Do unclaimed piles of cash appeal to you? (Photo Credit: CC BY-ND/LaneVids.com)

There are billions of dollars in unclaimed money sitting in accounts in the U.S. Are you one of the rightful owners of unclaimed money sitting in savings bonds, misplaced pensions, apartment deposits, lost tax refunds and more? Try out some ideas from “Good Morning America” at abcnews.com/gma.

Oprah endorses unclaimed money recovery

General purpose websites like FoundMoney.com, unclaimed.org and MissingMoney.com make it easy for consumers to discover whether they have unclaimed money or property waiting in any of the 50 United States. FoundMoney.com impressed Oprah Winfrey so much that she beat “Good Morning America” to the punch and interviewed the company CEO on her show.

Treasure the Treasury and IRS

Savings bonds that have matured and are no longer earning interest continue to sit. Resources on the U.S. Treasury’s website are available to help owners to find their unclaimed money with their social security numbers. Similarly, tax refund checks returned by the U.S. Post Office can be located at IRS.gov; these are also filed by social security number.

Did your bank or credit union go under?

If your bank or credit union went under during the financial crisis, you may have forgotten to claim your money. Thanks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and National Credit Union Association, accounts were insured against just such a loss. Find your unclaimed money via the organizations’ corresponding websites.

Good news for life insurance beneficiaries out in the cold

If you believe there is unclaimed money that should be yours because you were the beneficiary on a loved one’s life insurance policy, a private company called MIB Solutions can help you track it down for a $75 fee. Visit mibsolutions.com for more information.
Find your unclaimed pensions and 401(k)s

Reaping the corporate benefits

If your company went bankrupt during the financial crisis or ran itself into the ground, there are ways to find unclaimed pension and 401(k) money. Check out the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s website or the Employee Benefits Security Administration for 401(k)s. Keep in mind that if your old company still exists or has been bought out, you will need to approach the company directly.

Unclaimed money: The kitchen sink version

If your unclaimed money doesn’t fall into one of the above categories, “Good Morning America” suggests you try the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators free website, unclaimed.org. Depending upon the state holding your unclaimed money, unclaimed.org will direct you to the appropriate website automatically.

Sources

ABC Good Morning America
FDIC: Unclaimed money
FoundMoney.com
IRS: Tax refunds
National Credit Union Association: Unclaimed money
National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Employee Benefits Security Administration
U.S. Treasury

Oprah says look for unclaimed money at FoundMoney.com

Saving money is not as easy as it looks. Image from flikr.com

The government has always pushed for people to put money into personal savings. Now President Barack Obama has created ways that will actually make saving easier for workers.

Just like Personal Money store makes online payday loans easier, Obama has come up with these three ways for individuals to save money: auto-enrollment in retirement plans, issuing tax returns as savings bonds and putting unused sick or vacation days into 401k plans.

1. Auto-enrollment in retirement plans

This will not make retirement plans mandatory for employees, it will simply make it easier for employers to enroll their employees in the retirement plans. CNN Money explains:

To make it easier for smaller and medium-sized employers to automatically enroll workers into retirement plans, the administration will clear up some bureaucratic paper-work hurdles for employers to offer that option.

2. Tax returns as savings bonds

This one is pretty simple. Recently the government made it possible for tax payers to get their refunds deposited directly into their bank accounts rather than sending a paper check. Similarly, now tax payers will have the option of having their tax return issued in the form of government savings bonds.

Automatically converting your tax returns into government savings bonds means that your money will be automatically saved and it will earn a higher interest rate than it would at a normal bank. The longer you leave your money alone, the more you will make off of it.

3. Saving sick and vacation days

Many people do not use up their sick days or vacation days at work. For the vast majority, that means that they are wasted. The government now will make it easier for employers to convert their employees’ unused sick or vacation days into dollars invested in their 401k plans. Again, this isn’t a mandatory thing at all. Employers and employees have the option of whether they want to do it or not, it simply will be easier.

Why the extreme measures?

Before you start spouting off about big government and personal freedom, remember that all of these things are completely optional. No one — not employers or employees — is require to participate. However, the benefits of personal savings in relation to the economy are obvious to everyone, so as part of the effort to turn the recession around, the White House has come up with these ways to encourage and facilitate personal savings. Just in case you’re in doubt about whether this help is necessary, here are some statistics from CNN Money:

Even among those with savings in the bank, the nest egg is relatively lean. Of workers 55 years or older, about half have less than $50,000 in savings, excluding their homes and pensions, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Some of these measures will be very lucrative for people. Unfortunately, these only help people who have jobs and qualify for tax returns. Saving money and investing wisely is very important, and I for one am glad to see that the government isn’t just talking about the fact that people should save money, but is actually taking steps to make it easier. I hope we will see more measures like this in the future, and that we can find a way to help people who don’t have 401ks and tax returns.