SMSF trustee returns match fund managers – survey

Self-managed super fund (SMSF) trustees are matching fund managers for investment performance, according to a survey by SMSF provider Multiport.

The survey of 350 of its administered SMSFs, with average net assets of $700,000, produced an average 10.15 per cent return per fund for the year to June 30, 2006.

By comparison, Morningstar’s return for balanced retail super funds for the year to June 30 was 11 per cent, and 7 per cent for moderate risk funds.

Similarly, according to chief executive John McIlroy, the asset allocation of Multiport’s SMSFs would “fit between the risk profile of a balanced fund and a moderate risk fund”.

Australian shares (41.8 per cent) dominated the average Multiport SMSF asset allocation, followed by property (17.3 per cent), fixed interest (14.3 per cent), international shares (12.3 per cent) and cash (11.5 per cent).

“Given the risk profile of these funds, it was not a bad result for the year,” McIlroy said, adding that the performance of its SMSFs was “impacted slightly by a few funds that had some exposure to the Westpoint funds”.

The shorter-term performance of the SMSFs was also “obviously impacted” by the downward movement of the share market in June, which returned a negative 0.3 per cent.

“With the level of Australian share exposure at around 40 per cent, this was to be expected.”

The survey found the SMSFs were “substantially dependant” on fund managers to perform well, with 35 per cent of their funds invested through managed funds across all asset classes.