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Gender SMSF gap still an issue
While males hold higher average balances than females across all self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF), women hold higher balances up to the age of 70 in single member funds, reflecting interesting changes to the SMSF gender gap, said Class.
The Class SMSF Benchmark report indicated that superannuation forms, set to come into effect next financial year have the potential to close the gender gap in the industry, with women (under 70) now holding the edge over men in single member fund balanced.
“It will also be fascinating to see how the current SMSF gender gap may be affected by the reforms, and we look forward to tracking changes,” said Class chief executive Kevin Bungard of the report.
“Super Reforms are having a huge impact on the SMSF industry, prompting advisers and their clients to consider strategies that will enable them to remain within the $1.6m Transfer Balance Cap.”
Across all SMSF groups, men hold up to $150,000 more than women, with the largest gap present in the 60-80 age group.
Class confirmed the switch at 70 to men taking the lead in single member funds was likely a reflection of women retiring earlier, or earning less toward the end of their working life.
“There remains a big difference between the average balance of members in two member funds, with the first member having almost double the assets of the second,” the report said.
“However, we would expect that disparity to reduce now that the super reforms have placed tighter restrictions around member contributions and balances.
“As a group, men currently have 37 per cent more assets than women and their average balance is 25 per cent higher.”
On the portfolio side, Class also found women preferred defensive assets, which also placed them at a disadvantage to men who leant toward a more aggressive distribution.
“SMSFs mostly use ETFs to get exposure to developed market equities and as a passive investment in Australian shares,” the report said.
“Emerging markets and Australian listed property are also relatively popular.”
Class said international ETFs currently make up 59 per cent of the top 20 ETF investment holdings, with the iShares S&P 500 ETF the most popular with 21 per cent of funds with ETFs within it.
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