SMSF specialists getting due recognition

Linked to increasing trustee sophistication

By Darin Tyson-Chan and Samantha Hodge
Wed 25 Jul 2012

Practitioners considered experts in the field are the favoured basis for SMSF advice, a new survey has shown.

Individuals seeking advice on their self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) are preferring to use the services of a professional who is an expert in the field, new industry research has revealed.

The finding is a result of “The SMSF Generations Report” compiled by Macquarie Bank and the SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia.

“When we asked people about who they want to get advice from it wasn’t necessarily an adviser or an accountant, for many people it was a professional who is an expert in the field,” Macquarie Banking and Financial Services Group analytics research manager Gary Lembit said.

When conducting the research, respondents were also given the choice between the terms financial adviser and accountant as their preferred advisory sources, Lembit said.

He said the response reflected a shift in priorities among SMSF trustees. To ream more click here.

A snapshot of the superannuation borrowing landscape

Super borrowing is arguably the fastest-growing area of financial advice, and a potentially lucrative one for self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) advisers.

Anecdotally, there is increased client demand in the area, and more and more products and services are finding their way to the market.

However, as a field of advice, super borrowing is not without its challenges.

Firstly, assessing and providing the strategic advice associated with a potential recommendation for a super borrowing scheme presents some interesting conundrums: should a client be borrowing to invest in the first place, and if so, is it more effective to do so inside or outside super?