UGBS launches October as Estate and Gift Planning Awareness Month

The University of Ghana Business School and its partners including Center for Financial Literacy Education – Africa (CFLE Africa), The Improving Financial Awareness & Financial Literacy, Centre for Economics Finance and Inequalities Studies has successfully launched the month of October as the Estate and Gift Planning Awareness Month.

The move according to the partners seeks to raise awareness about the importance of financial literacy education, ways and means to build a wealthy life, empower an individual to make informed and effective financial decisions without leaving  danger after death for the family left behind.

The theme for the event is “Estate & Gift Planning: A Strategy to Protect You & Your Family While Building Wealth & Helping Others”.

Professor Raymond Atuguba (School of Law), Mrs. Anita Delight Danquah (Esq Solicitor and Barrister) and Mr. William Demitia (Lecturer, University of Ghana School of Law) were the resource persons available at the launch to intensify more public education on financial awareness.

Speaking to the press, Mr. William Demitia indicated that the lack of financial literacy warrants to several uninformed decisions made which later becomes the greatest regret ever made.

“There are 3 main parties to a Trust estate planning; there is a person we call a set law, that’s the person who set up the TRUST. There is also a trustee, the legal owner – the one given power to administer the TRUST ESTATE so typically when you set up such things, we have TRUSTEE, in that, you are informed on the powers of all the appointed people in-terms of financial and investment decision and then we have the beneficiary – the person who benefits from the TRUST been set up. A greater part of the illiteracy on these things comes from ignorance, and I believe today, most of us here and those who joined via zoom have heard things that have challenged us on a number of things. Knowledge is such that if we are able to share it, it can quench ignorance and move us to voluntary do the needed things for future benefits.

Answering to a question on measures to look out for when engaging into Estate Planning, he added, “You must get good professional consultation because it needs several practicalities around it. If you want to do a WILL, it must be done within the WILLS ACT, you must have the capacity of being sound mind, 18 years and above, and be able to make available of all ASSETS. What people forget is that, you don’t need to be literate before doing a WILL. Another aspect is you must know whatever you intend to do, and a financial advisor is as well needed. That’s where an accountant comes IN, to know the value in terms of taxes among others.

“The tax aspect of GIFT is an interesting intervention, basically with how we have made our concept as, it is customized for us to give gifts to people at occasions, and our culture here makes the concept of tax gift a bit more lenient. What we can be able to do in terms of reforms is to be able to set aside and categories, the types of gifts that should be taxable and the others which shouldn’t. I think we can gradually get to that avenue where people will understand the importance of tax gifts among others. This is an awareness creation drive, what the dean of the University seeks to do is to run courses that will be able to share knowledges and ideas on these critical aspects for everyone to understand the importance of making WILLS.”

A series of events have been lined up by the University of Ghana Business School with participation of industry players to observe the estate and gift planning awareness month to significantly help solve a major social problem by dealing with the lack of financial awareness along with the financial illiteracy epidemic.