Educating public on Bequest Motives

Dr Chong explaining the term of unclaimed money to participants

The Centre for Extension Education in collaboration with the Faculty of Accountancy and Management organised a talk titled, “Unclaimed money and Bequest Motives among Malaysia’s Urban Older Adults” on 19 November 2019 at UTAR Sungai Long Campus.

Sharing his expertise was Dean of Academic Quality Assurance Dr Chong Shyue Chuan whose area of interest are gerontology, population studies, marketing and consumer behaviour, tourism and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In the talk, he spoke about the increasing trend of the older population which poses unprecedented challenges to the modern society; particularly concerning older adults’ bequest motives. He explained that there the low awareness of estate planning among Malaysians and unnecessary issues arise among family members as a result of accidental or unclaimed bequests, thus making it necessary to understand the older adult’s bequest motives and distribution.

Apart from that, he also shared related studies conducted before 21^st century and in the 21^st century; bequest perception, introduction on unclaimed money, ageing countries, ageing population in Malaysia, Malaysian government role for ageing population, bequest motives and how to claim back the money.

He said, “Generally, there are four theoretical models of household behaviour which are widely used by researchers to explain the individual’s bequest motives. For each theoretical model, it has its implication on the individual’s bequest motive. The four bequest models are the altruism model, selfish life-cycle model, social norms and tradition, and the dynasty model.”

He added, “One in every six Malaysians has unclaimed money. These unclaimed bequests include estate bequests, unclaimed considerations, trust funds and overpaid accounts. Research on bequest motives is lacking in developing countries like Malaysia in terms of knowledge, understanding and information, especially for older aged people. Malaysia has a multi-racial, cultural and religious society and everyone has their own beliefs, norms and traditions. To understand the inter-generational resource transfer between older adults and their children in Malaysia is even more complex and challenging.”

Dr Chong (fourth from left) with participants during a group photography