Time is running out to close your SMSF

Procrastination is the biggest enemy to building wealth and this has never been truer then when putting off closing that expensive, time-consuming self-managed super fund that you are sick of owning.

While there are many good reasons for establishing a self-managed super fund, particularly if you are self employed, these diminish as you get older and disappear once you retire.

They just become more and more expensive as your accountant and other service providers increase their charges and with every change of super legislation, they become more time consuming.

Invariably when people in retirement talk about their self-managed super funds, they complain that it is just too hard to close them down and they just don't know where to begin.

This is made worse by the fact that few accountants will volunteer that there are cheaper options. Few accountant will talkdown their fee base by telling you there are cheaper ways of managing your affairs.

However, with only eight short weeks until the end of the financial year, unless you act quickly to close down your self-managed superannuation fund, you will be up for another round of compliance costs and accounting fees.

So now is the time to act and its not difficult.

Simply contact your accountant and provide him with clear instructions to close your self-managed super fund before the end of the financial year.

Then contact a caring financial planner to establish a superannuation account with a quality superannuation fund that can provide you with all the bells and whistles that you might be use to in running a super fund.

If you own direct property such as an office or a shop, you will have to act quickly to sell these assets and have the money in your bank account before the end of the financial year but even this is not impossible.

If you own shares, managed funds or term deposits within your self-managed super fund, you should be able to move these across to a quality super fund, in species, that is without selling them and having to buy them back.

It is equally as simple to re-start any account based pensions you may have set up within your current self-managed super fund as well as re-create any binding nominations you might have in place.

Finally and perhaps more importantly, when it comes times for your loved ones to manage your estate, it will be a very straight forward matter for your solicitor to deal directly with the fund to have the assets distributed in line with your will.