According to the SMSF Active Management Report, produced by Macquarie Bank and commissioned by the SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA), 3.9 per cent of the adult population has set up a do-it-yourself fund within the past three years – 46 per cent of whom were under 30.
The report, which was based on an online survey of 2,017 Australians, also found that 68 per cent of recent investors were under 40.
The survey also found that a slight majority (52 per cent) of recent SMSF investors were women.
Twenty per cent of recent investors are women who are living at home with their parents. By comparison, only four per cent of recent investors were men living at home.
“This sub-group reflects both the difficulty many young Australians have entering the housing market and an increasing consciousness of the importance of building savings for retirement,” said the report.
Recent investors were also found to be highly active investors who were looking for help when it comes to managing their assets, according to the report.
These types of trustees are likely to need “support with day-to-day investment management and administration, especially as their portfolios grow”, said the report.
The Macquarie research also found that key decisions made by SMSFs typically involve multiple members of a family, rather than one trustee managing the fund on behalf of the rest.
Almost eight out of 10 funds involve multiple family members, according to the report.
The report also found that 8.1 per cent of adult Australians intended to establish an SMSF by 2016.
Of the respondents who were contemplating setting up an SMSF in the next three years, 44 per cent were under 30.
Ten per cent of the adult population were classified as ‘established’ investors (they set up their SMSF three or more years ago) and of this cohort, only 12 per cent were under 30. At the other end of the spectrum, 57 per cent were aged over 50.
Taken as a whole, recent investors have average assets of $457,246, which was second only to established investors, who had average assets of $569,494. Investors who said they ‘intended’ to set up an SMSF within three years held average assets of $292.153.
