Best decision I made last year was finally opening a SMSF, more than doubled my super balance in just one year. I use esuperfund, $1000 bucks a year in fees (first year's free) & about $500 bucks to get the audit / tax done each year (which esuperfund does for you).
MDHere put me onto esuperfund......Thanks MD
Me too Techgirl. Everyone!!! - I am not promoting here. I am simply posting some stuff I sent in private messages to some people who've asked for info. Please just take it as extra info to mull over.
A golf mate suggested E-SUPERFUND four years ago when I was thinking about setting one up. He's been using for several years more than me and has always been happy - so I made the jump as well.
My experience is very positive.
1. They are a very automated crew so you need to be comfortable with that. Their system is pretty good, so I find it pretty straightforward but very hard if you want to talk to someone over the phone. They try to respond to email requests within a couple of days - and it's usually the full two days. The system tries to take you through the self help responses first before you send a special request.
2. The self help and education material is pretty good. I've gained a fair few tips about how to manage my SMSF by reading their stuff. If you Google the general questions their self help gear comes up without being a member so have a crack if you like. Say, google contribution limits E-superfund and see what you get.
3. There's a bit of admin to set it up and roll existing super into the system but it's not hard - just methodical.
4. It's cheap. About $1500 or less each year all up. They administer the thing and do the tax return, including working out capital gains, dividends etc.
5. They get you to do a checklist in about September each year. They used to have already coded each transaction in your (Commsec) account and you just check them and you code the few that aren't obvious to their system (such as contributions). They get virtually all dividends and purchase/sales of shares easily. THIS USED TO BE THE CASE WITH COMMSEC - NOW JUST ANZ BECAUSE COMMSEC STOPPED SUPPORTING E-SUPERFUND. In response E-SUPERFUND now offers its own brokering service. I'm still using Commsec and will need to do some more coding in future.
6. My SMSF is simple - me and my wife and we just do ASX shares through Commsec. We have set up Simple Account Based Pensions through the system and that works well - their system does all the splits/taxable and non-taxable etc and the tax return for each.
7. Read their limitation on what you can invest in and which brokers. It's on their site. They are cheap because they are automated and log straight into the broker's system. If you want to do complex stuff, such as rental properties then you may want to deal with someone who does more hands on gear.
8. Once you've played in the system a few times it is easy to navigate.
www.popsci.com
