simply paying for what you get.

Being your own fiduciary isn't easy, but if you believe you are the best person to take care of your money, you have to act like it.

Chuck Jaffe is senior columnist for MarketWatch.

He can be reached at cjaffe@marketwatch.com or at P.O. Box 70, Cohasset, MA 02025-0070.