Super members less keen on SMSFs
A smaller proportion of both retail and industry super fund members intends to leave and set up a self-managed super fund (SMSF) compared to 2012, according to the Vanguard/Investment Trends 2013 SMSF Report.
The report, which surveyed 5000 super fund members across all sectors, found 2 per cent of retail and a little more than 1 per cent of industry fund members intended to set up an SMSF, which is about one percentile lower than 2012.
The main reason for this decline is better performance of super funds over the last 12 months, according to Investment Trends senior analyst Recep Peker.
"If you look at why people have set up SMSFs, one of the main reasons seems to be that they're disgruntled at the poor performance of their fund," Peker said.
"Every time there are prolonged periods of poor or under-performance, the intention to set up an SMSF increases. But because super funds have been performing better over the last 12 months, this intention has gone down."
But even among those who are leaving, 80 per cent say there are things their super funds can do to prevent them from leaving and setting up an SMSF, such as reducing fees and increasing transparency.
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