"Self Managed" Superannuation

Apologies in advance if I am in the wrong forum.

Dad lives in NSW, from a Non English speaking background, and just turned 60. He has over $200k in super, and has been a member of the same superannuation company for many years.

Earlier this year he decided to see a financial planner for advice as he heads toward retirement. FYI he owns his primary residence and leases 3 properties he still pays mortgage for (negatively geared).

The financial planner prepared a report and said that Dad would have to salary sacrifice $600 -$650 per week to be able to retire at 65 based on the products/services that their financial services company had to offer. Firstly that doesn’t leave him much to live off!! Secondly this is interesting because this company was referred to Dad by friends who said they would be able to offer good independent financial advice but they are pushing their own interests.

Dad then decided to look into Self Managed Super (mostly for the benefit of his 2 adult children) with the goal of investing in property together.

The financial planner has been trying really hard to get Dad to sign to become a member with his company and I now hear Dad is meeting with the planner next week.

I am concerned he will be pressured to sign by the planner and think Dad may be best just leaving things as they are with the Super company he has been with forever and who perform OK (not the best or worst).

Dad knows little about super, much like myself. He hasn’t done any decent research yet about Self Managed Super because he is time poor (works offshore and does 29 days on, 8 days off), so I took it upon myself to learn more and am yet to get my head around it.

From what I have learnt so far Self Managed Super has pros and cons too. I understand the account administration and compliance is a big responsibility on its members and that it is more expensive to run etc. I also learned that some superannuation companies offer their own self managed funds where Dad can choose how to invest but the company takes care of all the administration & compliance. Dad’s current Super company offers this.

Does anyone here “Self Manage” Super this way? ie through a Super company who looks after admin etc? Sounds to me like this may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Interested to know the opinions of the people on this forum.

Thanks,
Dee

• This topic was modified 10 years ago by  Dee Bee.
• This topic was modified 10 years ago by  Dee Bee.