The number of Australians choosing to manage their own super through a self-managed super fund (SMSF) is bigger than you might think. There are currently over 350,000 SMSFs with a total of over 700,000 members. An estimated 2,000 new funds are also being established each month.<\/p>\n
How do SMSFs work?<\/p>\n
Broadly, a SMSF is a fund with less than five members. Each member is also a trustee of the fund. Alternatively, the fund can have a corporate trustee structure. Some of the other key features of a SMSF are:<\/p>\n
? a SMSF must be maintained for the \u2018sole purpose\u2019 of providing benefits
\n to members upon their retirement;
\n? trustees are required to prepare and implement an investment strategy
\n for their fund. This controls the way contributions are invested.
\n? wide flexibility in investment choice \u2014 for example, direct property,
\n managed investments and direct shares can all be included in the
\n portfolio
\n? approved auditors must be appointed and tax agents, accountants and
\n financial advisers may also be involved in the running of a SMSF, and
\n? ultimate legal responsibility rests with the individual trustees (i.e., the
\n members of the fund) even if assistance is outsourced to the above
\n professionals.<\/p>\n
Why consider a SMSF?<\/p>\n
Managing your own super can give you greater control and flexibility. The discretion to pick and choose your own strategy and investments, as well as the tax benefits of superannuation make SMSFs a unique investment tool.<\/p>\n
There are a number of advantages and disadvantages associated with SMSFs.<\/p>\n
Advantages
\n? Investment choice \u2014 The portfolio can generally include a wide range of
\n investments including direct property (use SMSF funds to buy an
\n investment property) which may not be available to a retail or industry
\n fund.
\n? Control \u2014 Trustees have complete control over the fund and its
\n investments (within the legislative framework).
\n? Holistic approach \u2014 SMSFs may provide you with a range of options in
\n terms of estate planning and benefit payments.<\/p>\n
Disadvantages
\n? Trustee responsibility \u2014 Each trustee is fully responsible for the
\n decisions and operation of the fund. This includes the overall legislative
\n compliance.
\n? Extra costs \u2014 A SMSF has additional costs such as the auditing of
\n accounts, tax return administration and supervisory levies.
\n(Source: SPAA 2011 (Self-Managed Super Fund Professionals\u2019 Association of Australia) Call 02 9858 2446 for more information. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The number of Australians choosing to manage their own super through a self-managed super fund (SMSF) is bigger than you might think. There are currently over 350,000 SMSFs with a total of over 700,000 members. An estimated 2,000 new funds are also being established each month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}