Speaking to InvestorDaily, CleverSuper founder Chris Appleyard said version three of the software (the free version) will be ready to be rolled out by July 2014.
Mr Appleyard announced to InvestorDaily’s sister publication SMSF Adviser in August 2013 that the software firm would make a free self-managed superannuation fund available to “every Australian”.
Mr Appleyard, who also heads up financial planning dealer group Custom Wealth Solutions, said criticism levelled at Clever Super over the controversial free offering fails to take into account the conflicts of interest and underlying problems in the SMSF admin market.
“By July, we’ll be launching Version 3 [of CleverSuper] which will be the free version. It’s such an interesting conversation around that,” he said. “But when people ask me why the hell I would do that, it really is for the benefits of choice and flexibility of product and our fundamental belief that the super admin system is somewhat broken and needs to be revolutionalised.”
Mr Appleyard said the “$20 billion” figure paid by SMSF investors to administrators is unnecessary and that investors should be educated that they can now “take back control and manage their investments their own way”.
The ability for administration providers to place restrictions on the financial products available to trustees runs counter to the philosophy of self-managed superannuation, Mr Appleyard added.
“Anyone who chooses to have an SMSF is doing it to have more control over the products it can use,” he said.
