I opened my self-managed superannuation fund way back in 1994 after being totally dissatisfied with the high fee, low return privately managed retirement fund environment. Even to close down and transfer my benefit into my self-managed superannuation fund was going to result in a significant fee based on a percentage of my balance. My old style 1980s era superannuation account was set up to benefit the adviser and not me.
I made a bad decision as an eighteen year old but was able to atone for my mistake as a twenty five year old. Not that a self-managed superannuation fund is cheap to administer. It is 2016 and I haven’t yet taken the financial penalty and transfer my existing funds into my self-managed superannuation fund, the market is in a down turn and against all contemporary advice, I am trying to time the market.
I also maintained a private superannuation fund as the fees were too expensive to warrant exiting early, I also had an industry fund as required by my employment conditions supplementing my self-managed superannuation fund. Running a self-managed superannuation fund is not a cheap option, you need a balance exceeding the average industry fund to see any benefit at all. The advantage of the self-managed superannuation fund is you control your investment mix, you can make investments and you decide on your level of return and ultimately your future.
Observations in an undemocratic world 