A SMSF is a brilliant tool for building your empire. It’s a separate legal entity with a quite a few rules and regulations so the setup process isn’t just as simple as clicking a button. Don’t stress though, we take care of everything for you.
Here are the 9 steps involved in setting up your SMSF:
Gathering Information
The first step in the process is pooling together a bunch of information. Things like where your existing super is held, how much super you have, how much insurance you have, what you want to call your new SMSF, what you want to call your new Trustee Company and the simple things like name, address, date of birth and where you were born. We also need to know what assets you currently have as well as any loans etc.
We’ve got a super simple checklist for you to make it easy to complete.
(This is one of the steps in the process you need to do
Setup SMSF
A SMSF is a separate legal entity so we need to purchase the Trust Deed, register the Trustee Company with ASIC, and prepare all the forms to establish the SMSF. Once that’s complete we need to register the SMSF with the ATO.
This normally takes somewhere between 2 days - 4 weeks depending on how quick the ATO is!
(Nothing for you to do here at all other than sign the documentation)
Setup Bank Account
Once we’ve got the legal forms complete the next step is to setup your Bank Account. Macquarie have some great SMSF accounts with no fees that are easy to setup. We prepare all the forms for you. You just need to either take to your bank or sign the Macquarie forms prepared for you depending on your choice.
This takes up to 5 days depending on your bank
(Depending on your bank you either need to set the accounts up or just sign the documents)
Rollover Super
Once the bank account is setup you can then rollover your existing super depending on what you have decided.
You need to write to your existing fund requesting them to rollover your super. We can give you all the details on what needs to be sent to them to ensure the super is transferred to your new SMSF.
This takes up to 28 days depending on how slow your existing super fund(s) is.
(You need to complete the forms)
Prepare Investment Strategy
Every SMSF must have an Investment Strategy. This is where you decide how you will invest your money. You can decide to do this yourself or you can hire a Financial Planner or Broker to prepare this for you.
(What you need to do here will vary depending on if you are getting help or DIY)
Invest Money
Once you have nailed your Investment Strategy it’s time to execute and start investing your money! You can now purchase a property, shares, invest in managed funds, open your term deposit etc.
(Again what you need to do will be dependant on whether you have a professional helping you or you are DIY)
Insurance
All of the large publicly available super funds have an inbuilt insurance component as part of your super. This is to protect you if something happens to you - ie you die, are permanently disabled or suffer a trauma as an example.
It’s important you understand your personal assets and liabilities position and therefore what insurance you need.
(You can enlist the help of a Financial Planner or Insurance Broker to help you with this)
Estate Plan
Being in control of what happens with your super when you die is really important. This forms part of your estate plan. Whether you are 21 or 100 it’s important to have your estate plan reviewed regularly.
As part of setting up your SMSF you can elect to prepare a binding death nomination which instructs exactly what is to happen to your super when you die. We always recommend doing this so you take care of your loved ones.
(You can enlist the help of a great Estate Planning lawyer to help with this)
Enjoy!
The hard part is now done! You are on your way to building your empire :)
