A self-managed super fund puts you in the trustee’s chair. You choose the investments, you carry the compliance obligations, and you answer to the ATO. For the right situation that control is genuinely valuable. For the wrong one it is an expensive administrative burden with no upside.
We advise on both halves of that: whether an SMSF suits you at all, and — if it does — how to run it properly.
When an SMSF makes sense
- Direct property — particularly business real property, where a business owner can hold their own premises inside super
- A balance that justifies the cost — SMSFs carry fixed annual costs, so below a certain balance a retail or industry fund is usually cheaper for the same outcome
- Specific investments you cannot access otherwise — direct shares held long term, or assets a pooled fund will not hold
- Estate planning control — more precise control over how death benefits are directed
- Pooling with a partner or family — combining balances to reach scale
When it does not
If your balance is modest, if you do not want the trustee responsibility, or if you are looking for better investment returns rather than control, an SMSF is usually the wrong tool. Being a trustee is a legal role with real duties, and the ATO holds trustees personally responsible for compliance — including where the work was delegated to somebody else.
We would rather tell you an SMSF is not warranted than set one up you did not need.
What we help with
- Whether to establish a fund, and modelling the cost against your current arrangement
- Establishment, structure, and choosing between individual and corporate trustees
- Investment strategy — the written strategy trustees are required to have, and to actually follow
- Contribution strategy and caps
- Insurance held inside the fund
- Moving to pension phase, and retirement income strategy
- Estate planning — binding nominations and how benefits are taxed
- Winding a fund up when it has served its purpose
Who you would be working with
Both Luke Harlow and Matthew Harlow hold the formal SMSF specialist qualification (FPE016), and both are authorised to provide tax (financial) advice — which matters for a structure where the tax treatment is most of the point. Their registrations are listed publicly on ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register.
Working with your accountant
Most SMSFs already have an accountant handling the annual return and audit, and that arrangement usually works well. We are not looking to replace them. Our role is the strategy — what the fund should hold, how contributions are structured, when to move to pension phase — while your accountant handles compliance. We are comfortable working alongside whoever you already use.
Speak with us about an SMSF
The first conversation is free, and it often ends with a clear answer either way. If an SMSF is not right for you, that is a useful outcome too.