Highlights

  • Self-managed super funds continue to attract Australians seeking direct control over retirement savings.
  • ATO data for the March 2026 quarter posted 672,805 SMSFs with around 1.24 million members and estimated properties of $1.06 trillion.
  • The scale of the sector does not remove the need to assess costs, workload and Trustee obligations before changing fund structure.
  • Several motivations recur when people explain a move to an SMSF.

Self-managed super funds continue to attract Australians seeking direct control over retirement savings. ATO data for the March 2026 quarter posted 672,805 SMSFs with around 1.24 million members and estimated properties of $1.06 trillion. The scale of the sector does not remove the need to assess costs, workload and trustee obligations before changing fund structure.

Why Australians are switching

Several motivations recur when people explain a move to an SMSF. Control and Investment choice come first. An SMSF lets trustees decide exactly what the fund invests in - direct shares, term deposits, commercial property, and other properties - rather than choosing from an APRA fund's menu of options. For people who want to hold specific properties or run their own strategy, that control is the main draw. Cost at higher balances is the second. SMSFs carry largely fixed running costs - administration, audit, and compliance - so they can become cost-competitive once a balance is large enough to spread those fixed costs thinly.

Responsibilities attached to control

Control comes with legal obligations that do not apply to members of large funds. As an SMSF trustee, you are personally responsible for the fund's compliance with Superannuation law, even if you pay professionals to help. Those duties include preparing and following an investment strategy, keeping the fund's properties separate from your personal properties, meeting the sole purpose test - running the fund solely to provide retirement benefits - arranging an independent audit each year, keeping proper records, and lodging an annual return. Getting these wrong can carry consequences, including administrative penalties and, in serious cases, the fund being made non-complying and taxed heavily.

What to weigh before switching

For anyone considering the move, the decision turns on a few honest questions. Is your balance large enough that the fixed costs make sense? Do you have the time, stake and discipline to meet trustee duties year after year? Do you actually want to make investment decisions, or does the appeal of "control" fade once the paperwork arrives? It in addition helps to separate the drivers. Wanting specific investments is a genuine reason to consider an SMSF; frustration with a big fund can often be addressed instead by switching funds or investment Options without taking on trustee responsibilities.