The ATO on Monday released its latest SMSF statistics that revealed there were 7,836 new SMSFs established over the three months from June to September this year.
The only other period in which establishments exceeded this number was in the September quarter of 2021, in which 8,340 were established.
There are now 611,961 SMSFs compared to 604,234 in the previous quarter.
Those funds have a total of 1,142,957 members of SMSFs, up nearly 20,000 in the June quarter which recorded 1,125,039 members.
There was a remarkably low number of wind-ups in September (107) while the June quarter was revised up from its previous low of 297 to 4,937 which was still well below the usual June quarter wind-up statistics of 10,000 plus.
The total estimated assets of SMSFs are now $884.6 billion from $884,071 previously with the top assets held by value being listed shares (28 per cent of total estimated SMSF assets) and cash and term deposits (17 per cent).
The number of women in SMSFs has remained steady at 47 per cent, while 87 per cent of SMSF members are 45 years or older.
Peter Burgess, CEO of the SMSF Association said the benefits of an SMSF are just as relevant today as they have ever been.
“Given much of this growth is being driven by individuals under 44, it’s encouraging to see younger generations taking more control and being more engaged with their retirement savings,” he said.
“We also know this generation values specialist advice so, to appeal to this growing cohort, it’s important for advisers to ensure they have the competencies to provide specialist SMSF advice.”
He added much of the growth is being driven by technology which is making SMSFs more accessible to younger generations.
“Off the back of recent research, there is also growing acceptance that you don’t need to be excessively wealthy to start an SMSF,” he concluded.
Shelley Banton, head of education for ASF Audits, told SMSF Adviser she believes the number of wind-ups is the lowest on record.
“It is a clear indication that people are staying in their SMSFS and the demographics are getting older,” she said.
“There are lots of reasons people are choosing to stay in their SMSFs like market conditions, better advice, planning to stay in their funds longer in terms of saving for retirement as well as things getting easier in administration to help make it easier to stay in the fund.”
She said there had also been an increase in the flow of money out of funds which she predicted will continue to rise now the 50 per cent restriction on minimum pension has ceased.
“People are realising the ability to have control over their retirement savings is a really powerful tool especially when they are getting older and they may need money to make their lives more comfortable,” she added.
