The Self-Managed Superannuation Fund Association’s annual conference will feature robust discussions about the future of superannuation and how the advice profession can tailor itself to clients’ changing retirement needs.
The National Conference, this year to be hosted in Sydney on February 14-16, includes keynotes and panel sessions with the theme “Beyond”. It will focus on the evolving regulatory landscape, with perspectives from Deen Sanders, chief executive of the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority, Peter Kell, deputy chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and Kasey Macfarlane, assistant commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office’s SMSF segment.
John Maroney, head of the SMSFA, says the program was developed with advisers, accountants and auditors in mind. He says given the complexity of recent changes to super, in particular, there is a growing role for professionals in helping their clients interpret the rules and work towards a self-funded retirement.
As a result of that, Maroney says, the SMSFA is interested in lifting standards above those minimally mandated.
“We are all about lifting standards,” he explains. “We work closely with regulators and government to ensure standards are high and that [professionals] meet and exceed those standards.”
To that end, session topics include interpreting technical and legal aspects of regulation, such as how to handle an SMSF in the post-retirement phase. Two particular areas of complexity are estate planning and death benefits.
“There will be a lot of focus on the recent changes to superannuation and how they are applied at an individual level,” Maroney says. “A lot of people would have developed strategies in the last five years that are no longer applicable or relevant.”
He says the SMSFA frequently receives questions about the capital gains tax elements of planning and pension phase technicalities.
Maroney says registrations for this year’s event are tracking well. The association hopes to exceed last year’s registrations of 1700 for the conference in Melbourne.
Professional Planner is the official media partner of the 2018 Self-Managed Super Fund Association National Conference in Sydney. For more information and to register, click here. To read the SMSFA Daily News, visit professionalplanner.com.au
