Unclaimed Money - Start Looking for Yours

Unclaimed money in this economy is certainly news worthy. We just had a recent week-long series on one of our local top nightly news channelsASC-029 that explained how and why unclaimed money happens. They even went as far as to research names, locations and amounts owed; releasing a new list every night of local individuals who were owed money. The existence of unclaimed money and property is not just a local issue specific to where I live, but it has a national reach with an estimate of over $30 billion dollars of money owed to individuals and companies.
I wondered how does unclaimed money and property happen, considering that, I think, I know where every penny I have and I am aware of all of my property and its location. The fact is that 70% of all Americans are owed unclaimed money and it will remain at that level unless we understand how and where to start looking for that which belongs to us. Much of the unclaimed funds reside within the states' coffers or the federal pockets and there is very little interest for any state or the government to locate the rightful owners of the money or property and return it.
Apparently, in many cases, people have simply forgotten about their missing money and the financial institutions where it was kept. Due to illness, disability, financial institutions closing and/or death there seems to be pots of abandoned money. Inheritances, life insurance payouts, credit balances, stocks, bonds, royalty payments and unclaimed utility deposits are some of the other sources of funds that currently make up the unclaimed money pools. Due to our increasingly hectic lifestyles and job hopping, many of us have lived in twoASC-090 or three states by the time we reach our middle years, possibly leaving a trail of money behind.
As highlighted on our nightly news, finding lost money or property that belongs to you has become much easier. There are outreach and awareness programs both locally and nationally that provide you with access to databases to search for funds that may be owed to you. Pro-consumer laws have been passed the have helped facilitate the process once you locate a possible source of money owed to you. The internet has also become a powerful resource helping individuals initiated the search process themselves.
Keeping accurate records about your finances and property is key to reducing the likely hood that you will findASC-091 yourself, or leave your heirs, with lost money or property. However, in the current climate, searching at least once to see if there are any outstanding funds that should be in your pocket, and not the governments or your local state, certainly can't hurt.