Welcome to the Mclowd Trustee User Update.
Perth father and small businessman Michael Coghill says he spends less than $1000 a year running his self-managed superannuation fund, thanks largely to low-cost accounting software.
SMSF cost debate: are they really that expensive?, AFR 26th Oct
Introduction
Over the weekend the AFR Smart Investor magazine weighed into the debate on the cost of SMSF administration, in response to claims by ASIC that:
- The average annual cost exceeded $13,000, and
- Involved a commitment of over 100 hours per annum
That the article would focus on a Trustee member of Mclowd is a reflection of the fact that the Community is now taking a leadership position in the industry, and one that involves – not surprisingly – redefining the costs of administration.
As thousands of members are aware, the Community now enables users to operate a Trustee-centric workflow with annual costs that bear no relationship to the ASIC statistics, ranging from:
- Just a few hundred dollars (using the Free Forever version and purchasing audit and support via the Marketplace)
- Full-service administration via the Marketplace (for less than $1,000 p.a.)
The flexibility of this workflow, and the resultant cost savings are now a mirror image of the original vision for Mclowd.
However what is missing is twofold:
- Delivery against the residual product development targets (editability, open banking, automation)
- Tighter integration between the accounting software and services Marketplace
Once these have been completed, Mclowd will represent an end-to-end solution at a total cost which cannot (and will not) be found anywhere else in the SMSF sector.
Usability
Usability has been the poor cousin of Mclowd for a number of years (limited resources having necessitated that we focus on delivering increments to core functionality).
Usability specialist Justin Ong has now joined Mclowd, and will be working closely with the Development Team to address this weakness, both as to the existing interface, as well as all future deployments.
Technical Support / Feedback
The marginal cost of a Trustee user joining Mclowd is precisely zero (there is no marketing activity or budget, and the incremental cost in terms of cloud-hosted infrastructure is also zero).
This is important, because it means that Mclowd can now keep growing ad infinitum, while keeping costs (per unit and in aggregate) to a bare minimum.
This is the reason why Trustee technical support cannot be provided free of charge, because it would break this model (the continued success of which is in the interests of all stakeholders).
In any event, such support is already available and better suited to the Marketplace.
However users should not hesitate to use the Feedback page to:
- Raise system-related issues
- Provide input on the prioritisation of new features
Conclusion
Increased awareness of Mclowd is being reflected in migration, with a fund now being added (by both Trustees and Practitioners) every few hours.
This activity is correlated with revenues, which are growing in excess of 50% quarter-on-quarter.
The resulting increase in resources will underpin further reinvestment, creating a virtuous feedback loop which will benefit all stakeholders.
As always please keep the feedback coming.
Regards
Ashley Porter
Managing Director
Mclowd Pty Ltd