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The question of “who should own a life insurance policy” was asked recently and I thought I should take a few minutes to touch on this subject. Everyone is aware that the primary income earner in the home or “breadwinner” needs to be covered. This is a no brainer, but what about everyone else? Let’s take a look at the rest of the family.

Whether the breadwinner of the family happens to be mom or dad, the stay at home spouse is not without a significant contribution to the home. This person normally does the house cleaning, cooking the meals, watching the children, running the errands and much more. This position is actually more than a full time job. Think about it for a moment. The breadwinner gets to clock out a designated time, but the stay at home spouse is on duty until everyone is fed, the dishes are done, the kids have a bath and are put to bed, ect. What price can you put on this? If you have young children then a nanny would need to be hired. If you have no children, then perhaps you would be willing to downsize and take care of everything on your own? Do you have things financed jointly? Does the other spouse bring in a second income that helps to pay the bills?

These are all questions that must be raised before an answer can be given to the initial question. I would have to say that no matter what the situation is in any of the above scenarios that this spouse must have at least enough coverage for burial. If you have children then you would need to provide enough coverage for them to be cared for at least until they’re old enough to do so for themselves. If you have things jointly financed and you would face losing the second income then you would need to provide for that also, including the amount that would be contributed to saving for college for the kids. You will need to sit down and figure out exactly what you’ll be liable for over the next several years and make certain that you’re insured for that amount PLUS an additional 20% in case of the unexpected.

Children need burial coverage and nothing more, unless you have a child that you’ve co-signed on a vehicle or something of that nature. Since they do not provide income that goes toward running the home then they only require minimal life insurance coverage.

Joe Stewart Is A Webmaster And Former Life And Health Insurance Agent. He’s Made Understanding Life Insurance Easy For Others. You Can Get Free Life Insurance Quotes At His Website TheLifeInsuranceGuys.com or by clicking on Who Should Own A Life Insurance Policy

The word budget can strike fear into even the strongest of people. If there is one thing very few people are ready for when they leave the safety of home for the first time it is dealing with money. There are not too many people who even know how to balance their checkbook after they open their first checking account. So creating a budget can be a scary proposition for anyone who isn’t good at keeping track of their money.

But if we look at a budget in a different light then maybe it will be easier to live with what it is. And all it is is a cash flow plan. All a budget does is track where the money is flowing from and where it is flowing to. Cash flow; it’s what makes the world go around.

Here are 7 steps you can use to plan your cash flow and before you know it you’ll have built a budget. Start with a piece of paper and a pencil; you can save those fancy budgeting software packages for later.

1. Write down your monthly income. If you are a salaried worker this should be easy. If your income is not that steady then add up the past three months worth of income and average it by dividing by three. This will give you a good starting point.

2. Start writing down all your monthly expenses. Mortgage, rent, car payment, credit card payments, utilities, groceries, eating out, entertainment, and anything else you spend money on. For those expenses that fluctuate, such as groceries and gas, use the three month average method to get an accurate amount.

3. Here’s the scary part for most people. Subtract the expenses from the income and see what’s left. You will either have a positive cash flow or negative cash flow. Unfortunately in this day of increasing debt most people have a negative cash flow.

4. Once you have your monthly cash flow laid out in front of you you can start assigning your money to your expenses. As you make those payments throughout the month write them down to see how your spending lines up with what you have budgeted for that particular item.

5. If you have a negative cash flow then you can start looking at everything you have written down and find areas where your spending may not be in the best interest of you financial goals. As you do this you can free up money for more important financial considerations.

6. The first time you do a cash flow plan it probably won’t work out quite right. It normally takes about three months to get everything working right while you figure out where your money has been going every month. Be patient with your budget and before long it will start working and you will regain control of your money.

7. Once you are comfortable with your written budget and you have better control of where your money goes and what it does then consider investing in some budget software such as Quicken. It can make your cash flow plan much easier and with the added features like retirement and tax planning it can give you a solid financial future.

By using these 7 cash flow steps you can begin your budget quickly and easily. Only by taking back control of your money can you improve your financial future for you and your family.

To learn more about cash flow planning please visit the website Household Budgets by clicking here.

