Disaster waiting to happen for SMSFs

SMSF professional standards

19 January 2017
| By Jassmyn |
image
image
expand image

The lack of education and professional requirements for self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) trustees is a disaster waiting to happen, an industry consultant believes.

JWW Consulting principal, John Wiseman, said it was incomprehensible that current and potential future trustees were not required to complete appropriate academic courses and maintain an ongoing regime of professional development.

"Trustees should be required to have a minimum level of education to undertake an SMSF and both the government and industry should be concerned by this lack of financial literacy and competency," Wiseman said.

"Investing in shares or buying/selling property inside SMSF frameworks is simply not an undertaking for the amateur/unqualified practitioner as the taxation implications and adverse impact on retirement nest eggs can quite literally be catastrophic when mistakes are made.

"I liken the current SMSF situation as only requiring an unlicensed car driver to undertake a course to obtain a licence only if they are involved in a road accident."

Wiseman noted it would be the spouse, family members, disabled/ financially dependent children, and business partners who could be the casualties.

"All who put their faith, financial wellbeing and prospects for a comfortable retirement in the hands of an individual and system that failed them abysmally," he said.

"To have these responsibilities in the hands of someone who is not competent and academically qualified is a disaster waiting to happen and in the end the only winners will the legal fraternity as these situations will invariably end up in the courts."

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

This verdict highlights something deeply wrong and rotten at the heart of the FSCP. We are witnessing a heavy-handed, op...

1 hour ago

Interesting. Would be good to know the details of the StrategyOne deal....

4 days 6 hours ago

It’s astonishing to see the FAAA now pushing for more advisers by courting "career changers" and international recruits,...

3 weeks 2 days ago

Insignia Financial has made four appointments, including three who have joined from TAL, to lead strategy and innovation in its retirement solutions for the MLC brand....

2 weeks 4 days ago

A former Brisbane financial adviser has been charged with 26 counts of dishonest conduct regarding a failure to disclose he would receive substantial commission payments ...

3 days 4 hours ago

Pinnacle Investment Management has announced it will acquire strategic interests in two international fund managers for $142 million....

2 days 7 hours ago