“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” It’s always amazing how varied people react to this text. Some would much rather have their parents enjoy their retirement after their hard work.
Others who’d rather inherit their work ethic while some are convinced that a better inheritance is a good name, you know, a good name that opens doors.
Yet, they’re still others that believe education is the best form of inheritance (think common sense, good manners and a love for the downtrodden).
These ones ask, “what good does great material possessions do if the heirs are uncultured and wasteful”?
Then, of course, there is the majority that regard inheritance as identical to money and are eagerly expecting a portion of it.
Unfortunately, out of this group, a huge category belongs to those unaware of what is left.
Here’s some context. To date, the unclaimed financial assets authority (UFAA) has received unclaimed financial assets in cash worth Sh31.8 billion. Out of this pool, only Sh2.1 billion has been paid out so far.
Non-cash assets include some 1.7 billion units of shares and 3,608 safe deposit boxes. Sometime last year, the authority issued a “no objection” notice for received claims complete with a list of the deceased. Interestingly, 71 percent of the deceased were male (64 percent in the previous year).
Limited data notwithstanding, we can still deduce that a lot of these assets seem to come from our male seniors who were not very open about where they invested and/or saved their money.
Why? There are as many reasons as stars in the sky. But a common and mostly unknown reason men do not tell their wives about money is to hide failed investments. This insecurity is often hidden behind a wall of silence. Another is to simply retain control.
In many marriages, power struggles are often centred on money. If the husband is the sole earner, he retains control over how the money is spent and saved, leaving the wife completely dependent on him. But we’ll not dwell here.
I can only speak of real consequences; hungry widows, children dropping out of school, creditors descending on family property, lifestyles upended, broken relationships, and so on.
Dealing with family dynamics after loss is enough of a burden on its own. Adding money shortages to this volatile situation makes the whole situation worse.
Two things we can take from this; to those alive; it’s our responsibility to update our addresses with banks and/or stockbrokers after any changes.
To those bereaved, it’s the responsibility of the next of kin to tell the administrator to go to the unclaimed asset authority to see what is there.
Note that claiming unclaimed property is a do-it-yourself job. More importantly, no one loses any unclaimed financial assets once remitted to the authority.
Indeed, it’s their job to hold assets in the public interest and guarantee everyone their right of reunification.
Finally, inheritance isn’t limited to money. Wisdom is more profitable than silver. Thankfully, one doesn’t have to file a claim to inherit it.
Mr Mwanyasi is MD, Canaan Capital Limited
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