SMSF trustees a ‘great opportunity’ for advisers: Vanguard

The report, put together in conjunction with Investment Trends, found that 47 per cent of SMSF trustees have unmet advice needs, particularly around inheritance arrangements and estate planning.

Additionally, while 82 per cent of SMSF trustees believe diversification is important, only 54 per cent believe their portfolio is diversified enough.

Vanguard head of corporate affairs Robin Bowerman added that many trustees had a “concerning” definition of diversification, with 84 per cent of respondents believing an investment across 30 Australian shares to be a well-diversified portfolio.

“Instead it is harbouring high equity concentration risk and home country bias, in addition to very low levels of exposure to international shares and bonds,” Mr Bowerman said.

“We believe while there is a growing understanding of diversification, SMSFs seem to be bearing significant risk, largely relying on continued success of the Australian share market, which represents just 3 per cent of the global investable equity market.”

Vanguard Australia head of intermediary Rebecca Pope said this created a window for financial advisers.

“There is a great opportunity here for advisers to deliver on these unmet advice needs, and we believe that through some key changes to their practices, advisers can leverage this information and better demonstrate their value, as well as tackling some of the perceived issues around expertise and trust with clients,” she said.

“Our research shows that the advisers who spend less time on investment selection and administrative tasks that can be automated, and more time broadening out their service offering, deepening client relationships and embracing new technologies, are those that are more likely to gain the long-term trust of their clients.”