The ATO has just released the latest of what has become a series of annual publications. The report, Self-managed superannuation funds: A statistical overview, started being published in late 2011 and has become an anticipated event for many in the SMSF arena — containing as it usually does some good news.
The statistical report is put together from the vast swathe of data gathered by the ATO from lodgements, returns, registrations and auditor contravention reports. As getting all of the relevant statistics together can take some time, relying as this effort does on all returns and so on being completed, the data used in these ATO reports is sourced not from current years but from very recent financial years. The latest release is based on complete 2014-15 data.
Click here to download the data tables (in xls format). But briefly, the ATO data reveals the following:
- the average establishments each year (2012 to 2016) are 36,000
- since 2011, the number of funds increased 31%, and assets grew 55%
- 45% of SMSFs have existed for more than 10 years
- the top 5 asset classes are; listed shares 31%, cash and term deposits 26%, non-residential real property 11%, unlisted trusts 9%, other managed investments 5%
- estimated net return average is 6.2%
- 81% of SMSFs hold total assets greater than $200,000
- since 2011, average assets per fund increased 20% to $1.1 million
- since 2011, average assets per member increased 21% to $590,000
- contributions for 2015 totalled $32.9 billion
- contributions over 5 years increased 38%
- $35 billion was paid out as pensions in 2015
- SMSF members in accumulation phase 52%, in pension phase 48%
- the median age of members at June 2016 was 59 years
- the median age of members of newly established funds is 48 years
- at June 2016, 47% of members were female, 53% male
- over five years, average female member balance increased 24% to $498,000
- over five years, average male member balance increased 17% to $633,000.
Source: Tax & Super Australia
