A fund manager’s analysis of its existing SMSF clients has found this cohort of trustees to be particularly aware of the costs involved with running their own super fund.
“Quite pleasingly from [our] perspective SMSF investors are very low cost conscious, which is unsurprisingly why they end up [investing with us],” Vanguard Australia head of personal investor Balaji Gopal told journalists at the launch of the 2022 “Vanguard/Investment Trends SMSF Report” in Sydney today.
Further, Gopal provided some insight into how SMSF trustees choose to access investment markets.
“Asset allocations [channels used by this group are] roughly about 60 per cent in managed funds, 25 per cent in ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and the rest in cash and direct shares,” he said.
The Vanguard Personal Investor offering was opened up to SMSF members in June 2020 shortly after its initial launch.
According to Gopal, SMSF investors account for about 25 per cent of the manager’s client pool.
One of the key features of the platform is the Auto Invest functionality, which simplifies the ability for individuals to invest in managed funds on a regular basis.
“This is a feature that many people asked us for. These are just people just wanting to consistently invest and we think for all investors the ability to start or continue the journey and continue to invest is really important,” Gopal noted.
“Close to 15 to 20 per cent of our [client] book has taken up this feature for managed funds.”
Given the popularity of this service, Vanguard is now looking to expand the facility beyond managed funds.
“We will be looking to launch an Auto Invest for ETFs as we are noticing a bulk of retail investors have a preference for ETFs,” Gopal revealed.
In addition, Vanguard is working on making its website more user friendly in the immediate future, he said.
“What we’re trying to do is create better pathways in terms of how investors access content. Whether they’re a beginner or an advanced investor, we want our website to reflect that experience but also not overwhelm them with information,” he said.
