Hands-on approach can lower SMSF running costs: Sharesight

Unbundling separate services such as online broking, research and administration will suit more hands-on investors such as self-managed super fund (SMSF) trustees and high net worth investors, according to Sharesight executive director Andrew Bird.

Sharesight is essentially a 'do-it-yourself' share trading platform targeting self directed investors and is available at a flat-fee cost of between $250 and $400, depending on the number of portfolios administered, he said.

"It brings down the argument of what is the minimum you need to run a SMSF. Usually compliance is what kills people - accounting and auditing," he said.

But using Sharesight for share investing and an accounting system like Xero, if trustees are prepared to do some of the work themselves the compliance costs go way down, he said.

It lowers the threshold at which it becomes economic to run an SMSF to potentially the low $100,000s using these kinds of efficiencies, he said.

Other systems can automate SMSFs and lower costs, but they can be quite rigid, requiring the use of specific broker for example. "They're an attempt to solve the problem, but I don't think they've nailed it yet," he said.

The more hands-on approach doesn't sit well with the 'all-in-one' wrap type product, which is where the larger institutions have struggled with the self-managed super fund space, he added.