Aussie Supers see desertions by an entrepreneurial youth!

This is an interesting development in Australia with youngsters taking back control from their Supers. My thoughts below are those of a boring old fart. BOFs have their place!

So what do we make of younger savers taking back control of their retirement money? It tells me that there is an exuberance that I once had, to beat those who claim to be expert.

“Big super loses $47b to SMSFs over four years” is big money but compare it to the sums in Super overall and you get a different story.

And compare this with a headline from last 31st August 2026 from Nick Whigham · Head of Yahoo Finance Australia

Gen X and Millennials are driving a massive shift into self-managed super, pushing the sector to a record 680,000 funds holding more than $1.1 trillion.

There is a personal pension style sector of Australian retirement planning which is substantial with a quarter again of “money” in it,

The entrepreneurial youth

Those aged under-50 account for nearly 70 per cent of new SMSFs.

This is not surprising to me – a boring old fart – the mature saver is not so likely to desert the collective Super and set out on his or her own.

If you don’t have the enthusiasm of youth when you are young, you want have it when you are middle aged!

Investors shifted about $27 billion from industry superannuation funds to self-managed super funds over the four years to June 30, propelling the sector to a record 680,000 funds holding more than $1.1 trillion.

How different Australia’s DC world seems to us Brits. While we consider returning back to collective pensions (mainly CDC), the Australian youth are busy running in the opposite direction – or so would those who run what we would call SIPPs.

I run today the views of Matthew Webb to show that those who have pinned their colours to the mast of DC can know what they are doing. There are many youngsters who make a fortune from everything they do (look at crypto-currency and what it can do for Reform). But there is also massive fraud we can watch happening on social media. This represents the other side of the same coin and for the winners there are the losers.

For every Matthew Webb there is a scammer. What we get in the collectivism of occupational DC and CDC is good governance and security. This you do not get from SIPPs, you get something more exciting and more dangerous.

Am I surprised or upset that so much young money is leaving collective saving for SMSFs? No I am not. Am I a bigot for collectivism – no I’m not. Collective pensions will always be there for those who don’t want to make their own retirement decision – they will always be the majority but I am glad of the endeavour of the young.