SMSF investors have the most flexibility in where to put their money. Interestingly, it's ASX shares that have the biggest allocation, followed by direct property, cash and term deposits, managed funds and then unlisted trusts.

Let's take a look at which ASX shares are the most popular within SMSF portfolios.

The most widely held ASX shares

SMSF cloud accounting software provider Class recently released its 2025 annual benchmark report, giving insights into the SMSF landscape.

As of 30 June 2025, there were 12 ASX shares that featured in at least 20% of SMSF portfolios. They were as follows:

• BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) – 49%
• Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) – 41.8%
• Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) – 36.7%
• National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) – 36.2%
• ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) – 36.1%
• Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) – 35.7%
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) – 34.3%
• CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL) – 33.2%
• Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) – 30.7%
• Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) – 29.4%
• Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) – 25%
• Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) – 21.2%

Perhaps it's no surprise that virtually all of these businesses are known for paying a pleasing dividend yield because of the appeal that may have for income investors.

Curiously, while it's BHP and Woodside that have the highest number of SMSFs invested in them, it's a different order for the most dollars invested in each stock.

Below is the biggest percentage of total SMSF ASX share investments, according to Class, with a weighting of at least 2%:

• CBA – 8%
• NAB – 4.1%
• Westpac – 4%
• BHP – 3.9%
• Wesfarmers – 3.3%
• Macquarie – 3.1%
• ANZ – 3%
• CSL – 3%
• Telstra – 2.2%

This goes to show that the big ASX bank shares still have significant backing by a smaller group of SMSF investors.

What about international shares and ASX ETFs?

Some SMSFs have invested in a range of assets, with international shares and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) becoming increasingly popular.

Of the funds that hold international shares, the five most widely held international shares were Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple and Nvidia.

Visa, Tesla and Berkshire Hathaway are the other international shares that are held by at least 9% of SMSFs that own international shares.

Of the SMSFs that are invested in ETFs, the following are the most widely held funds:

• Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS)
• VanEck MSCI International Quality ETF (ASX: QUAL)
• iShares S&P 500 ETF (ASX: IVV)
• Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS)
• Vanguard Australian Property Securities Index ETF (ASX: VAP)
• Vanguard All-World ex-US Shares Index ETF (ASX: VEU)

By utilising a mixture of different types of investments, SMSFs can create an ASX share portfolio that provides strong returns and diversification for portfolios.

The post Here are the most popular ASX share superannuation investments in SMSFs appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What's the difference?

Dr Shane Oliver, the head of investment strategy and chief economist of AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) Investments, recently wrote an article that included several useful investment quotes.

One that particularly appealed to me was from economist Paul Samuelson, who said: "Investing should be like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement…go to Las Vegas."

The short-term is gambling

No one knows with certainly what share prices are going to do tomorrow, next week or next month. We can hope that our shares go up in the shorter term, but that's not certain – we'd need a crystal ball to know exactly when and how share prices are going to move.

Putting money into the ASX share market with the thought of making a profit in a week is like betting on red at the casino. It may happen, or it may not.

Long-term investing is the way to go

But, if in 2014, we had said that the long-term profit outlooks for Apple and Alphabet were compelling because of the increasing amount of smartphones, the growing internet usage and so on, we'd have invested in two of the world's best businesses at good prices, setting us up for strong long-term gains over the next decade.

In my opinion, the more time we put into a quality investment, the more likely it is to pay off.

Good businesses have a habit of growing profit and justifying higher share prices over time.

Companies like Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES), Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL), TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE) and Premier Investments Limited (ASX: PMV) have been growing their profit (most years) for a long time, which is why long-term shareholders are sitting on significant capital gains and are regularly seeing dividend growth.

It's a good idea to own these sorts of winners for many years to allow compounding to work its magic.

As Warren Buffett once said:

Much success can be attributed to inactivity. Most investors cannot resist the temptation to constantly buy and sell.

Foolish takeaway

If we invest for the long term, we give ourselves the best chance of making satisfactory returns.

Occasionally, there will be bear markets, which we can't control. But, those times of market distress can be the best period to invest for low prices, despite the fears.

The post Are you investing or gambling? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.