Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Why direct property investment may not be suitable for retirees in SMSF


Why direct property investment may not be suitable for retirees in SMSF.

The general public perception is they can live on the rental income of their property investments through SMSF.

But what a lot of SMSF investors don’t realise is that because of its concessional tax benefits, it is expected that the account balance in a superannuation account based pension scheme is expected to be orderly withdrawn within a person’s life time. Obviously if the investment does very well there will be residue for the beneficiary/s.

The calculation for pension payment is the account balance of the investment divided by the pension factor*.  One example is a $600,000 fund with one property investment worth $450,000 and the rest in cash bank deposits. Using four assumptions in this example: the first two assumes that the member draws the minimum pension; property value increasing at 3% to inflation on the first assumption; no growth on the second assumption; conservative fees expenses; e.g. annual returns, audits, accounting etc. at the end of 13th years there are barely any cash left to make pension payment.

The difference in the last two assumptions is that the member elects to draws a yearly pension of $35,000, the cash runs out approximately on the 7th year.

It baffles me in this instance why people want to put property in a SMSF that has all the compliance complications and, expensive setup and exit fee if they only want to draws the minimum pension. The rental income in this scenario is already tax free if their total taxable income is less than $18,200 a year.


* Pension factor used in this example is the standard factor. Please note that the withdrawal relief provided after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008/09 is being phased out. If you're receiving an income stream in 2011/12 or 2012/2013, the minimum annual payment is 75% of the normal rate. For example, if you are age 60 you only have to withdraw 3% instead of the usual 4%.



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Melbourne, Victoria, Australia