Name: Damian Crowley
Age: 54
Other members of the SMSF: My wife Julie.
How long have you had your SMSF?
10 years.
Why did you start it up?
To have more flexibility on estate planning, tax planning and investments.
How big is it?
A reasonable size.
Is it more or less difficult to manage than you thought it would be?
It takes a little more time than I thought to keep the administration up-to-date.
Do you enjoy managing it?
It is not too much work, given I have an adviser and administrator.
Are you pleased with its performance?
Yes
Can you give us some numbers around performance over the last 1, 3 and 5 years?
1 yr – 20% per annum
3 yrs – 12% per annum
5 yrs – 10% per annum
What is your asset allocation?
The asset allocation for our SMSF is:
Domestic equities 32%
International equities 23%
Fixed interest 24%
Property securities 14%
Cash 1%
Alternatives 6%
However, I have some investments outside of our SMSF and our adviser considers our asset allocation across all investments and therefore our overall asset allocation for all our investments including our SMSF is:
Domestic equities 27%
International equities 21%
Fixed interest 24%
Property securities 12%
Cash 1%
Alternatives 15%
I don’t hold any direct shares. All my investments are in managed funds, as I don’t believe I have the time or expertise to select these investments.
What are your favourite investments/stocks and why?
I believe that the alternative investments in my portfolio have significantly added to the diversification and downside protection of the fund as they are lowly correlated to the other asset classes and their performance is not dependent on equity markets performing. I also like our investments in Australian and international equity managed funds, as these funds are all invested on a benchmark unaware basis (i.e. the weighting of stocks in the index is irrelevant to the portfolio managers) and they use either cash or shorting to vary their exposure to the market and provide downside protection.
What investments do you have outside of superannuation?
Our investments outside our super fund comprise:
Fixed interest 25%
Alternatives 75%
Damian Crowley is the director of distribution for Pengana Funds Management and joined the company in July 2011. He has over 25 years experience in financial services distribution. Prior to joining Pengana, Damian worked at Perpetual Investments for 17 years, most recently as general manager distribution for the past 12 years.
Important: This content has been prepared without taking account of the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular individual. It does not constitute formal advice. Consider the appropriateness of the information in regards to your circumstances.
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