The SMSF technical summit was recently held on the Gold Coast and conducted by the SMSF association. There are a number of highlights that you might be interested in.

Investment Strategies Need To Be Current

As you are most likely aware, each year, you need to provide an updated and current investment strategy statement to the Auditor. All trustees responsible for an SMSF are required to create an investment strategy for their own SMSF.

This investment strategy details the investments currently in place and also how these will be dealt with in the future. This includes a plan on what will happen to these investments should things change such as a reduction in dividends.

There are also some quite stringent rules that need to be followed by trustees that invest in Cryptocurrency.

If you don’t already have your investment strategy planned out, you can access our investment strategy builder here.

Planning For The Death Of A Director Or Trustee

Another important future event that needs to be documented is what will happen if a director or trustee of your SMSF dies. For single trustee SMSFs, a person should be nominated to take over the trusteeship of the SMSF or to wind it up, whatever the case may be.

You should also make the nominated person aware and have them sign the document so that there will be no confusion about who will manage the SMSF.

Wealth Transfer Advice Is Crucial

It was revealed that an estimated $3.5 Trillion dollars in wealth will be transferred over the next 20 years. That’s a huge sum and will change the lives of many Australians.

As this happens, it becomes vitally important to engage the services of a financial advisor who understands how this will affect the recipients and their tax obligations.

Financial Advisers Are Dealing With Mounting Mental Health Issues

As a result of a royal commission and the now imposed educational requirements, many financial advisers are dealing with rising stress levels and an increase in mental health issues.

The Challenges Of Sophisticated Investor Certificates

A sophisticated investor certificate is required if your SMSF wants to invest in something other than a ‘retail’ investment. This certificate needs to be signed by an accountant and he or she needs to determine whether you have a total understanding of the investment.

To be eligible for a sophisticated investor certificate a person must have:

• A gross income of $250,000 or more per annum and this has had to occur over the past two years, or
• Net assets that total at least $2.5 million

This can be quite complicated to determine if some of the assets are held in trust. In addition to these requirements, the signing accountant also needs to be satisfied that you fully understand the type of investment you want to make.

Therefore, if you’re after one of these Sophisticated Investor Certificates, you really need to ensure that you have all of the information as evidence of your understanding of the investment.

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