A new type of savings account was created with the introduction of the 1996 welfare reform legislation. This new matched savings account allows low-income families an opportunity to rapidly build a savings by matching contributions to a savings account 1:1 up to, in some instances, 4:1 or even 10:1. This means that it is possible for certain individuals to receive $4,000 for every $1,000 that they commit to a savings account.

It’s called an Individual Development Account, or “IDA”, and they are an excellent short term savings idea that can help you do pretty much anything from buying a new car to saving up for a down payment on a new home. When faced with alternative saving methods, the IDA may be the last way for the “little guy” to rapidly build up a savings.

So, what’s the bad news? For starters, these are federal and state sponsored programs, with some assistance by private foundations. As such, IDAs are not available everywhere in the United States. Also, because IDAs represent something resembling a charity for savings institutions like banks and credit unions, you should not expect IDAs to be easy to get into or unlimited in membership allowance.

That being said, IDAs appear to be one of the only ways - if not the only way - an individual can receive a 100% or more match on contributions to a savings account, and that is nothing to sneeze at.

To see if you can qualify for one of these accounts, you can call the Corporation For Enterprise Development at (202) 408-9788 or visit them online at: The IDA Network

David C Lewis, FMM, RFA is the founder of Twin Tier Financial - a financial services company based in upstate NY which specializes in providing information about objective financial planning. His website provides free information about budgeting, saving, investing, insuring, retirement planning, saving money, and other related financial topics.

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the new Roth option on 401k’s. Obviously, there are a lot of sound reasons why it is a good idea to add a Roth option to a 401k – otherwise our law makers wouldn’t have passed this piece of legislation.

However, there is a one, very compelling reason to not add a Roth option to your 401k. The simple, singular reason for not doing it is that it further confuses participants which leads to lower participation. Countless studies have shown conclusive evidence that a confused consumer is less likely to buy.

Hewitt Associates, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania completed a joint study to determine why people don’t participate in their 401k plans. Here are the top five reasons:

1. They are paying down their debt first.
2. They do not plan on staying with the company very long.
3. They are simply procrastinating.
4. They are confused by the process.
5. They don’t trust the market due to government corruption and corporate scandals.

Of that list, there is only one issue that can be addressed by how the 401k plan is designed, which is to limit confusion by making the plan simple. Adding a Roth option to your 401k plan is more likely to confuse participants leading to lower participation than.

Reasons to Add a Roth option to your 401(k)

Obviously, there are reasons to add a Roth option to your 401(k). Here are a few compelling reasons for doing so:

1. Several people in your company are maxing out their 401(k) contribution.
   Since the total dollar amount that can be contributed by a participant is the same for a Roth or Traditional 401k, a Roth option effectively allows for a larger contribution since it is after-tax money rather than pre-tax. If a significant portion of your people would contribute the maximum allowed into their Roth 401(k) accounts, it would be worthwhile to add this option to your plan.
2. 
   Several people in your organization have very large balances in traditional 401k or IRA account.
   The biggest advantage of Roth IRA’s and 401(k)’s is that they allow you to better manage your taxes in retirement. If you have employees that have a lot of money in pre-tax qualified plans, it may be a nice benefit to save some money in an after-tax qualified plan. (It’s important to note that all company contributions for the benefit of the employee will still be classified as pre-tax traditional 401k contributions.)
3. You have a young work staff who fit the following two criteria:
   1. They are actually contributing to their 401k plans.
   2. Their future earnings potential is significantly higher than their current earnings.
   As was stated above, savings in a Roth IRA or 401k allows you to manage your taxes in retirement. If your income is less now that you think it might be in retirement, then assuming that tax rates stay consistent (not likely!), you’d be better off contributing to a Roth versus a Traditional 401k.
Conclusion

Obviously there are advantages to having a Roth option on your 401k. Our nation’s lawmakers typically don’t pass new legislation without some sort of justifiable reason. (Although it could be argued that the entie Roth concept was designed soley to increase current tax revenue.)

