The ATO has released its statistical overview of SMSF for 2022–23, which revealed each year for the past five years there were on average 27,200 entries and 14,700 exits.
Over the same period, the number of SMSFs grew by 11 per cent to 625,609 while assets grew by 39 per cent.
The top five assets held by SMSFs, which make up 72 per cent of all SMSF assets, are listed shares (27 per cent), cash and term deposits (17 per cent), unlisted trusts (12 per cent), non-residential real property (10 per cent) and limited recourse borrowing arrangements (6 per cent).
The statistics also show that the average balance in a fund over the past five years has increased significantly, with assets per member rising 23 per cent to $835,000 and average assets per SMSF up by 21 per cent to $1.55 million.
During the same time, SMSF contributions increased by 45 per cent to $24.4 billion.
The ATO data also found that 56 per cent of members were in accumulation phase, 35 per cent in full retirement phase and 9 per cent in partial retirement phase.
Of all SMSFs as of 30 June 2024, 30 per cent had individual trustees while 70 per cent had a corporate trustee.
The estimated return on assets for 2022–23 was 10.1 per cent.
The statistics of SMSF assets by phase show that 65 per cent are held by funds in retirement phase while 35 per cent of assets are held by funds in accumulation phase.
The value of SMSF benefit payments increased by 31 per cent to $43.8 billion with 33 per cent of SMSF members having received a benefit.
Female SMSF members accounted for 47 per cent of the 1.1 million registered members with an average member balance of $794,000. The average male member balance was $926,000.
The median age of members (at 30 June 24) of all SMSF members was 63 years while the median age of members of newly established funds in 2022–23 was 47 years
More than 65 per cent of SMSFs have existed for more than 10 years.
How many members over $3m now? Well over 80,000 by the time the 30/06/24 figures are crunched I expect.