“SMSF investors are definitely looking to improve the returns that they're getting on cash, and what we've seen is bond ETFs being used quite often as a substitute to term deposits,” he said.

The BASEL III regulatory reforms, he said, have meant that most investors are unable to break term deposits anymore and so they’re effectively locked into that term deposit. Conversely, vehicles like ETFs are traded on the ASX so investors can buy and sell them at any time with no sorts of requirements to tie up capital.

One of the key reasons SMSF investors keep cash in their portfolio is to keep their powder dry, Mr Vynokur added, so that they can take advantage of opportunities as and when they come up.

“So if you are for example, invested in a six-month term deposit because you're hoping to achieve a slightly better return than what you might be getting at call, and an opportunity comes up, you won't necessarily be able to unlock that money because it's tied up so definitely,” he said.