However, the truth about 401k participation is that many people don’t participate because they simply are confused. Adding additional choices such as an excess number of funds or Roth options only serves to confuse participants more. The bottom line is that a Roth option should not be added to a 401k plan “just for the sake of it”. Carefully consider if there is a compelling reason such as one of the aforementioned justifications for adding it to your plan.

Matt McCracken is the principal and founder of McKinney Avenue Capital, a Registered Investment Advisor based in Dallas, TX. He serves as a fee-only investment advisor for 401k plans, individual accounts and trusts.

When it comes to financial planning, there are many reasons people often give for not making a financial plan. They can range from “I don’t have any money” type objections to “I don’t have any time right now” excuses. But, in today’s turbulent financial world, you must be very careful. Many Middle-Class Americans are one month away from living on the street. The perceived security and safety of a job is illusory (just ask any unemployed American).

Why Do You Need Financial Planning?

In short: life requires self-generated, goal oriented action - a plan. This extends to every area of our lives, including financial. The degree of our planning will determine - at least in part - the degree to which we are successful. And, although a financial plan does not guarantee success, it is necessary for it (at least in the long-term).

Those who scoff at this need to realize that life is motion. It will not stop or slow down for you. If you do not consciously make a financial plan, you will make one for yourself perhaps subconsciously, and randomly, and usually to your own detriment.

Consider the case of “John”, who sees no need to meet with a professional financial advisor or learn anything about financial planning. He believes himself to be “small potatoes”, or he perceives financial planning as “unnecessary” or “boring” and thus he avoids it - at least for a while. However, what John does not realize (or was not paying attention to) is the fact of reality that life demands that we make decisions every day in a variety of different ways and in different areas of our life.

Money happens to be one of those areas that we are forced to deal with almost constantly, and usually multiple times throughout the day. How do we make the decision to grab a cup of coffee from the local donut shop in the morning vs. putting that money back into our pocket and simply make it at home instead? For John, this decision making is done pragmatically, and emotionally. Whenever he feels like buying a cup of coffee from the local donut shop, he will. If anyone asks him why he spends so much on coffee every day, he rationalizes it: “$1 isn’t that much.” he tells himself (and anyone that dares to ask).

But John’s statement is void of any context. Consider, if we were to put that $1 spent on coffee into an investment yielding 8%, that $1 would become $1,500. Strategically placed at 20%, it balloons to well over $20,000 after 30 years. Would you consider $20,000 to be “not that much money”?

But to be completely honest, this isn’t about whether John should or should not buy that cup of coffee, it’s about his reason for doing so. His disastrous “reasoning”, which attempts to replace a truly objective approach to his financial life, can very easily spill over into other areas of his life. The coffee issue is “small potatoes”. The line of “reasoning” is not.

Coffee is not John’s problem. What if we were to take a look at another common dilemma in John’s life (as well as many other American’s lives)? Suppose the decision is whether John and his wife should pay off their mortgage as quickly as they can so that they can be rid of that “evil” mortgage payment and all of the interest that they are paying. As a result of his upbringing, or some in vogue article his wife read in a magazine, or just on a mere whim, John arbitrarily decides that paying off the mortgage quickly is a good thing. He and his wife have a 15 year mortgage, and are making payments on it as quickly as they can. They don’t realize that they are losing many hundreds of thousands of dollars by financing a home this way (see: “The Ultimate LBO: How To Leverage An Asset You Already Own To Make $1 Million Or More”).

Now, John and his wife can rationalize their actions (being afraid to admit to having made a mistake at all) by saying “yeah, well…we just like the idea of having our home paid for”. Yet, if pressed for a more thorough answer, they don’t have one. When the facts of reality confront them that dumping their 15 year mortgage and carrying a big long mortgage instead (even well into retirement) and investing the difference is much better for them financially, they squirm and cringe and retreat into a mental fog. They no longer have any idea why they like the idea of having their home paid off.

