As of last week, the average Australian holds a super balance just over $172,000 with confident predictions for strong ongoing growth.
Meanwhile, the news is even better for SMSF members, with the latest ATO data reporting the average SMSF balance is almost $1.9million and average value of assets per member $881,000.
Indeed, data finds consistently strong financial performance from the SMSF sector continues to attract more and younger members. The Annual Benchmark Report published by Class Super last month reports the strongest growth of SMSF in eight years, with approximately 42,000 new funds. This is an increase of SMSF members by 6.4% since FY2017.
Data from this period shows more, and younger Aussies switching to SMSFs earlier in their retirement planning; the average starting balance of the most recently established SMSF Funds is down from $515,000 to $363,000 – a drop of 30%. Meanwhile, the owner of a newly established fund is most likely to be of GenX (40%) and Millennials (37.3%) in contrast to the average age of a SMSF member, which is currently nearly 62 years old.
ATO data shows SMSFs are held by 1.2Million Australians, accumulatively holding assets worth $1.05Trillion (up 4.8% on previous quarter). Even though SMSFs are only held by a small percentage of Aussies, at less than 2%, the value held by SMSFs represent 24% of all Superannuation assets.
Typical SMSF Investments
Assets typically held by SMSFs remain steady, with listed shares being the most popular asset class (28% of total estimated SMSF assets) and cash term deposits (16%). The third most popular investment with SMSF members is in non-residential real property (10%). Class Software reports a slight drop in property allocations and direct investments in the last 12months, suggesting this is reflective of efforts to reduce the impacts of DIV 296 legislation before it was reformed by the Albanese Government earlier this month.
Class Software also identified 6.7% of SMSFs impacted by Division 296 as having insufficient liquidity to meet their liabilities, up from 5% in 2024, highlighting the importance of proper asset and investment management and retirement planning.
In FY2025, the average SMSF Member is:
- 61.6 years old
- Male (53%)
- Female 47%
Most (85%) of SMSFs are held by people who are 45-plus. However, those with a newly established SMSF fund are more often Gen X – aged between 45-59 – or Millennials, who are between 30-44 years of age.
The most common assets held in a SMSF in 2025:
- Listed shares (approx. 26-28 % of assets
- Cash/term deposits ~16%
- Non-Residential Property 10%
Memberships + Structure
- Approximately 68% of SMSFs have two members – typically an older married couple;
- 25% have one member
- Just less than 7% have three or four members.
In FY25, 70% of SMSF have a corporate trustee, up from 68% in FY24.
Conclusion
These latest figures demonstrate that SMSFs continue to be a vehicle for larger balances for typically older members.
The “average per member” and value per-fund numbers are well above typical retail or industry fund balances. However, with more SMSF members than ever before, and starting balances dropping by 30%, the vast distances we see when comparing SMSFs and APRA-regulated funds may shrink and thus, become more meaningful.