ASIC recently released its SMSF statistics to Dec 2023. While it is a quarterly update, past quarters are also updated due to the lag time in processing SMSF funds.

We have updated our SMSF Data Dashboards - Members Have Full Access - A free version is now available to all users.

Special offer of a 50% discount for the first month’s membership - enter promotion code 50%MONTH1 when prompted in sign up process.

We have put our own overlay of adviser data, and we also break down some of the data such as fees and net movement of funds at an average level per super fund.

You may also find the latest APRA Super Fund statistics (also updated to Dec 2023) which we have analysed. We have built in elements of the SMSF data, plus Adviser and population stats. See Blog Post Here

The dashboards are mostly interactive, allowing users to do their own analysis.

Key points of interest and dashboard number shown below:

• D1, D2 and D3 - The SMSF opportunity continues to grow - albeit more slowly over this last 12 months compared to previous periods, as the number of advisers stabilise. The SMSF growth has been relatively stable and is now at 614,705 established SMSFs compared to 595,181 as of Dec 2023.  On a ‘net assets’ per adviser, a high was created the quarter at $56.19 Mil

• D3 - The rate of SMSF establishments still high - Establishments for the quarter reached 6,959, while down on last quarter, it is the second highest for a fourth quarter. The data from the ATO can have a delayed effect and this is highlighted by the windups for July quarter at 7,541 a significant jump on the last quarter report when it was just 4,397.

• D4 - Total Net Assets at a new record of $878.4 Bil. An increase from $847.4 Bil and above the previous record of $865.4 Bil set in quarter 1 2023.

• D7 - Listed equities is the preferred investment, 29.88%, followed by Cash and Fixed Interest at 16.61%. The holdings to equities increased and cash slipped, most likely due to better returns for equities in the last quarter.

• D9 - The larger SMSFs hold less cash and fixed interest compared to smaller SMSFs. Larger SMSFs also hold a greater weighting towards unlisted trusts.

• D10 and D11 - Males still dominate SMSF membership – During the quarter, 55.2% of all new members (into new established SMSFs) are male. And the greatest demographic for new establishments are males earning between $100,000 to $150,000 at 26%. This same earnings range, was also the highest for females at 19%.

  Note: Data below is not updated each quarter by the ATO - Most data extracted by ATO during July 2023

• D5 - The greatest portion of SMSFs falls into the size of >$500,000 to $1m at 25.4% - Whereas the greatest portion of assets fall into the SMSF funds that are between >$2m and $5m at 31.1%.

• D6 - Average and Median balances have a significant difference - driven by a few very large SMSF funds. For example, the average asset size of an SMSF is $1,450,642 and the median is $826,299.

• D10 - By age group, the greatest portion of members are aged between 75 and 84 - Males still dominate

• D11 - By distribution of taxable income, the $0 to $20,000 grouping has the most members - most likely driven by the age group that have now retired. As for new members, the largest age group is between >$100,000 to $150,000 and driven by males

• D13 - Expenses per SMSF and per Member has remained at a similar level - Admin and Operational costs currently running (latest data 2021/2) at an average of $3,720 per member. Back in 2018/19 it was $3,427 (D13)

• D14 - NSW is still the largest state for both the number of SMSFs and total assets.

The chart below is one of many. It highlights the ‘potential’ opportunity for advisers in terms of the number of SMSFs and net assets.

The Full Suite of SMSF Funds Data and Analysis Dashboards are available at the Members Lounge And includes our latest data for APRA based Funds.