John had decided long ago that he didn’t need financial planning. That he had a handle on everything. Now perhaps John, like many other Americans do, continues to ignore or simply continues to dismiss the idea that financial planning is like any other subject - it needs to be learned. What are the consequences of not taking responsibility and the initiative to meet with a financial advisor (one that can teach them how to prepare for financial uncertainty as well as teach them sound financial planning strategies)? Well, in John’s case, he eventually retires and without a mortgage. He has lots of equity in the home, but virtually no savings. His home has appreciated and depreciated with the real estate market, but even if he wanted or needed to cash out the money, he would have to take out a loan and pay it back (or sell the house). John and his wife were able to scrape together something that resembles a savings, but because they didn’t pay much attention to the real effects of inflation, their nest egg is substantially smaller than what they had hoped for.

In addition to all of this, it’s looking like John’s wife’s health is deteriorating, and she may need long-term care (statistics from major life insurance companies - like Met Life - suggest that 1 out of 2 people - 50% - will need long-term care at some point in their lives). Or expensive medication. Where do they get the money to pay for these things? Perhaps they go without. Perhaps they die prematurely because of it, taking to the grave the erroneous idea that financial planning never could have helped them. Never could have saved them. Never could have helped them live a better life. Yet the truth is the opposite. It could have helped them, and it could help you too.

Financial Planning As Practical

Many people don’t think in terms of financial planning as being “practical”, yet this key mistake is what keeps many individuals from becoming financially successful. Unless we make it a point to study it in school, our only formal education in finance and economics is perhaps from the worst of all teachers - the Government.

Governments do not induce better money management habits. The concept of deficit spending and the growing national debt that is a result are prime examples of why. They aren’t very good at teaching individuals the value of investing either, and the ill-fated Social Security program is a good demonstration of what happens when Government allegedly invests our money for us.

Banks and certain other financial institutions regularly fail during recessions despite the fact that they are heavily regulated by the Government. In fact, at least for the banking industry, it is the Government that promotes such reckless lending and investing policies that lead to such failures. By forcing everyone to comply by the same irrational rules, chaos is inevitable.

The fact that these institutions are supposed to represent the hallmark of good money managers, it should be no surprise that many individuals are completely lost when it comes to personal financial planning. The folks who are supposed to be the experts can’t even do it themselves.

The only individual that can help them is the financial advisor. By the very nature of the profession, financial advisors promote thrift, savings, and sound, rational investments and speculations. These are the essential concepts that are necessary for an economy to grow and thrive. If a nation is conserving it’s finances instead of consuming them, it has a much better opportunity for growth.

For the individual, the financial advisor promotes personal growth - personal financial growth. And, without growth the only thing open to us is death.

David C Lewis, FMM, RFA is the founder of Twin Tier Financial - a financial services company based in upstate NY which specializes in providing information about objective financial planning. His website provides free information about various types of (and the effectiveness of) financial advice, budgeting, saving, investing, insuring, retirement planning, and other related financial topics.

If you default on your student loan it can cause problems with your credit rating. There are serious implications when you default on your student loan as it can affect your wages and possible tax refunds in addition to a poor credit rating. You can avoid defaulted student loans by following a few simple steps. You can avoid defaulting on your student loan if you just stay in contact with the lender.

Defaulting on your loan is almost impossible once you have made your situation known to your lenders. I too had financial problems keeping up with the payments on loans I had acquired whilst a student. A friend of mine made a smart remark about the lenders suggesting that they can’t repossess an education. If you take this approach you will definitely have a problem and default on your student loan.

There isn’t usually a problem if you get in touch with your lender. I shouldn’t have worried; getting a temporary suspension wasn’t a problem. I talked with a helpful representative who took me through the steps to deferring the debt until I was able to make payments again.

The weight just dropped off my shoulders when the loan was suspended until a time when I could restart payments and all this happened with a week. Although defaulting on my student loan wasn’t what I wanted, I knew that other financial institutions would not be quite as accommodating. I wish all my creditors had been as helpful as the student loan provider.

Although a deferment is a useful facility, interest is still being added on whilst the loan is suspended which means in the long term you will pay more. Despite the additional cost it is preferable to a defaulted student loan. In many cases it is possible to make small partial payments to the lender.

s18] It is worth checking with you bank to see if they will agree to accept interest only payments on a loan for a temporary period. The fact that the loan will not shrink during this time is a small price to pay to avoid a defaulted student loan.

