The survey covers around 1,600 SMSF’s administered by Multiport and the investments they held at 30 June 2011.  Funds are administered on a daily basis, which ensures that data is based on actual investments and is completely up to date.  The assets of the funds surveyed represent approximately $1.3 billion.

Increase to cash, short term deposits and fixed interest
The June quarter saw cash holdings increase by 1% and fixed interest increase by 1.3%.  Exposure to Australian shares fell 2%. The change is a combination of reflection of:

• Current uncertainty in the equity markets leading trustees to move funds to cash
• A fall in the markets over the quarter.

International shares remained fairly stable this quarter as did property.

Cash holdings move up
Cash holdings increased to 22.8% in June 2011, up 1% since the last quarter, and are now at the highest level in 18 months.  Investors have been selling assets and as mentioned previously, this is likely to be a reflection of the current uncertainty prevailing in the sharemarket as investors go for a more secure investment strategy in short and long-term fixed interest.

The average contribution inflow for the quarter was $20,000 which is typical of this time of year as trustees aim to top up their contributions.  The benefit payment outflows were higher at $26,400 per fund. This affirms that the increase in cash is derived not from surplus contributions but rather disposal of investments in other sectors.

The average contribution for FY2011 was $40,700; SMSF members are still contributing strongly although this is down on the FY 2010 figure of $45,800.

Australian equities exposure steady
Again we have seen the preference of SMSF trustees to invest directly rather than through managed funds.  The June quarter saw Origin Energy move into the Top 10 ASX-listed stocks used by our funds.  Other stocks were virtually unchanged from the previous quarter with trustees continuing their preference for blue chip stocks.

The most commonly held ($ invested) shares in SMSFs at 30 June 2011 were:

1 BHP Billiton
2 Commonwealth Bank
3 Westpac
4 ANZ
5 National Australia Bank
6 Woodside Petroleum
7 Woolworths
8 Wesfarmers
9 Rio Tinto
10 Origin

The post Multiport SMSF Investment Patterns Survey June 2011 appeared first on AdviserVoice.

To get a closer insight into where SMSF trustees invest, Multiport regularly undertakes an analysis of our SMSFs investments to look at the up to date asset allocation and investment trends which have or may be emerging.

The survey covers around 1,300 SMSFs that we administer and the investments they held at 30 September 2010. The data is based on actual investments and is completely up to date as we administer these funds on a daily basis.  The assets of these funds represent approximately $1.1billion.

Contributions down on previous quarter, but up on Q1/2010

The average inflow of contributions to the SMSF’s during the September quarter was $8,300 per fund.  This is down $6,400 from the June 2010 quarter; however it represents a healthy inflow of contributions for the first quarter of a new financial year.  The decrease highlights the seasonality of contributions, as members maximised contributions in the last quarter of the financial year.  A more consistent inflow in contributions is usually seen throughout the remaining 3 quarters.

The contribution inflow of $8,300 per fund is a slight increase from the first quarter of 2010, with contribution inflow increasing from $7,500 in the quarter ending 31 March 2010.

SMSF’s holding overall market allocations

There was no major change to the overall market allocations as the SMSFs continued with a balanced approach throughout the September quarter.

Exposure to equities has been maintained through the first quarter of the financial year with Australian Equities sector increasing to 40.5%. 

Trustees maintained their exposure to fixed Interest holdings with the allocations decreasing only slightly from 12.4% to 12.2%

The overall property allocation decreased from 17.0% to 16.3%, however we saw another increase in the direct property allocation to 12.8%.

The asset allocation break-up at 30 September 2010 was:

Proceeds from profit taking retained as cash

Cash holdings remain stable despite a significant drop in the contribution flow in the quarter ending 30 September. The disposal of holdings in the Australian Shares sector has seen proceeds held as cash rather than being reinvested.

Trustees realise gains in Australian Shares as markets improve

Exposure to Australian shares increased marginally from 40% in the June quarter to 40.5% in the quarter ending 30 September. The increase is not as significant as would be expected given that the ASX 200 Accumulation Index rose 7% in the same period.  An index movement of this level should have seen the allocation move to near 43%, however this indicates that the last quarter saw profit taking as trustees disposed of holdings to realise gains.

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