Subscribe Feed (RSS)The retirement industry in Australia is second to none in the world. It forces us to save money in a very comfortable way, a way that doesn’t impact our disposable income, so we all have a big pool of money to live off in retirement.
One of the things I always despise about our retirement industry though, is the way superannuation funds take control of the investment decisions away from me. It is my money, yet I cannot make any investment decisions. The situation has improved over the years, but it is still not good enough. For this reason I set up my own Self Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF).
Without making this article too complex, all an SMSF is, is a structure which enables you to manage your own superannuation money. There are a number of responsibilities which come with running your own super fund, you can manage these yourself or outsource them as you see fit. Most of these responsibilities follow:
1. Your Trustee Responsibilities. Someone needs to legally own the assets of the fund. This is the trustee. The trustee is also responsible for the running of the fund, so if anything goes wrong, it is the trustee who is legally liable.
Secondly, there is the administration and accounting responsibilities. This is a time intensive role, keeping the books up to date and preparing the annual accounts, lodging tax returns and preparing reports for members.
c) Audit. Each year your superannuation fund should be audited to ensure it complies with the superannuation regulations. A successful audit will ensure you maintain your “complying” superannuation fund status and can continue to enjoy superannuation tax concessions.
4. Investments – The investment manager makes all the investment decisions, buying and selling investments to ensure the long term financial success of the fund, for the benefit of its beneficiaries. The investment manager must ensure that the investments made, comply with the superannuation laws, regulations and guidelines of the day. Failure to do so could result in a bad audit and the loss of taxation concessions.
Personally, I was just interested in managing my investments. All the rest was outsourced. I just wanted to be able to ensure the investment decisions I made were mine so I could feel responsible for any losses or gains that I made. There is nothing worse than when your retirement investments decrease over a year and you have no control whatsoever in the decisions made. I wanted to avoid this. Also, getting control of this meant that I could make investment decisions giving my whole portfolio consideration and not treat my retirement investment as if it were an island, completely separate of other investments I have. It is all part of my estate after all.
I find all the other responsibilities to be very time consuming so I’ve outsourced them. This leaves me more time to analyse my investments properly and make better investment decisions.
Gnifrus Urquart appreciates taking responsibility for his retirement savings, as well as the leisure time outsourcing his DIY Super Administration affords him.
Tags: business, finance, investing, investments, mutual funds, pensions, personal finance, retirement, retirement savings, savings, superannuation
