Gen Z and Millennials leading SMSF charge

From the 1,000 Australians surveyed, almost half of people under 35 years old (47%) have an SMSF.

This trend is relatively new as the majority of respondents (67%) have been investing through their SMSFs for one to five years.

This differs from data provided by the Australian Tax Office, which suggests just 3.3% of SMSF members were under 35 as at the end of last financial year.

There are currently over 600,000 SMSFs with total estimated assets of around $876 billion in Australia - accounting for almost 25% of super funds - according to the Australian Tax Office.

Nine in ten respondents under 35 in eToro's survey rated superannuation as 'important'.

They also rank investing for the future (37%) and preparing for retirement (40%) high on the importance list.

A third (33%) of people under 35 believe they can get better returns by managing their own super, with 36% contributing between $5,000 to $10,000 into their SMSFs each year.

Another half (50%) invest between $1,000 to $5,000, while 16% are contributing more than $10,000 to their funds.

Median asset value per SMSF member, according to ATO figures, amounted to nearly $415,000 at the end of June 2021.

Average member contribution amounted to just over $21,000 in the 2019-20 financial year.

Lack of information and education a roadblock to entry

Despite the rise of young SMSF investors, 42% of Millennials and 40% of Gen Z said they don't know where to begin when investing in an SMSF.

Additionally, 36% of Millennials and 38% of Gen Z don't know how SMSFs work.

Some young people prefer for someone else to manage their super on their behalf (33% Millennials, 29% Gen Z).

Dale Gillham, Chief Analyst at Wealth Within, believes a number of people will stray away from their industry or retail super funds for SMSFs later this decade.

"Right now, around 28% of all SMSFs funds are invested in listed shares, which means they are important to our stock market," Mr Gillham said.

"But the industry continues to propagate that SMSFs are too hard to manage and too costly to run, although in my experience, it is the exact opposite.

"There are many providers with low cost services that assist SMSF trustees to set up and properly manage an SMSF and with a good education. Anyone can achieve solid returns on their superannuation that either rival or beat many of the managed fund returns."

ATO data suggests SMSFs spent a collective $3.6 billion in admin and operation expenses in the 2019-2020 financial year.

Young people prefer stocks over property

Millennials and Gen Z are also more focused on investing in stocks (60% Millennials, 72% Gen Z) and crypto (43% Millennials, 64% Gen Z) over property (41% Millennials, 50% Gen Z).

In contrast, more than half (54%) of respondents over 45 years old have at least one property in their SMSF.

Young SMSF investors are focused on generating diversified SMSF portfolios (84% Millennials, 75% Gen Z), leaning towards tech stocks as their investment of choice.

Almost half (45%) of Millennials prefer investing on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) while 32% opted for US stocks.

On the other hand, Gen Z favour the US stock market over the ASX (47% compared to 29%).

Listed shares were the dominant asset class held in SMSFs at a collective $240 billion according to ATO data.

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