Number of SMSFs per adviser doubles since 2019

Oksana Patron

9 December 2022

The number of self-managed super funds (SMSFs) per adviser has almost doubled in the last quarter of 2022 to reach 38.04, compared to its lowest point of 20.35 at the start of 2019, according to Wealth Data.

The newest charts from Wealth Data have shown how superannuation has grown while the number of advisers has declined.

According to the data, net assets per adviser went up by close to 50% from a low of $22.26 million in Q1 2019 to $53.91 million at the start of 2022.

Following this, the value of super between Q1 2017 and Q1 2022 spread across the entire population, which increased from 24.3 million to almost 26 million people during that time, grew from $88,449 to $127,936.

Also, the numbers showed that the total super divided by the number of advisers back in Q4 2018 stood at $88 million per adviser and has now more than doubled to $201 million.

At the same time, the number of people per adviser in Q4 2018 has increased from 900.2 to 1,567.

Wealth Data principal, Colin Williams, said the numbers have taken into account that not all SMSFs had an adviser and not all advisers decided to work with SMSFs.

Key Adviser Movements This Week:

• Net change of advisers (-10)
• 24 licensee owners had net gains for 43 advisers
• 23 licensee owners had net losses for (-53) advisers
• 4 new licensees commenced and (-4) ceased
• 3 Provisional Advisers (PAs) commenced including a past adviser coming back into the market

Summary
Quite a busy week of movement across licensees and we may see more of this type of movement as we close out this year and move into 2023.

Growth This Week
PSK continue their growth up by seven with all advisers moving across from Charter (AMP Group).

UniSuper was up by six with advisers switching across from Industry Fund Services, who provide advice services to many super funds. United Super was up by three with advisers from three different licensees. Castleguard (Lifespan) was back in growth mode up by three, again all advisers gained from different licensees.

WT Group was up by two with both advisers joining Synchron, one being a Provisional Adviser who has come back into advice after taking a break. Another three licensee owners were up by two including David Paul Thurban (Vision Planning and Finance). A tail of 16 licensees were up by one including Sequoia, MWL, Fitzpatricks, Capstone, Count and all four new licensees.

Losses This Week
AMP Group was down (-17) after losing (-20) and appointing three. Note that of the 20 losses at AMP, 15 have switched elsewhere. Industry Super Holdings was down by (-9) with most switching across to UniSuper. Six licensee owners were down by (-2) including Insignia who lost (-4) and gained two. Steinhardt (Infocus) and Viridian were also down by (-2). A closed licensee was also down by (-2).

There was a tail of 15 down by (-1) including Findex, Clime, Morgans, and Telstra. The three closed licensees were down by (-1) each.