A flashy ad, a “free comparison”, a confident voice on the phone and suddenly your superannuation is heading into a self-managed super fund you never planned to run. That’s the real-world pattern behind recent AFCA decisions allowing some Australians to recover retirement savings after being steered into SMSFs through inappropriate financial advice.

Lisa Leong is joined by superannuation specialist Marco Mulato to walk through how these schemes can unfold step by step: the marketing hook, the promise of higher returns and “sophisticated investments”, and the push to roll over from a public offer fund that may already be a great fit. We talk about the moment where things get even riskier, when SMSF money is channelled into a narrow set of managed funds and then into illiquid assets like private equity and private debt. If you can’t sell when you need to pay a pension or change strategy, “good performance” can become meaningless fast.

We also dig into the practical lessons for everyday Australians. We share simple ways to tell whether you’re being advised in your best interests or being sold a product, what to look for in a trusted professional, and the self-check questions to ask before you take on SMSF trustee duties. Marco also addresses the life-stage reality: why many SMSFs get wound down later in life, and why complexity can become overwhelming.

If you care about protecting your retirement savings and making smarter super fund decisions, listen now, share this with a mate who’s been pitched an SMSF, and leave a review to help more Australians find the show.

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