The SMSF Association has research currently in the field to uncover the motivational factors driving the trend to establish an SMSF without the involvement of financial advice.
“We are, as an association, investing in research and … right now we are surveying some individuals who have recently set up a self-managed super fund,” SMSF Association chief executive Peter Burgess confirmed at the industry body’s National Conference 2026 held in Adelaide recently.
“We want to know where they are getting their information from and how they are accessing that information and what type of information it is to learn a little bit more about [setting up an SMSF without advice] just to make sure they are making informed decisions.
“To us that’s what matters, [that these people are] making an informed decision.”
Despite the increase in the number of SMSFs being established without the engagement of a financial adviser, Burgess indicated there are no signs indicating an issue with regard to the overall health of the sector.
“I think in terms of risks we measure the health of the sector [on], it’s something that we keep a close eye on at a broader level. We have certain metrics that we look at to [assess] the health of the sector and right now there are no data points to suggest that we have a problem,” he revealed.
“To the contrary, those metrics are showing that we have a very healthy sector. It is obviously growing.
“In [terms of] performance of the sector, we release annual investment performance [data] of the overall sector and we compare that to the APRA (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority) fund sector and that’s shown [SMSFs], particularly over a five-year rolling period, [are] still outperforming [their] large fund [counterparts].
“So there is no sign from a performance point of view [of which to be concerned]. The [number of] wind-ups are going down and we think that’s a good sign, and the number of funds that have reported contraventions, percentage wise, is still very small so there is nothing in any of that to suggest we have a problem.”
