The quarterly statistics revealed that the most new entrants were women aged 35–44 years (40.4 per cent) with men in the same age bracket coming at 36.8 per cent. The data also showed that these cohorts were earning between $100,000–$150,000 per annum.
The largest demographic of SMSF members is the 50–64 age bracket (37.5 per cent) and once again there were slightly more women than men represented.
There were more than 10,000 new entrants into the sector this quarter and only 165 exits over the three months from June 2024.
The total number of SMSFs in Australia now stands at 631,942 with 1,173,867 members, up more than 20,000 from the June quarter statistics in which there were 1,151,618 members, and nearly 50,000 more members since the September 2023 quarter.
The highest number of new establishments was in NSW with 39 per cent of the total in Australia, ahead of Victoria, which came in second with 26.3 per cent.
Total assets held in SMSFs in the latest quarter were up from $957.855 million to $988.186 million. Interestingly, overseas assets showed the most growth with overseas shares rising from $17.659 million to $18.891 million, overseas non-residential real property moving up slightly from $200 million to $213 million, and overseas residential real property increasing from $440 million to $471 million.
Listed shares ($286.304 million) were still the top asset class held in SMSFs, followed by cash and term deposits ($161.714 million) and unlisted trusts ($134.745 million).
