The SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia has claimed the latest tax office statistics further disprove many criticisms of the SMSF sector, such as young people being inappropriately enticed to establish this type of fund, the volume of allocations to residential property and the overuse of gearing.

Accountants must be clear about why they wanted to add financial planning services to their practice in order to make that business arm a success, according to the head of an institutionally owned dealer group.

Property investment specialist Future Estate has predicted domestic house prices will continue to increase on the back of several influencing factors, including improved loan affordability, solid economic fundamentals and a stable mortgage market. Other elements leading to the optimistic forecast were strong investor demand and pent-up demand for homes. “Australian house prices are not only […]

The SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) has become the latest industry body to provide an education program for trustees.

Perpetual Investments’ first listed investment company (LIC), Perpetual Equity Investment Company Limited (PIC), aimed at SMSF trustees has received a recommended rating from research houses Lonsec and Zenith. In awarding its recommended rating, Lonsec said the manager’s long-standing investment philosophy and process was one of the key strengths of the offering. In regard to Perpetual’s […]

ASIC has expressed its concern over the latest reported level of limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBA) employed by SMSFs due to the risk involved with these strategies.

Individuals considering establishing an SMSF need to be wary of their compliance obligations and consider carefully who the best service provider is to assist them to meet these responsibilities, a sector administration specialist has warned.

Stuart Forsyth has relinquished his role as Australian Taxation Office (ATO) assistant deputy commissioner of superannuation and taken up a position as board member of SMSF administration specialist provider SuperIQ. Forsyth brings to the Super IQ board over a decade’s experience in policy, legislation and litigation with the SMSF sector regulator and is well-known and […]

When assessing the use of fund managers, investors should not look at the choice between active and passive management as mutually exclusive because that mindset might cause them to miss out on valuable return opportunities, according to a senior financial services executive. “As investors and advisers focus on building portfolios that are optimised for risk, […]