Providing strategies for clients is the cornerstone of successful SMSF advice businesses and outweighs both structural and investment advice, according to a business specialist servicing the sector.
Speaking at the recent selfmanagedsuper/CoreData SMSF Accountants’ Day, SMSF Design master SMSF designer Tracey Besters said providing strategies was the most important element as it was the one area advisers had complete control over.
“Why do I say strategies are the cornerstone? To me, if I’m going to spend a whole lot of energy and effort and put expertise into the business, then I want to be able to put that energy and effort into something where I can control the outcome,” Besters said.
“I can’t control the outcome of investments or asset classes. Yes we can make better decisions or give better advice on asset allocations for those investments, but I know if I’ve provided a properly executed piece of advice, and I’ve checked off all of the things I needed to do, the outcome for me is certain.”
To that end, she said accountants were well placed to incorporate advisory services into their practices for SMSF clients.
“I think accountants are good at providing strategies. Why do I say that? Because tax advice is a type of strategy and there are many things they do from a tax point of view every year that is strategic,” she said.
“So I think accountants are great at providing strategies, but they just don’t know what all of the strategies are at this point in time, but as soon as they do know what the strategies are they should be great at implementing them.”
She said the next most important piece of SMSF advice centred on structure, involving discussions as to whether to implement a corporate trustee over individual trustees.
The final piece of the picture was investment advice, being discussions around portfolio construction and the appropriate mix between growth, income and defensive assets, she said.
