Welcome to the Mclowd Newsletter, our monthly communication to Investors, Marketplace participants and Partners.
Introduction
“There is little evidence of strong fee-based competition in the superannuation sector, and operating costs and fees appear high by international standards. This indicates there is scope for greater efficiencies.”
Interim Report, Murray Financial Systems Inquiry
The Murray Inquiry and similar comments from the Grattan Institute and Federal Treasury have highlighted yet again the $20 billion in fees being charged on Australia’s $1.7 trillion in superannuation (just over 1% of assets).
I am a member of an SMSF that operates as part of the Mclowd Community, and where annual costs represent under 10 basis points of assets – 90% less than the average quoted by Grattan and Treasury.
While Mclowd is contributing to the debate on super fees, there is one fundamental difference – the Mclowd Community now has the capacity to change the cost structure of the funds management industry, not just comment on it.
Accounting Platform Update
Version 2.5 is now live, including the following new functionality:
- Upgrade to support for Direct Property, including the ability to record updates to the cost base
- The processing of Pensions, Benefits and Transfers Out has been updated to record the taxable and preservation elements
- Integration with Lime Actuarial
Version 2.6 is scheduled for 31 August and will include:
- Profit and loss allocation to Members at year end
- Member Benefit Statement
As always detailed Release Notes are available on the website.
Moving forward we will be running regular monthly webinars for Trustees and Channel Partners. Places are limited so register now:
Advisory Board
I would like to welcome Regis Gapaillard to the Mclowd Advisory Board. Regis was previously the Head of SMSF Strategy for AMP and as such brings a wealth of industry knowledge to the Community.
I will be working closely with Regis as we develop the Channel model for Mclowd, and in the process assist accounting and financial planning firms to future-proof their practices.
Migration Activity
Given the time of year and the constant release of new functionality it is not surprising that we have seen a significant increase in migration activity in recent weeks.
Assets under management within the Mclowd Community are now approaching $200 million, and as FY14 year-end data becomes available to individual Trustees and Channel Partners we expect this growth to accelerate.
Wiki
We are also seeing more contributions to the SMSF Wiki and over time we hope this becomes a powerful (and free) source of information and documentation for Trustees.
All contributions to the Wiki, including template documents, are subject to creative commons licensing.
Kind Regards
Ashley Porter
Managing Director
Mclowd Pty Ltd