Superannuation - Should You Do It Yourself?

For many of us superannuation is an important component of your personal financial affairs - after all, the quality of your lifestyle in retirement depends largely on how well you've provided for it during your working life. So it's only natural that you should be concerned with how your superannuation fund is being run... not just the day-to-day investment, but the overall objectives, administration, even the trustee duties.

 

An increasing number of people are wanting more control over the management of their superannuation and are transferring from larger funds into self managed super funds (SMSFs).

 

A SMSF has a maximum of four members and is excluded from many of the more onerous reporting requirements of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act. Major advantages include greater control over the structure of the fund and the type of assets in which it invests, potential savings on management fees, and the opportunity to make the best use of the tax environment.

 

This type of fund is primarily designed for self-employed members of family businesses or business owners who wish to set up a fund for themselves and/ or their partners. However, SMSFs are not generally recommended as a cost-effective option if you have less than $100,000 of assets.

 

Despite the increasing popularity of SMSFs, many people find out the hard way how much work is involved. The penalties for not keeping up with the paperwork can be severe.

 

An Insight Investment Services Adviser will be able to show you how to operate your own super fund without having to carry out the time-consuming administrative responsibilities. While this almost sounds like a contradiction in terms, it still means you're in control of your own fund... you're just getting experts in various fields to manage all the time-consuming administrative requirements. You can even decide how much control and how much hands-on involvement you want to retain.

 

Click here to have an experienced Insight Investment Services adviser put you on the right track today.