Esuperfund SMSF brokers

[awg]

")

"3)What type of minutes are required to maintain the SMSF appropriately, u mean buy/sell of shares etc?"

Every decision by the trustees. Buy/sell shares, TD's, managed funds, new accounts and also forward planning and strategy etc. Its not that hard but must be done.

I cant agree with this statement. ( sorry)

I certainly do not formally minute the reasons for my share buy/sells

My Esuper trust deed and the "sole purpose" test cover my investment decisions imo.

The exceptions are if I was to make an investment that represented a high proportion of my investment, "unusual" strategy, or was not crystal clear, or admin reasons.

I have done some research on this and talked to specialists

The answer I get varies from minute everything to what I do

Provided ones investments are within the Trust Deed, performing at or above benchmark, imo, no-one can say a word, as the sole pupose test is met.

Disclosure..as I have noted, I recieved various answers from highly qualified people, I am not qualified

( It probably isnt a bad thing to note why you buy and sell a share every time, as it clarifies your thinking about what you are doing, and helps review trade performance, also as you mentioned foward strategy)

Is " I gonna make some #$%^ money" a well-reasoned enough minute ?

[qwikbuk]

Thanks again,

My knowledge of the trust deed is somewhat lacking, therefore will look into in further detail.

[qwikbuk]

Thanks again,

My knowledge of the trust deed is somewhat lacking, therefore will look into in further detail.

[Temjin]

Have been looking into this for my parents. It seem after 3 years, esuperfund has still yet to include IB as one of their alternative share trading broker. But I'm not surprised since the referral fee / commission from Comsec/Etrade would have been much higher than what IB can offer.

Has anyone looked into an alternative to esuperfund that allows the use of IB? Basically, the next cheapest SMSF broker that does this.

Thanks and cheers!

[qwikbuk]

Overlapping a bit here temjin but wanted to say as a matter of interest that I emailed Esuperfund in relation to their advertised term deposit rates and they apply to all Esuperfund SMSF's irrespective of how the trustee is set up.

[titl4]

This document from the ATO refers to some of the issues being discussed:

http://tinyurl.com/34mherm

We will all of course assess the importance of the various information items included in it from our own perspective. For me its just easier to comply even though I agree that some of what I do seems over-kill. Then again, I've been to an ATO audit interview .

Cheers ....... Alan

[Julia]

Have been looking into this for my parents. It seem after 3 years, esuperfund has still yet to include IB as one of their alternative share trading broker. But I'm not surprised since the referral fee / commission from Comsec/Etrade would have been much higher than what IB can offer.

Has anyone looked into an alternative to esuperfund that allows the use of IB? Basically, the next cheapest SMSF broker that does this.

Thanks and cheers!

Temjin, as far as I know (and someone will correct me if I'm wrong) if you set up a SMSF you can choose whatever broker you wish.

If you choose to save a few dollars a year and go with e.g. Esuperfund, then it seems fairly reasonable to me that you should have to go with the brokers they offer, plus accept the bank a/c's which are acceptable to them.
The reason they can offer cut price fees for the management is, presumably, because they don't have to stuff about doing individually prepared tax statements incorporating different broker formats, different banks.

I'd much rather pay a bit more and have the flexibility to use whomever I choose, plus enjoy the added benefit of day to day advice from my accountant when I need it.

I only pay around $2000 p.a. for all accountant fees including audit which is done in a separate city. This includes ongoing advice and having the accountant prepare the annual minutes at the time of the tax return.
Even just having this latter done for me is worth a fair bit in terms of less for me to do.

A principle I find completely unacceptable is where super management firms charge clients on a % of funds under management basis. It should be on the amount of work involved, not whether an individual trade is $20,000 rather than $100,000.

[awg]

response without multiqoutes sorry

With regard the Trustee Responsibilities, agree the ATO publication is the bible,
I see page 28 could be interpreted very strictly.

My response would be if any Govt official wants a fight on that issue, I feel sure that I would be ultimately to be found to be in compliance.

The issue being persons found in non-compliance could lose their tax status, but commonsense and natural justice dictate, that those penalties are applied for a misuse of the system only.



With regard to the rates for Term Deposits being the same rate for Corporate vs Personal Trustee, whilst I am pleased to see this, ( sometime ago I copied an email to Esuper about the frustrations of discrimination against Corporate Trustee accounts)

Cash Accounts still present a problem, and as the best of them is paying Term dep rates, with rates on the rise, more relevant to me.



