Q+A: Record numbers are setting up SMSFs - and they’re getting younger

Welcome to Fear and Greed Q&A, where we ask and answer questions about business, investing, economics, politics, and more. I'm Sean Aylmer. Self-managed super funds have hit another record with more than 680,000 SMSFs now holding more than $1.1 trillion in assets. According to the Class 2026 Annual Benchmark Report, more than 52,000 new funds were established in the last financial year, the highest number on record. This episode was recorded at Class Ignite 2026. Proud supporters of this podcast. I'm joined by Tim Steele, CEO of Class. Hello, Tim. Thank you, Sean. Peter Burgess, CEO of the SMSF Association. Hello. Hello, Sean. And Meg Heffron, Managing Director of Heffron. Hello, Meg.

Hi, Sean.

Tim, let's start with the headline number. More than 52,000 new SMSFs were established last financial year. What's driving the growth?

Oh, look, clearly Australians are keen to take control and interest and engagement in their super and SMSFs are proving to be a really attractive vehicle for the right people at the right stage of their life. Why the acceleration do you think at the moment? Yeah, it's something that we've been thinking about. And certainly whilst we don't look at the qualitative insights, we do look at the quant and what's actually occurring. And we saw for the first time we actually tracked where's the flow of assets into SMSFs. And so we saw that just over 57% of flows into SMSFs over a four-year period ending in FY26 were coming from industry funds. And so it proves that maybe people are sort of growing their super to a certain point where they feel they maybe want a different investment strategy, or as I said, to take more control or have greater engagement with their super. And so they choose to establish an SMSF.

So without putting a value judgment on industry or retail funds at all, is it that flexibility you think that people like the idea of moving to an SMSF?

I think it's something that can grow with them over time as their assets grow in their super, as potentially their needs become more complex, and certainly it does give them a range of options. But I think really it keeps coming back to this concept of flexibility and control.

Peter, Gen X, millennials, they accounted for almost 90% of new SMSFs. Does that change the way we should think about what an SMSF is?

I think it does. I think people's attitudes towards superannuation are changing. We talked about the figures, 52,000 self-managed super funds established in the last financial year. And that's off the back of two previous financial years where we saw exceptional growth. So we've seen three consecutive years now. of extraordinary growth in our sector, something we've never seen before. So clearly something is changing here. And people are seeing superannuation now as not something that they just engage with as they get close to retirement. They're seeing it as an integral part of their wealth creation plan. And that's not surprising, I don't think. When you think about someone that's under 50 that's in the workforce, they've only ever known compulsory superannuation. And that 12% Their balance is growing quickly. So they want more control. They want more say over how it's