You may have seen or heard Chris Harris on South Australian media before because he’s achieved something quite extraordinary in the world of personal finance. Chris hasn’t created a profit-busting commercial behemoth or a brand-new life-changing innovation, but he has turned an incredibly important Australian industry on its head. Australians have more than $820 billion in Self-Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs), and for years Chris has led a revolution of clarity, understanding and control across SMSF investments, empowering the people they serve.
“It’s quite a simple vision,” Chris explains, “give people back the power over their superannuation, making it easy and straightforward. For too long, the superannuation companies had things all their own way, with little thought given to the input, opinion or convenience of the clients themselves. But our model changed all that by taking the time and effort to explain all the options properly and a hand-on-heart commitment to truly independent advice. You make all the decisions, and we do all the work. It really is that simple.”
The vehicle for Chris’s revolution is Exelsuper, the full-service SMSF provider he started in 2011 on a mission to “shake-up” the industry. The fast, strong growth of Exelsuper to its impressive position today would suggest that Chris has clearly succeeded in that mission, but before exploring the company’s present-day success, we ask about the motivation behind starting out in the first place. Are there any personal passions at play here? Was there a eureka or lightbulb moment which kickstarted Chris’s quest?
Decluttering the complex. What a super idea.
“It was more of a gradual build-up of frustration on behalf of my clients than any single moment,” replies Chris with a serious look. “In 2009, the Government commissioned the Cooper Review into superannuation, which described SMSF managers as a cottage industry, with most accountants and financial advisors servicing, on average, less than 10 SMSF’s each. At that time, Australia had the 3rd largest private pension system in the world, with over 40% of that wealth in Self-Managed Super Funds, yet there were virtually no dedicated specialists serving that community. Even though superannuation is by far the biggest mode of saving in Australia, there was a huge lack of customer-centric information and infrastructure to help everyday Australians manage their super. As a result, SMSF was always referred to as DIY Super. We set about changing that. No More DIY Super!!!! SMSF is, in my opinion, the most flexible and rewarding solution available to higher net worth clients. Our vision was to support those customers with specialist expertise and knowledge, combined with services that take away the DIY work for a simple, understandable and certain fee.”
“SMSF was not easy or accessible for the average Australian back then. In fact, I would argue that the accounting and financial planning industries purposely made SMSF an elitist, difficult and expensive solution that most hardworking people put in the ‘too hard basket’. This perceived complexity steered most Australians towards the financial trap of traditional superannuation, which suited investment advisors, fund managers, Unions and the accounting profession just fine, thank you very much – because the more complex SMSF appeared to the general public, and the greater the barriers to entry, the more money these finance professionals made.”
Chris describes those pre-Exelsuper days as a time of vast disillusionment among SMSF customers, having been let down by their fund managers and financial advisors, stung once too often by hidden unfair fees, and loaded with cynicism about the vested interest tainting advice, from advisors.
“I’ve always had very open relationships with my financial advisory clients, and time after time, the conversation would turn to their negative Superannuation experiences and associated poor investment results, and lack of control over outcomes, and I’d think to myself: This is not right, this is not fair, I wish there was something I could do to help my clients to escape from the Superannuation rollercoaster.”
“And then one day, enough was enough. I reinvented the business from the ground up, and decided to focus… we can’t be all things to all people!!! We worked hard to prove ourselves as self-managed super specialists, with the most powerful point of difference possible – Specialist SMSF advice and services, delivered for a simple flat fee, free from any behind-the-scenes vested interests tainting our methods…. It really was a revolution,” smiles Chris.
1st class client service - the secret to super growth.
There was clearly a big demand in the Australian SMSF market for a people-centric provider, and Exelsuper set about cultivating it as fast as possible, riding high on the huge dissatisfaction with traditional super funds and massive migration to SMSFs. Exelsuper had $50 million in funds under advice soon after opening in 2012, and that had tripled to $150 million within just two years. Chris never looked back.
Today, Exelsuper has over $1 billion in funds under advice and employs a team of 18, with no sign of that growth stopping anytime soon. And Chris, now a board-appointed CEO as well as a Specialist SMSF Advisor, puts the key to that success squarely down to the same service values and the same promises to its clients on which the company was founded.
“Put simply, I just refuse to accept that SMSF is a DIY process that is a complex, and burdensome experience… Exelsuper exists to take away all that burden and frustration. I fundamentally believe that superannuation funds can be the most valuable of our assets, and that poor experiences with super funds can be solved with deep-seated empathy and understanding of those problems and frustrations, and Exelsuper will always work to reinvent ourselves to respond to those we can help and serve,” says Chris proudly, “our people and culture are all about making sure you make all the decisions, while we do all the work.”
“No more complex fee structures, hourly rates or asset-based fees... just simple understandable fixed fees that give our clients confidence that there will be no nasty surprises. That, combined with our team of specialist SMSF professionals, who hold the highest superannuation qualifications available, is a powerful mix.”
As Exelsuper enters its second decade as an SMSF specialist, educating and assisting superannuation investors of all shapes, sizes and ages, we ask Chris if he has any insight or words of advice to share with DW Fox Tucker readers who want to make their superannuation work harder with SMSFs?
“Absolutely,” smiles Chris. “The most important thing to remember, for anyone at any stage of life, is that self-managed super is not as difficult or complex as you’ve been led to believe, especially with the help on hand you can get from specialist providers like Exelsuper. You get access to expertise to help make the right decisions, and then a professional does all the paperwork for you. Growing your wealth is something to enjoy and feel good about getting your teeth into. There’s nothing quite like watching the fruits of your well-invested income thrive.”
Exelsuper has been a valued client of DW Fox Tucker for some time, so we’ve seen the success story unfold in front of our very eyes. And we’re happy to confirm that using self-managed super to grow your wealth does indeed look like a lot of fun, especially when revolutionaries like Chris and his team are on hand to help show you the way.
For More Information About Exelsuper
Phone – 1300 558 713
Visit – https://smsf.exelsuper.com.au