Hi Geoff,
Thanks very much for your advice. I had briefly checked out eSuperfund previously after a discussion with Gary but with the transfer of current accounting arrangements we have including Estate Planning, think at least initially I would like the full services of an accountant. Thereafter a switch to something like eSuperfund would seem the way to go.
Again thanks.
Cheers Keith
Hi Keith, just a it of advice, when setting up your SMSF get your accountant to look at setting it up with a corporate trustee, there are many advantages and probably easier to do it right from the “get go”
Does Gary still hit it bullet straight and a bloody long way ??
Thanks Jerry, appreciated.
Yes Gary does so and works on his swing like never before!
Are there any others on the Forum who have a need similar to Keith’s?
Jerry, trust you are well. Been awhile since we graced the fairways together! BTW, Keith beat me in the singles knock-out comp last year at our club.
Regards
Gary
Hi Jerry,
I could not agree with you more when it comes to setting up a SMSF with a corporate trustee. As a chartered accountant in public practice, I can vouch for there being many advantages to utilising a corporate trustee over individual trustees. Yes, there is an additional upfront cost to set-up the corporate trustee, and there is the annual ongoing ASIC annual return fee (currently $55), but after that, it is mainly upside. These costs are minor in the overall scheme of an SMSF with a reasonable account balance, given the advantages conferred.
If Forum members are interested, here is a webpage link which elaborates on this topic…
Regards,
Rob
No worries Keith - all the best in your search for a new accountant.
Cheers
Geoff
Hi Keith,
I used to run a SMSF and buy and sell ASX listed shares and ETFs consistent with SPA3 signals. But I found the SMSF to be too time consuming in my retirement. I therefore decided to close the SMSF and transfer all my funds to an industry super pension fund having low fees and the option to buy and sell individual ASX listed shares and ETFs thru a separate platform administered by the fund. I can buy and sell all the SPA3 ASX stocks and ETFs covered by SWS through my Industry fund and brokerage is comparable to Commsec. I also have the option to allocate some of my funds to ASX and International share indices, Realestate, Infrastructure, Bonds, Term Deposits and Cash. I find I have most if not all the advantages associated with a SMSF without the time burden and often expensive accountancy fees associated with SMSF fund administration. I also think if and when the time comes that I’m no longer capable of making sound investment decisions I can allocate all my remaining funds to one of the investment options entirely administered by the Industry fund. Not sure if this is of any assistance? But when I ask my Mum, who is now in her 90s living independently without assistance and still fully with it, what is her secret she tells me you have to simplify everything as you get older.
Regards
Brian
I can only echo many contributors here. Financial advisors lost us thousands. We have a SMSF, invested a significant majority on ASX with spa3 and (aside from today and yesterday), made 20% in 6 months.
Ditch the financial advisor. imao the advise according to their interests/kickbacks
Hi Brian. Are you with Q super? Did you have to sell all your shares and commute before changing to an industry fund?
Hi all, my 2c worth as follows:
Currently 45 years old, and transferred 100% of my previous super balance (with Australian Super) into a new SMSF (corporate trustee) in 2016.
After some early experimentation, the SMSF, aka me, is currently using SPA3 Investor for 100% of all investments (60% US E/W portfolio with Schwab, 40% AUS E/W portfolio with Saxo).
The SMSF was originally setup with an online accountant, Superaccounting, and the process went well with no major issues. Currently their fees are $1640/year fixed and a $55 ASIC fee.
In summary, all is going well and I have 100% trust in SWS. I also love the excellent reward:effort ratio as Gary says!
Looking forward to NOT participating in the next crash, an early retirement and no reliance on the pension!
Hope this helps
Cheers
Adrian
Hi Geoffrey,
I’m with Hostplus which I think is very comparable to Q super. And yes had to go 100% cash before transferring to Hostplus. I note now though that Hostplus also offers the choice to invest thru a SMSF in some of their managed and index type investment options, if you wanted to stay with the SMSF and not sell down your stocks.
Hi all, I’m late to the party would like to add one other story about a financial advisor. We have had an SMSF for many years and our accountant has also been our financial advisor - against conventional wisdom. Mostly it worked well for us, though some investments lost large amounts of money, and we have recently retired and moved our SMSF into pension phase. When preparing to do so, our advisor asked us to fill out a risk tolerance questionnaire. The upshot was that because we were retirees, but had tolerance for risk with a proportion of our investments we did not fit into his algorithms. The larger company which oversees his work and covers his butt to a certain extent if things go pear shaped required us to use a very narrow spectrum of investments which we were not prepared to do. He is now just our accountant and we are our own financial advisors. We ( and he ) are much more comfortable with this arrangement. Cheers, Neil
Thanks Brian. Appreciate your reply.
