THE rapid growth self-managed superannuation funds has provided a major growth opportunity for Perth-based Opez.
THE rapid growth self-managed superannuation funds has provided a major growth opportunity for Perth-based Opez.
The business is a self-managed superannuation funds service offering specialist advice on succession and estate planning to a wide range of clients looking to maximise their tax savings.
Entrust Wealth Management Services managing director Graeme Yukich and Cindy McDonald launched the company in 2003 after both recognised a need for a specialist administrative self-managed super fund service in WA.
Ms McDonald, who is director and chief executive with almost 19 years’ experience in the sector, said self-managed super funds comprised the fastest growing segment in the superannuation industry, with more than 2,500 funds set up each month.
“Our job is to decipher the complex regulations set out by the ATO (Australian Taxation Office) to ensure our clients’ SMSFs are compliant, because if they’re not the penalties for them are significant,” Ms McDonald told WA Business News.
Competing with the likes of Optimus and Self Funded Retirement Planners, Ms McDonald said Opez, which employs nine staff, was differentiated by its high-level and complex advisory.
“We always knew that an essential part of the service was the overall estate plan,” she said.
“Traditionally this was approached by clients and advisers on a piecemeal basis, without a holistic strategy. Often clients had wills which were years out of date and in many cases preceded the SMSF era.
“What we realised was that some lawyers and advisers, while having estate planning knowledge, didn’t necessarily have SMSF expertise.
“While we still have to outsource drafting of the legal documents, the holistic planning is an important service which was better addressed in-house by an expert in that field.
“Key documents, including wills and enduring powers of attorney, often failed to take into account what is often the client’s major asset or contradicted the planning and strategies put in place at the super fund and member level.
“There were concerns that clients built up significant wealth in their SMSF but didn’t understand what happened to their benefits on death and, critically, who controlled their SMSF on death or if they lost legal capacity.
“Also, we found that many clients and advisers wrongly believed that a will governs their superannuation.”
Ms McDonald said that, up until March 2009, Opez had a gap in its service offering as it was not equipped with an in-house specialist in succession and estate planning.
To overcome this the business recruited Angela Gaffney, a highly regarded accounting professional with 29 years’ experience – 15 of which were as a succession and estate-planning specialist.
Ms McDonald said Ms Gaffney’s post-graduate studies in estate planning for SMSFs made her a perfect fit for Opez.
Her role has been to inform and advise clients of what they own, what they owe, and what they control both during their lifetime, and upon their death.
This information is then combined into a tailored estate plan ready for lawyers to document.
As a result of Ms Gaffney’s employment, Opez has reduced the amount of work needed to be outsourced, has limited the level of involvement of lawyers, and has the capacity to provide clients with a fully tailored succession and estate planning service.
