SMSF: Self-Managed Super Funds Explained
A Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF) is a private superannuation fund that you run yourself as trustee, giving you direct control over how your retirement savings are invested. Unlike an industry or retail super fund where professionals manage a pooled portfolio, an SMSF puts you in charge of investment decisions, compliance, and administration.
2 min read · Updated June 2026
An SMSF can have up to six members, all of whom are usually trustees (or directors of a corporate trustee). The appeal is control and flexibility: SMSFs can hold direct shares, ETFs, term deposits, and — uniquely — direct residential or commercial property, including business premises a member's company leases at arm's length. This breadth is impossible inside a standard super fund.
Control comes with legal responsibility. As trustee you are personally accountable for complying with superannuation law: maintaining the fund solely to provide retirement benefits (the 'sole purpose test'), preparing audited annual financial statements, lodging an SMSF annual return, and following the fund's investment strategy. The ATO regulates SMSFs and levies serious penalties — including making the fund non-compliant and taxing it at 45% — for breaches like accessing super early or lending fund money to members.
Cost is the deciding factor for most people. SMSFs carry fixed annual costs — accounting, audit, the ATO supervisory levy, and often financial advice — that don't scale with balance. Historically the rule of thumb was that an SMSF becomes cost-competitive with a low-fee industry fund somewhere around the $200,000-$500,000 balance mark; below that, percentage-based industry fund fees are usually cheaper. Run the numbers before setting one up.
SMSFs shine for specific strategies: holding a small-business owner's commercial premises, running a precise franking-credit or direct-share strategy, or pooling a couple's or family's balances for scale. In pension phase, an SMSF holding fully franked Australian shares can receive refundable franking credits as cash — a powerful, tax-free income stream for retirees.
The trade-off is time and risk concentration. Running an SMSF is an ongoing administrative commitment, and the freedom to concentrate (e.g. putting most of the fund in one property) can backfire badly without diversification. Many SMSF trustees use professional administration and advice to manage the compliance burden while keeping investment control.
Richify tracks SMSF assets — direct shares, ETFs, and property — alongside your other wealth, applies current contribution caps, and surfaces the franking credits your fund's Australian dividends carry, so you see the full picture without spreadsheet juggling.
