This is hardly surprising given that most SMSF members would have setup their funds in the first place to become more involved in their super*.

The initial involvement that so many SMSF members have with their own funds tends to grow as their balances increase. It's logical.

It is well known that the self-managed sector has a much bigger average account balance than other types of super funds.

We often read, for instance, that SMSFs have an average asset value - that is the value of the combined accounts of a fund's members - of $1 million or so.

Hopefully as Australia's super system continues to mature and average balances grow, member interest in their super will rise – no matter whether the money is held in SMSFs or large funds.

It is worth looking more closely at how the average balance of SMSFs compares with average balances in the big funds.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority's Annual Superannuation Bulletin shows that as at June 30, 2013, the average member balances were:

• $524,905 for "small" funds, the vast majority being SMSFs. (This average dollar figure for member accounts is distinct from their average asset value mentioned earlier.)
• $119,711 for corporate funds.
• $76,978 for public-sector funds.
• $29,370 for retail funds.
• $28,172 for industry funds.

Of course, many members of large super funds in particular have multiple super accounts, which can lead to inaccurate conclusions about the average amount of super held by individuals in different types of funds. (Rice Warner Actuaries reports that 15 million individuals hold about 32 million super accounts.)

As recently discussed in Smart Investing – Keeping super in the family, Rice Warner recently released a paper looking at the pros and cons of allowing families to have joint super accounts. (SMSFs already have a proxy for joint accounts because couples can mingle their assets within a fund, with each member's share identified.)

More couples in non-SMSFs are likely to pay close attention to their super if allowed to combine their accounts. And one of the reasons is that the higher dollar figure for the combined accounts is far more likely to grab their attention.

*Vanguard/Investment Trends April 2013 Self Managed Super Fund Reports.

By Robin Bowerman
Smart Investing
Principal & Head of Retail, Vanguard Investments Australia
13th May 2014