Thanks all for your input, much appreciated. Becoming clear from my perspective that the road to go is SMSF, nearly all in SPA3 Investor and using an accountant for the administration/audit/tax requirements etc. Now to find a suitable accountant in Melbourne as accountant been using for past few years is based on Brisbane!
Thanks.
Cheers Keith
Hi Keith, If you are looking for a low cost accountant in Melbourne, I can recommend iCare SMSF based in Bentleigh. For share trading + audit it is as low as $77/mth gst inc. No limit on bank accounts and any number of share transactions. No restriction on share brokers.
Hi All,
When looking around for a “keenly priced” accountant, make sure you understand who is actually attending to the work on your file, who has access to your information and most importantly, your TFN !! One should always ask if their accountant sends their work offshore to be completed or not. For some clients, having their work sent offshore is not an issue, but for others it is. The very “keenly” priced accountants (and even some of the not so…) will often send your work offshore without you knowing it, and will not disclose this “to your face”, but it will be hidden in the fine print of their engagement letter. This is the only way they can get your work done for such a “keen” price. Same goes for your SMSF’s audit if applicable.
This is one of the hidden little secrets of the accounting & financial planning professions - Statement of Advice preparation is often undertaken offshore - so make sure you ask them “to their face” if this an important issue for you.
Regards,
Rob
Hi All,
Thanks again everyone for your input, it has been appreciated.
Philip - Thanks for the advice on ICare. I had a look at their website and they seem quite good. That said though, I still would at this time like to go with a full accounting service.
Rob - On this, having had a look at your website and after advice from Gary today at the golf club (!) would be interested to know whether you would have an interest in a client like myself and my wife? Obviously there are benefits in having someone who knows and uses SWS.
Whilst you are based in Perth, we have a close association with WA as our daughter lives there now and has just bought a house. My wife is from Geraldton and I spent 13 years in Perth! All going well, will be across their next month and thereafter on a fairly regular basis!
If of interest would be pleased to have a chat whenever it suits.
Thanks again.
Cheers Keith
Hi Keith,
Would be very happy to have a chat to explore if I can be of assistance in some way, or even just to share trading “war stories”!
Just give me call next week on the phone number on my website (www.argentumconsulting.com.au) at your convenience. I am unavailable for the balance of today (Fri 14/5) due to other commitments. Looking forward to chatting in due course.
Kind Regards,
Rob
Hi Geoff and All.
I have only just realized how expensive my SMSF has been for last 5-10 years after following this forum.
I now manage 2/3 of balance myself using IB on Nasdaq and Self Wealth in Aussie shares. Doing allot better than Financial managed 600K via BT wrap account, 51K profit over last 4 Years!!.
Between the Financial manager and accountant I’m forking out roughly 10K / year managing and prepare yearly tax and audits etc.
I am currently in TTR and retired from work in Feb this year, Pension phase will start 01 Jul 2021 as the total amount in SMSF increase another 100 K to 1.7 Mil total.
I have decided to take ownership and manage complete portfolio myself.
Still some discipline required on my part in following the trading rules etc.
Keen to learn more from the group about using companies like esuperfund to carry out yearly audits and ATO requirement at a far more reasonable fee.
Cheers
Mark
Hi Mark
I can only speak as to my own experience with eSuperfund, but I find no problems with the delivery / quality of their service (I used to work as an employee accountant processing accounts and tax returns for small SMSFs). Given the low fees they charge, I honestly don’t know how they provide their service so cheap (as I alluded to in my last forum post, if I imagine charging for accounting, tax return and audit myself, I feel I would have to charge $1,500 to $2,500 to come close to turning a profit - let alone if the fund had any complicated transactions. I expect they may have economies of scale either through their streamlined way of operating (they have electronic visibility on linked bank/broker accounts whereby items such bank interest, share buys/sells, dividends, etc are 99% pre-reconciled so it’s only a very small percentage of the year’s transactions that I need to provide further info on at year end - via online forms), or they utilize an offshore workforce - I haven’t investigated this, but I don’t mind either way as long as I see that everything is largely in order. My suggestion to you would be explore their website (www.esuperfund.com.au) - in particular which banks / brokers they support. My super’s all in accumulation phase, but from what I can see they also handle all the required pension phases, minutes, etc. I haven’t “tested” their technical / accounting support - I haven’t needed to as yet - so I couldn’t attest to that I suppose. I hope this helps - really difficult to comment on whether it might suit you as I can only speak to my own experience / cirucmstances, i.e. a pretty straight forward “shares and bank interest” simple type of SMSF.
Cheers
Geoff