Self Managed Super Fund

Thinking about Self Managed Super

Understand the risks and laws

All financial decisions carry risk, so it's important to think carefully about how you choose your investment options to balance the level of risk against the level of financial return. You also need to be sure your super investments are legal.

It's important to think carefully about how you choose your investment options. When thinking about how to manage the risks associated with your investment options, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) recommends you also consider:

• Your age
• What level of risk you're comfortable with
• The objectives you have for your fund

Spreading the Risk
Avoid risking all your retirement savings in one or a few investments. By spreading your investments (diversifying) you can help control the total risk of you investment portfolio. If one or more of your investments perform poorly or fail, the other investments may be performing better to help cover the loss.

Effectively spreading your risk means investing not just in different companies or different sectors of the market, but in different sectors of the economy. Don't just spread your money between different companies within the same group or between different companies of the same type such as resources companies or banks.

Following tax and super laws
Super funds, including Self Managed Super Fundss, receive significant tax concessions as an incentive for members to save for their retirement. However, you need to follow the tax and super laws to receive these tax concessions.

The assets and money in our fund are solely for your retirement benefits and are not to benefit you or anyone else outside your fund. This means that the personal use of funds for holiday homes, art to decorate your house, and your golf club membership almost certainly won't comply.

Schemes that try to get your super money out of existing funds early are usually illegal and fraudulent. Because of this, if you are caught in one of these schemes you will pay heavy tax and legal penalties. You also won't be eligible for any compensation under super law if your super fund suffers from fraudulent conduct or theft. 

Rogerson Kenny Business Accountants Melbourne can assist you with your accounting and auditing requirements. If you would like to appoint Rogerson Kenny Business Accountants as your approved auditor, or would like to discuss this topic further, click contact us or call us on (03) 9802 2533.

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