For many students this type of financial arrangement enables them to complete their education and is a necessity. If too many people have defaulted student loans, the money is not available for new students. You should never jus sit back and ignore the problem when your finance company can help you.

Alternative payment arrangements or a deferment on the loan are just two alternatives to avoid a poor credit record. This sort of action has other benefits in that the money available for new students is less likely to dry up.

Keith Mallinson is the owner of http://www.privatelabelnichearticlesmonthly.com providing thousands of FREE UNIQUE PLR articles. To get your Free unique PLR articles Instantly go to http://www.privatelabelnichearticlesmonthly.com

Gone are the days when getting a financial assistance was a difficult task. With the passage of time, everything has taken a tacit turn, and likewise, the availing of a loan for ones personal purposes. So for that, the lending authority has come up with a variety of personal loans. These personal loans have designed out to fulfil ones desperate desire to qualify ones personal requirements.

Many lending options are offered by the lending authority to the candidates. Some of these options require collateral pledging, whereas some contain no such pledging. The options contain no collateral evade the borrowers from the threat of property seizure. But on the other hand, the options of collateral as a borrowers security, although contain insecurity, but the process of availing no time.
There are galaxies of sites available online for the personal loans. The need is only of right selection of one lender. The lender that’s terms and conditions regarding the personal loans would be flexible. More so, the interest rate paid upon the loans would be cost effective.

Under the personal loans, borrowers are free to invest the amount as they wish to. Individuals can invest the fund into establishing their businesses, for wedding, for buying of brand new car of their choices. Importantly, the facility of debt consolidation under the personal loans is an added benefit to the borrowers. They can get rid of all of their previous loans. The borrowers have to deal in a single lender for their debts. And, lender settles fixed interest rates for all of the previous debt.

With the advent of personal loans, all the personal requirements of an individual are not remained a hassle. These loans take almost all the financial burden of an individual. Determines of purpose with positive mental attitude is the starting point of all worthwhile achievement.

Peter Taylor is a senior financial analyst at Personal Loans with an acumen for finance and insurance. In recent years he has taken up to provide independent financial advice through his informative articles. To find Personal loans, Instant personal loan, Online personal loan, Personal loan company, Low rate personal loan, Finance personal loan visit http://www.personalloans.gb.net

To date, more than $35 BILLION is lying as unclaimed cash in the United States of America. Now thirty five billion dollars is a lot of money!!! It is VERY likely you may be owed money. Are you doing anything to claim it?? According to Oprah Winfrey, as many as 8 out of 9 Americans are owed lost money.

Most people think that only careless people are owed unclaimed money. That is not true. Even you may be owed unclaimed money.

The most common reasons why money becomes unclaimed money include forgotten savings and checking accounts, ignored safe deposit box contents, forgotten stocks, mutual funds, bonds, dividends, IRS refunds, wages, estates, mineral interests, uncashed cashier’s checks, uncashed money orders, matured or terminated insurance policies etc.

When any institution has unclaimed cash deposited with it for more than three years and when it is not able to contact the owner of the money, it usually hands over the money to the state or the federal authorities for safe keeping. This money becomes unclaimed money. Since the owner of the money has forgotten of the money and since the institution cannot get in touch with the owner, the money lies unclaimed and unattended for years together.

Most individuals are unable to solve the problem of unclaimed cash because they have no idea on how to proceed to determine if unclaimed cash is owed to them or not. Many start searching through state databases. However, there are fifty state databases. Then come multiple federal databases. Searching each and every database individually can become a mind numbing affair. The smart thing to do is to visit all in one databases that lets you search multiple databases at the same point of time. You can save a lot of time and effort by making use of these databases. Whatever you do, do not restrict your search to a single or a couple of states. Search all the states in one go.

Bill McIntosh, Founder of Cashunclaimed.com an all in one database, stresses the importance of expanding the search to include as many individuals as possible. Bill McIntosh opines that one must search for the names of one’s family members, relatives and friends as well. The problem of unclaimed funds is a national problem and all must contribute to solve it. Since most of the websites, including Bill McIntosh’s website, offers free unlimited name search, searching for as many names as possible is not a problem at all. Bill warns that one should be aware that money may be owed to us under a variation of our legal name. William Ford may be owed money under the identity of W. Ford or Bill Ford. Hence, William Ford must search for money owed to W. Ford as well.