Thirdly, as I posted some links on another thread, their is nothing to stop anyone setting up their own SMSF, appointing an Accountant and Auditor, and away you go, similar cost to Esuper, no restrictions, but a lot of work and admin

[titl4]

response without multiqoutes sorry

With regard the Trustee Responsibilities, agree the ATO publication is the bible,
I see page 28 could be interpreted very strictly.

My response would be if any Govt official wants a fight on that issue, I feel sure that I would be ultimately to be found to be in compliance.

The issue being persons found in non-compliance could lose their tax status, but commonsense and natural justice dictate, that those penalties are applied for a misuse of the system only.............................

I agree. For me its not hard to knock out proforma minutes and file them and, just maybe, avoid a hassle in the future - but accept that in all likelihood its wasted effort.

Cheers ........ Alan

[titl4]

.............. Thirdly, as I posted some links on another thread, their is nothing to stop anyone setting up their own SMSF, appointing an Accountant and Auditor, and away you go, similar cost to Esuper, no restrictions, but a lot of work and admin

Or, for that matter, buying some software and doing the accounting part as well. Too much hassle for me. Its $2000 PA well spent.
I used to be with eSuperfund and consider they provide great value for money. The limitations wouldn't affect a significant proportion of the trustees running SMSF's.
Cheers ....... Alan

[myname]

Great replies Alan,

Things are a bit clearer now. Esuperfund currently has an offer for free setup. It expires today , but I am going to forgo rushing into things until I am fully comfortable with my decision.

Cheers and thanks again

Dont worry about the expiry date,it changes every month. I am now with Esuperfund and so far I have found them very reliable and always reply to my email within 24 hours max. Any documents they require always have a self addressed envelope , what else would we want.I have also banked outside their recommended banks with their consent. Go for it. I am looking forward to the over 60 pension where all earnings in the smsf are tax free and no capital gains tax. Will not be too long for me.

[Ben L]

Hello, I hope someone can tell me...

Esuperfund says you can invest in physical metals and cash..

so I would like to invest in gold and silver.. so do I simply withdraw money from the ANZ account to purchase these assets...and how do I report these assets? same applies for foreign exchange?

Thank you

[Ben L]

Anyone use E-broking, from E-Superfund? $19.95 per trade upto $9999.

[myname]

Anyone use E-broking, from E-Superfund? $19.95 per trade upto $9999.

The deal with Esuperfund is that you must use Comsec for trading.

[Starcraftmazter]

The deal with Esuperfund is that you must use Comsec for trading.

Pretty sure they provide both as an option?

[Sir Burr]

Pretty sure they provide both as an option?

I'm just looking at signing up too and eBroking is definitely is an option besides Comsec.

Although, eBroking uses CMC Markets to place trades.
Think I'll stick with Comsec.

[bv2726]

I'm just looking at signing up too and eBroking is definitely is an option besides Comsec.

Although, eBroking uses CMC Markets to place trades.
Think I'll stick with Comsec.

Any particular reason for sticking with Comsec? Just a personal preference? Or do you think that CMC Markets are not a good choice?

[Sir Burr]

Any particular reason for sticking with Comsec? Just a personal preference? Or do you think that CMC Markets are not a good choice?

Probably both but after saying that above I ended up with eBroking

The benefits of eBroking sounded good over Comsec and it is possible to change to Comsec later if I change my mind. I like that they use Bankwest for their settlement account.

[James W]

AXA North is a pretty good alternative to SMSF's if the compliance and regulations are daunting.

It is smiliar to a wrap account except there is no limits to asset allocation.

There is no deed, or investment strategy, but all the benefits of superannuation account.

Its main feature is the "guarantee" returns component, however this can be turned off, which is good becasue i dont rate the guarantee at all as it costs a fortune to have.

Not sure what range of brokers are available, probably all the big full service ones.

[tomasf]

Probably both but after saying that above I ended up with eBroking

The benefits of eBroking sounded good over Comsec and it is possible to change to Comsec later if I change my mind. I like that they use Bankwest for their settlement account.

The Bankwest PDS [EBROKING_settlement_account.sflb.pdf] has this paragraph which i don't understand...

4. COMMISSION
The Bank pays your Broker commission on your Cash Account. The amount of commission payable to your Broker will vary according to the daily closing balance of your account but will not exceed 5.00% of the funds invested.

So is the 5% commission deducted from your money? Does the "funds invested" mean money lying around in the settlement account? Does it refer to money going in/out?
Also the credit interest is 0.01% pa for less than $10,000, ie $1 interest. Anyone had any experience with them?
Thanks, Tom