Younger Australians with smaller superannuation balances are being warned to be careful if they are thinking about switching to a self-managed super fund.
The advice from the industry super fund sector comes at the same time the corporate regulator pinged super platform operators over fee practices and the existence of potentially dodgy products.
The Super Members Council has made a submission to Federal Treasury, which is consulting over fund protections following a scandal involving platform funds.
The council found a correlation between a surge in advice fees deducted from super accounts over the past two years and a spike in super switching.
The trend raises concerns about switching incentive effects, advice fee levels, and super erosion risks for younger Australians in parts of the super system, it believes.
Of particular concern is the potential impact on young industry fund members with balances of less than $100,000 switching to SMSFs.
“The switching risks can be very significant for younger Australians with a modest amount of super, because higher fees can seriously eat away at their retirement savings at a pivotal stage for their super,” council leader Misha Schubert said.
The council analysed data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and Australian Taxation Office to find that total advice fees deducted from super accounts spiked by $1.1 billion between 2023 and 2025.
Some five super platforms accounted for $815 million of the fee surge.
Generally, SMSFs target older or wealthier investors with higher super balances, closer to $2 million, with an appetite for more complex products, and an ability to absorb higher fees.
On average, someone with less than $100,000 in super faces SMSF operating costs between 18 and 40 times higher than a MySuper product in a fund regulated by the prudential regulator.
On Monday, the corporate regulator put the super platform sector on notice after conducting a 15-month review of six platform trustees entrusted with more than $300 billion in savings in 977,000 member accounts.
The regulator ultimately found itself “overwhelmingly disappointed” with a lack of progress in key areas since its last industry report in 2024.
These include a lack of trustee oversight of advice fee deductions and fee-related conduct, monitoring of holding limits and options on their investment menus.
“We are concerned that some platform trustees may be prioritising their relationships with advisers, at unacceptable risk to members’ retirement balances,” it said in a report.
In the 10 years to 2025, superannuation platforms have exploded in popularity.
Member benefits have tripled to $396 billion, compared to the traditional sector, which more than doubled, while advice fees charged from superannuation platforms have increased fourfold to $2.3 billion.
ASIC’s report and the council’s submission come in the wake of the collapse of the First Guardian and Shield funds, which exposed hard-working Australians to highly speculative, illiquid assets and outright theft.
The fallout left almost 11,000 people $1.1 billion out of pocket, with many losing their entire savings after being lured into switching from standard super funds with the promise of sky-high returns.
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