Written

for

The

Australian

Newspaper

-

Reasons

for

a

self-managed

fund

I wrote this article on how much money is required to setup a self managed super fund and some of the main reasons why people would start one. General consensus was that around $250,000 was the minimum however people with less money could definitely consider setting up funds, however need to be confident in the returns from their investments to cover the ongoing costs of a SMSF - such as audit, accounting, ASIC fees and advisory fees.

The ability to purchase property was a common benefit for setting up a SMSF when interviewing people for the article along with the ability to buy a broad range of investments. Over the years we have helped many of our Sydney Financial Planning clients setup self managed super funds. All have diversified investment strategies with money invested across cash, bonds, property and shares however some also have investment in the area of collectibles. Collectibles are items purchased using super money for the purpose of providing a retirement benefit - ie they are purchased in the anticipation that the collectible will increase in value. They item cannot be purchased and used or enjoyed by the trustee of the super fund as this breaches a super rule called the sole purpose test.

There have been some interesting purchases from my Financial Planning clients. They have included purchasing collectible guitars, watches, wine, stamps and artwork.