Esuperfund smsf

[pjphilli]

Hi
I notice that Ice In Space advertised recently on its homepage
for an organisation called Esuperfund Self Managed Super Fund.

Does anyone have information regarding the above organisation?
Or a good source for investigating generally the ins and outs of a SMSF?

Cheers Peter

[Octane]

Hi Peter,

I believe the advertisements are all automated by Google, and, not controlled by IceInSpace.

I could be wrong, though!

Cheers.

H

[Dennis]

We had a financial planner visit our place of employment a couple of years ago. He said that one of the “plusses” of going with e.g. an established industry fund, is that should something go wrong, there is a level of protection as a result of government legislation, so you should not lose everything...

SMSF’s were not “protected” in the same way as it was assumed that anyone operating an SMSF should have enough investment planning knowledge to manage the risk themselves.

This was a few years ago and I don’t remember what the level of protection from losses were in e.g. an established industry fund. Also, I don’t know if the legislation has changed since then.

Cheers

Dennis

[multiweb]

SMSF or industry SF, at the end of the day, any investment carries a risk. It makes absolutely no difference. SMSF need to comply, be audited regularly and now, payments have to go through an electronic gateway. If your industry super fund loses your money as a result of bad investment then you'll lose the lot, all the same. Look what happened with Colonial first state, years ago. At least, if you run your own SMSF you are in control and have a choice to manage and invest your money directly.

[gary]

Hi Peter,

If you want to understand more about SMSF's, one of the best places to
start is the ATO web site -
https://www.ato.gov.au/super/self-managed-super-funds/

Now and then the ATO even put on free road-shows where they explain
many of the rules and procedures governing SMSF's.

They also present some surprising statistics.
For example, the SMSF sector accounts for nearly a third
of the countries $1.94 trillion (as at Dec 2014) in superannuation assets.

Something like 99% of the total number of funds are SMSF's.
As at March 2014, that was some 1,006,975 SMSF
trustees running 528,701 self-managed super funds.

That's a lot of financial decisions being spread over a very large
number of individuals involving their own money. That has to be a
good thing.

The average SMSF, as at June 104, was $1,035,000. That's
a lot of squirreling away by a lot of people!

At one ATO SMSF presentation I attended several years ago, when the
ATO presenter asked the audience how many attendees had their
own SMSF, probably 95% raised their hands. What was then good about
that was that the questions people in the audience tended to raise
were quite technical. These people weren't babes in the woods.
A positive impression I was left with is that many everyday Australians
from all walks of life had successfully steeped themselves in the technical
details of managing a SMSF and were incredibly savvy. And who could
blame them. It is their money. And collectively it is an enormous amount
of money.

The ATO even have a help line for SMSF queries.

Companies such as esuperfund can assist with notifying you and
lodging the annual compliance documentation. Your fund is separate
from them. You are in charge. But it needs to be compliant.

If you require more one-on-one assistance, your accountant should
be able to put you in contact with a specialist who can help you set
up the fund and do the annual returns.

SMSF's aren't for everyone. Like all superannuation, there are many
rules and if you make a mistake it could be costly and some of
your funds could be taxed at an extraordinarily high prejudicial rate.
That is distinct from the day to day decisions you will make in investing
your money and managing your fund.

[multiweb]

Everything Gary said :) Talk to your accountant. To sum it up, when you invest your super money, the general rule is that you cannot use the principal or the interests for personal use until you are entitled to the pension or benefit from them in anyway.

Let's say you buy a property with your super money. You obviously cannot live in it or have anybody remotely related to you pay a 'rent'. Under extreme circumstances, terminal disease, etc... there are options to access your super money before entitlement, but these are exceptional.

All you need to start an SMSF is an accountant to set you and all members as trustees, an ABN, a tax file number and your money. Beware there are a lot of chonky 'financial advisors' out there and they got people in strife with the ATO. So you'll need to do your homework.

[pjphilli]

Hi All

This is a rather old post and I am a bit mystified how it has resurfaced.

Thanks for all your advice. In fact I did got ahead and set up a SMSF
with ESuperfund and I have found it to be excellent in every way and
very economical.

Cheers Peter