It costs only $990 p.a.to setup and maintain a SMSF with StakeSuper which gives you full and instant control of your investments and they do all the admin work for you - you just trade and make money. Brokerage is just $3 on Aus stocks & $0 on US stocks. Your trades are instant on a trading platform and your shares are CHESS sponsored (safe) and your cash is also safe in a bank account.
If you have an Industry super fund with $1m in it, your annual fee will be around $5,500 p.a. You don't see this cost because it is taken as a commission on your investments. Any changes you make to your investments will cost you extra and will take 2 days to execute. It also means you miss the bounce. That's a long time to wait when the market is falling by 10% per day! If your super fund allows you to buy shares, they will charge you extra for that on top of the 0.5% p.a. commission - and they will keep the franking credits too.
Industry super funds claim to be independent and competitive, but they have one owner and are micro-managed by their boss Greg Combet. The Industry super fund parent company earns over half a billion per year. That's after they have paid out all the bonuses, donations, etc. and paid all the salaries to their mates for doing next to nothing.
I got out because my investment performance did not match the performance of the S&P500 and ASX accumulation index. You should plot the total amount against the indexes to see if they are ripping you off. It is true that the other super funds are no better - they are all in it for the money, like any business. That's why I decided it is better to learn how to invest and take control. Never looked back!
