# Smart Future Trust Smart Future Trust is a Pension Fund based in Albury, Australia. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Pension Fund - **Headquarters:** Albury, Australia - **Region:** Oceania - **Address:** Albury, NSW, Australia - **Founded:** 2002 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** smartfuturetrust.com.au - **LinkedIn:** https://sa.linkedin.com/company/smart-future-consultancy ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About Smart Future Trust was established by Future Group, the financial-services firm led by CEO Simon Sheikh, as a multi-purpose superannuation product combining defined-benefit and cash-balance structures. The trust is part of an ecosystem that includes insurance partnerships through Acenda, a subsidiary of Japan's Nippon Life, and trustee services managed by Equity Trustees under Managing Director Mick O'Brien. The architecture reflects a deliberate departure from Australia's default accumulation-only model — the fund guarantees a base benefit while allowing excess returns to compound via market-linked allocations. Investment exposure spans unlisted real assets, clean energy, and direct land holdings. Confirmed portfolio positions include the Cosgrove Solar Farm, the Nightingale Wurru wurru biik affordable-housing project in Brunswick, Melbourne, and the Box Hill Community Housing Block. On the land side, the trust holds extensive rural acreage in south-west Queensland through Thargomindah Station and Nil Desperandum, blending conservation with agricultural use. Geographic concentration remains domestic Australian, with assets in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, though the Nippon Life relationship introduces a cross-border institutional connection to Japanese insurance capital. Human-capital scale for the trust itself is not publicly itemized; the broader Future Group umbrella houses the investment, product, and partnership teams that service the vehicle. The trust carries certification from the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia across multiple investment options, signaling a formalized ESG overlay rather than a side-car initiative. Philanthropic structures tied to the trust include the Equity Trustees Charitable Foundation and the GreenPay Foundation, though the exact separation of charitable assets from retirement accounts is not publicly detailed. No material team expansion, mandate change, or new vehicle launch has been reported in the last 24 months. The trust's structural differentiator is its hybrid design — it operates as neither a pure defined-benefit pension nor a standard accumulation fund. This positions it as a regulatory and product outlier in Australia's superannuation market, where most new entrants default to simple accumulation structures. The combination of a guaranteed floor with direct real-asset exposure — rather than solely listed equities or pooled funds — means the trust's liquidity management and actuarial assumptions differ materially from vanilla industry and retail super funds. Nippon Life's involvement through Acenda further layers on an insurance-group capital partnership rarely seen among Australian pension startups. ## Sectors - Real Estate - Infrastructure - Energy Transition & Renewables ## People - Simon Sheikh — CEO, Future Group - Mick O'Brien — Managing Director, Equity Trustees ## Questions ### How does the hybrid DB/cash-balance structure work at Smart Future Trust? The trust guarantees a defined-benefit floor — a minimum retirement payout — while allowing members to accumulate additional balances in cash-balance accounts tied to market returns. This splits the risk: the sponsor bears longevity and investment risk for the guaranteed portion, while members assume upside variability for the cash-balance component. The structure is uncommon in Australia, where most super funds are pure accumulation, and requires distinct actuarial and liquidity management compared to standard MySuper products. ### What role does Nippon Life play in the Smart Future Trust ecosystem? Nippon Life is the ultimate parent of Acenda, the insurance partner that provides coverage to Smart Future Trust members, according to Altss research. The relationship effectively links the trust's Australian retirement product to one of Japan's largest life insurers, although Nippon Life does not directly manage investments or trustee functions. The arrangement is primarily a distribution and product partnership rather than a co-investment or ownership stake in Future Group. ### Which real assets does the trust hold directly? The portfolio includes the Cosgrove Solar Farm, the Nightingale Wurru wurru biik residential development in Brunswick and Box Hill Community Housing Block, both in Melbourne, plus substantial Queensland landholdings at Thargomindah Station and Nil Desperandum. These appear to be directly held rather than accessed through pooled funds, giving the trust a concentrated Australian real-asset book with residential, energy, and agricultural exposure. ### How is the trust governed, and who is the trustee? Mick O'Brien is the Managing Director of Equity Trustees, which acts as the trustee for Smart Future Trust, per Altss research. Equity Trustees is an established Australian superannuation trustee and fiduciary services provider. Future Group — led by Simon Sheikh — designs the product, manages the investment strategy, and oversees partnerships, while the trustee provides independent oversight and compliance with APRA requirements. ## Related profiles - [Smart Bank](https://altss.com/profile/smart-bank) - [Smart Local 265 Supplemental Retirement Savings Plan](https://altss.com/profile/smart-local-265-supplemental-retirement-savings-plan) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/smart-future-trust Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology