In large part as a result of scandals in the financial advice sector, SMSF trustees are becoming reluctant to seek financial advice, says Taxpayers Australia.
“An unfortunate, but understandable, reaction to the recent spate of financial advice scandals has been that SMSF trustees are less likely to seek financial advice,” says Reece Agland, Manager of Superannuation Products and Services at Taxpayers Australia. “This could be to the long term performance detriment of many SMSFs.”
SMSFs had traditionally been the choice of high-wealth individuals with investment experience for a retirement savings vehicle. Increasingly however, new SMSFs are being established by your average mum and dad. While this is a good thing, the down side is many may not know a lot about investing.
“While they may be reluctant to seek specific advice about investments, they should at least educate themselves about the fundamentals of investing,” says Agland. “There is a lot you can learn about good and bad investment strategies. Rather than learn this yourself, usually through your own mistakes, you should seek the advice of those in the know.”
Examples of sources of information on investing include:
books on investment techniques and running a SMSF (such as Taxpayers Australia’s own Ultimate SMSF Trustee’s Guide)
attending investment seminars
reading the financial press and wealth creation magazines
talking with experienced investors.
To assist SMSF trustees with their investment decisions, Taxpayers Australia has organised half-day SMSF investment seminars in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
“We have teamed up with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and SMSF property guru Brian Clarke, to provide a simple to understand investment information that is designed to boost the performance of any SMSF,” said Agland.
