Equip Super slated for SMSFs
Equip Super Financial Planning is expanding its offering to include self-managed super fund (SMSF) advice for its superannuation members.
Its team of five planners has received external training to become accredited SMSF advisers, according to Equip Super strategic marketing and communications officer Geoff Brooks.
"We don't have a view that it's an either/or situation - in some cases people have a good reason to have an SMSF…but our argument is they don't necessarily have to take all of their assets out of the business to achieve their objectives," he said.
Brooks said the service would be launched after the fund completed work around its product platform, including implementing direct investment options, which should be in place by the end of 2013.
Two weeks ago, Deloitte Private director Robert Jackson said industry funds could establish in-house SMSFs to stem the flow of members leaving to manage their own.
Brooks said Equip Super did not yet have the scale to run a member's SMSF cost efficiently but was looking to grow the fund organically through initiatives such as expanding its financial planning practice.
"If we've got products and advice that they can plug into and still run their SMSF and still retain 20-30 per cent of their assets with us, it's not a matter of 'will you leave or stay?', but 'can we integrate with whatever your broader plans are?'," he said.
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