Recent research on the financial performance of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) for the 2021-2022 financial year reveals notable findings:
– The median headline SMSF return surpassed the corresponding median APRA fund return by 4.1 percentage points, marking the largest margin observed in the six-year period since the inception of the research.
– More than 38% of sampled SMSFs yielded a positive return in FY 2021-22, contrasting sharply with less than 5% of all APRA funds generating positive returns during the same period.
– Despite a challenging market environment (e.g., ASX200 registering over a 10% loss), SMSFs demonstrated resilience, experiencing only around a 1% decline on average. This resilience suggests robust diversification within most SMSFs and underscores the potential benefits of trustees seeking financial advice.
– The study’s dataset comprises over 394,000 funds, representing more than 67% of all SMSFs in FY 2021-22.
Conclusion:
These findings add to the existing body of evidence highlighting the strong financial performance of the SMSF sector. Building upon previous research spanning 2017-2021, the study reaffirms SMSFs’ ability to outperform APRA funds in select financial years, including 2021-22. Importantly, the observed performance differential in FY 2022 remains consistent even after accounting for factors such as scalability challenges in small funds or excessive cash concentration. Notably, the +4.1% difference in medians represents the largest annual margin favoring the SMSF sector observed between 2017 and 2022.
Credits
Sundaram Shanmugam
Smart SMSF Team
