There is no statutory minimum balance to start a SMSF.

The government and most companies focus on the minimum dollar amount that is suitable for setting up a SMSF. We think a better criteria is the cost of running a SMSF compared to your Superannaution balance. If you need to pay thousands of dollars to have someone set up and maintain your SMSF, you will need a high balance to justify this high cost of Superannaution administration. Superannuation Warehouse strives to make the set-up and monthly fees as low as possible enabling more individuals to set up a SMSF.

The costs you’ll incur are:

■Audit costs  - $450 or even less if you have a well prepared audit file. See guidance notes on our sister website
■Supervisory levy – $150 payable by your SMSF with your tax liability on an annual basis
■Administrator for accounting, tax and audit  - $39 for a complete monthly administration service with Superannuation Warehouse (or you can do this yourself for $ NIL)

As a general rule of thumb you do well if administration costs are around 1% for your SMSF. Most retail funds have a cost of around 2.5% as an administration fee (they have to make money, you know…).

Based on the above most people can run a SMSF cost effectively with a Superannuation balance starting between $50,000 - $100,000 for the SMSF. Remember if there’s more than one member in the SMSF you will quickly be in excess of these amounts.

If you consider share related investments our view if the most efficient type of investments are Separate Managed Accounts. This is a good investment option if you want equities in your SMSF.

In summary, if you have $50,000 - $100,000 in your combined Superannuation accounts and have an interest in managing your own money, which everyone should have, then you should consider a SMSF.