In the first quarter of the current financial year, the number of SMSFs has increased by more than 10,000, with more than a third of new members aged between 35 and 44 and around 25 per cent with a taxable income range of $100,000 to $150,000, according to new data from the ATO.
In its latest SMSF statistical report for the September 2024 quarter, the ATO stated 10,298 new funds were established in the three months from 1 July, with 165 funds wound down for a total net number of new funds of 10,133.
These new additions lifted the total number of SMSFs to 631,942, from 621,809 in the June quarter, and the total number of members to 1,173,867, from 1,151,619, with the increase in the latter figure consistent with ATO figures that around 68 per cent of funds have two members.
The net number is a significant increase over the June quarter figure of 2750 funds after 8814 were established, but 6064 were closed in the three months to end of the last financial year.
Of the new funds opened in the September quarter, 38.5 per cent were established by people aged 35 to 44, with the next largest cohort of new SMSF members being those aged 45 to 49 at 18.2 per cent, while those aged 50 to 54 accounted for 15.2 per cent of new funds.
In the 35 to 44 age band, more women (40.4 per cent) than men (36.8 per cent) became members of a new SMSF, but these figures reversed in the 45 to 49 age group (18.7 per cent for men compared to 17.7 per cent for women), as well as in the 50 to 54 age group (15.8 per cent for men compared to 14.4 per cent for women).
The ATO also found 24.2 per cent of new SMSF members had a taxable income of between $100,000 and $150,000, which was the largest group of new members by income, followed by those earning $150,000 to $200,000 at 13.9 per cent.
While a number of asset classes held by SMSFs increased in dollar terms, cash and term deposits were flat and grew from $161.211 billion in the June quarter to $161.714 billion in the September quarter.
At the same time, the static nature of limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBA) continued, with assets allocated to these investments increasing marginally in the September quarter to $70.368 billion from $69.338 billion in the previous quarter.
