August 2016
You don’t put money into your SMSF for it to sit in cash for 30 years or more.
Your intention is to invest for your retirement and to get the best return you can now to ensure you have enough to live comfortably when that time comes.
When you are investing your savings in your SMSF however, it is not just a case of choosing some assets and monitoring your choices for performance.
There are also additional requirements you must satisfy as a trustee of your SMSF.
We will look at tips on what to consider when creating your investment objectives and strategy, how you monitor it effectively and why some investment objectives and strategies are more acceptable than others.
Webinar Q&A:
A: Your experience proves that no statement has universal application! You were fortunate that the ATO auditor did not ask you personally to provide information about your fund. Presumably, they sought answers from your auditor and accountant, and were satisfied with what had been done by you and your advisers. It suggests your fund is well run and that you are doing the right thing with your underlying investments. So well done.
A: Your auditor must check you investment strategy & compare your actual investments against that strategy each year as part of your annual audit. Fortunately, the ATO does not have the manpower to directly audit every SMSF and chooses funds based on auditor reports of things gone wrong or similar problems with a particular fund. The ideal is to do what your advisers recommend & what keeps your auditor happy – this will generally ensure that the ATO has no reason to look at your SMSF in any detail. My point in the webinar was however that you need to run your fund as if it will be audited by the ATO, just in case – and this should also keep your fund auditor happy as well.
A: My suggestion is that you contact either your accountant or administrator for a copy of an investment strategy that they recommend. I suggest this because it is a document they are familiar with and will be comfortable with you using – it will also mean they can easily identify if it needs to be altered to reflect changes that are made or recommended, and generally to give investment advice within the strategy for your fund.