Many of the self-employed are out in the cold when it comes to super savings.

Although the self-employed make up more than 10% of the paid workforce, 28% of them have little or no super, according to a report, The Self-employed and Saving for Retirement, released yesterday by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).

And a further 53% of the self-employed have super balances below $40,000. This reflects the reality that less than a quarter of individuals who work for themselves in unincorporated businesses make regular super contributions.

The report, authored by ASFA's research director Ross Clare, found that the average income of the recently retired self-employed was just $24,500.

Why are so many of the self-employed out in the cold when it comes to super?

Unlike the employed, the self-employed are not beneficiaries of the compulsory super system - apart from any superannuation guarantee contributions received as employees before working for themselves.

Ross Clare has also found that the older self-employed, on average, accumulate a range of assets in addition to super. "However," he warns, "averages can be deceptive.

"The better-off self-employed tend to have more superannuation, more business net worth, more investment properties, and higher holdings of shares," says Clare. "The less-well-off among the self-employed tends to have little of each of these."

Self-employed farmers, real estate agents, financial planners and dentists are big contributors to super - but perhaps this is not unexpected given the likelihood that these individuals are highly informed about opportunities to make the most of their personal finances.

One explanation for many of the self-employed having little super might be an expectation that their businesses can eventually be sold for enough money to at least partly finance their retirement. But for a large percentage this might be a forlorn hope.

"The value of businesses [belonging to the self-employed] differs markedly between various occupations, industries and individuals," Clare writes. "For some self-employed individuals, the value of their businesses might be little more than the market value of a second-hand utility and some tools of trade."

Clare believes that the lack of super among many of the self-employed provides a clear marketing opportunity for super funds. Certainly, as he points out, the self-employed can now take advantage of the same incentives as the employed to invest in super - which the super funds could really emphasise to them.

From 2007-08, contributions to super within the annual caps on concessional contributions are fully deductible to the self-employed, and eligibility for Government co-contributions to super has been extended to them.