The latest study into the sector has shown the percentage of SMSFs receiving professional financial advice remained steady for the 2024 income year landing at 26.8 per cent.
The “Class 2025 Annual Benchmark Report” indicated this result presented a significant opportunity for practitioners wanting to service SMSF clients.
That percentage was just a slight increase on the 26 per cent recorded on the Class platform in the 2022/23 financial year.
“We look at what percentage of funds, where we have the data, can we see an advice fee being deducted so it may not represent those who are paying for advice outside of their SMSF, nor may obviously would have captured anyone who might have sought advice as part of the establishment process for periodic advice,” Class chief executive Tim Steele explained during the presentation of the report.
Steele noted one of the biggest questions for the industry was how to provide greater access to more advice for SMSF trustees as and when they need it.
“That’s obviously with a backdrop of a declining number of advisers in Australia … and the growth of SMSFs leading to, obviously, this supply and demand constraint with respect to financial advice and the opportunity specifically for SMSFs,” Steele said.
The report indicated financial advice businesses with the ability to leverage technology to streamline services and better engage clients, would be better placed to deal with this burgeoning market segment.
The analysis has shown SMSF members tend to be more engaged and understanding of their rights and responsibilities as trustees regardless of whether they are advised. For instance this cohort is more likely to have a pension interest if they are over 65 years of age compared to public offer fund members. Specifically 93 per cent of Class SMSF members over 65 are in retirement phase while 49.2 per cent of people in the large superannuation funds are in the same situation.
“I think they’re engaged, and there’s access to so much data these days, on the internet, that if they are engaged, they can make informed choices through their own research,” Steele suggested.
