The Super System Review is examining Australia’s superannuation system in three phases. The Cooper Review released the phase three issue paper later today. Here’s the timeline for the review.

There has been some great if obvious findings so far in the review.

MORE than $13 million a day is being sucked from Australian retirement savings because of underperforming retail superannuation funds and commissions paid to financial planners…

via Business Age

Last week the Super System Review released statistics on self-managed super funds.

The Super System Review today released a statistical summary of self-managed super funds (SMSFs). The summary provides a broad factual overview of the SMSF sector, which is both the largest (by asset size) and fastest growing superannuation sector.

The summary provides information on topics including: SMSF member demographics, investment performance, operating expenses and compliance issues.

Key statistics

As at 30 June 2008:

• 73 per cent of SMSFs had more than $200,000 in assets.
• The average SMSF member balance was $456,000 and the median balance was $288,000.
• Members aged 50 and above represented 67 per cent of total SMSF membership, while in other superannuation sectors only 22 per cent of members were aged 50 and above.
• The operating expense ratio for the average SMSF was 0.69 per cent, down from 0.86 per cent in 2006, a fall of nearly 20 per cent. [Excellent stuff, the expense ratio should continue to fall]

From the executive summary

The SMSF sector is the largest superannuation sector by number of funds and asset size. As at 30 June 2009, there were around 410,000 SMSFs, representing 99 per cent of all superannuation
funds, with over $332 billion or 30.9 per cent of total superannuation assets ($1.08 trillion).

The sector has about 772,000 membrs, which comprises about 7 per cent of the roughly 11.6 million members in Australian superannuation.

The SMSF sector has reached its leading asset‐size position in the superannuation industry,
surpassing the retail sector in 2009, through rapid growth in recent years, increasing from $132 billion to $332 billion in the five years to 30 June 2009; an annualised growth rate of 20 per cent.

Related posts:

1. A Conversation About SMSFs
2. SMSF’s the Largest and Best
3. Delving into my Super
4. Preparing your own Self Managed Super Fund (SMSF) Tax
5. Self Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) Setup
6. Self Managed Super Fund Performance