A useful discussion. In practice, I do about 50 trades a year in a fund that has up to 20 stocks at one time. But a good percentage of my trades are adjustments to existing holdings, and I rarely, if ever, trade on small price changes or sell within a week of buying.
I am very comfortable that I meet the sole purpose test and to a good degree. I would be less comfortable if I frequently traded a lot of stocks on small price changes and held few long term investments, or tried to sell bananas to monkeys through the SMSF. Indeed, I have a consultancy business and wouldn't think of trying to run it through the SMSF. Rather, I make my max $100k contribution each year and pay my 15%, which I think is a pretty good deal.
We all seem to agree that a bit more clarity as to what's ok and what's not would be a good thing. But the ATO has been pretty clear about its general attitude and what its concerns are, and I don't want to spend my time or money consulting tax professional and lawyers.