The process of finding the unclaimed money, simple as it may be, is just one part of the solution. The unclaimed cash has to be claimed back and the check has to land in your mailbox before the problem can be certified as having been solved. Fortunately, the process of claiming the unclaimed money is a simple on. Just fill the claim form and submit the same to either the state or the federal agency that is holding your funds. Applying to the wrong authority for the money is not going to get your money back. Do make sure you attach proof of identification like the drivers’ license or the birth certificate along with your form. You may be required to provide additional proof as well. However, that depends on the type of money that is being recovered. Once the claim is made, the money will land up in your account within two weeks to three months.

Nicole Anderson provides more information about unclaimed cash and its retrieval at http://www.cashunclaimed.com If you want to receive your lost funds check without undergoing the trouble of searching more than a hundred and twenty individual databases, just click on http://www.cashunclaimed.com and search for your money for free. The search covers all state and federal databases.

The secret of the government is out. To date, thirty five billion dollars is lying unclaimed by the residents of the United States of America. The money is owed to people all over the nation.

There is so little advertising by the states about unclaimed money that you probably don’t know how it is probable that you are owed unclaimed money. If you have any doubt as to the extent of the problem, do keep in mind that Oprah Winfrey has said that as many as eight out of nine Americans are owed unclaimed money.

Want to know more?? Want to get your unclaimed money back?? Read ahead.

• Please do not make the mistake of simply concluding that you cannot be owed unclaimed money. The childhood savings account that has been lying idle after you joined college may have become unclaimed money owed to you. The most common constituents of the Unclaimed Cash kitty are:
• Savings accounts
• Checking accounts
• Safe deposit box contents
• Forgotten stocks, mutual funds, bonds dividends etc.
• Uncashed checks
• Unclaimed refunds
• Forgotten wages
• Insurance policies that have matured
• Money in trust funds and escrow accounts

The cash owned by you becomes lost money when it has remained idle for three years or more. If you have not contacted any institution where you have deposited money for the past three years and if they are unable to contact you, the money will be treated as unclaimed money then onwards.

What happens next?? The cash is handed over to the State or federal government for safe keeping until the cash is claimed by the owner. Since the money becomes unclaimed money because the owner cannot be traced, it is impossible for any institution to inform the owner that his or her money has become unclaimed money. This implies that unclaimed money owed to you can be discovered only if you start searching for it.

Have your begun your search yet?

So you want to search for the unclaimed money owed to you but have no idea how to proceed?? Start by going through the state databases of unclaimed money. Search for you name and keep searching until you are sure no money could be owed to you in that state database.

However, simply searching a single state database will not do. You will have to check the databases of all the states along with the federal database as well. If you are not going to search in a comprehensive manner, you might as well not search at all. It does not make sense to search one database at a time. You will have to search fifty state databases and then move to the federal database. Rather, make use of an all-in-one database that searches all state and federal databases in a single search.

Bill McIntosh is Founder of Cashunclaimed.com, which is an all-in-one database, is of the opinion that one should search for the names of one’s relatives and friends as well. This site lets you search for names as many times as you want for free.

According to Bill, a good site ought to search for variations of the name being searched to ensure that the unclaimed money owed is found as early as possible. However, you could also key in variations of your own name to reduce the chances of unclaimed money being owed to you to the very minimum.

Once the search is complete, fill out the claim form and submit the same. Provide a proof of identification along with the form. Since processing time takes around two weeks to twelve weeks, bide your time and the check repaying the unclaimed cash will be in your mailbox!

Nicole Anderson offers additional information about unclaimed money at cashunclaimed.com. If you want to get back your lost money and unclaimed funds without any hassles, just visit http://www.cashunclaimed.com to search 120+ databases in one go. Conduct a single search and all the money owed to you will be flashed on your screen.

We are revealing the governments secret. There is over $35 BILLION in unclaimed cash in the United States owed to people nationwide! Chances are you have on idea how likely it is that some of the unclaimed funds are owed to you and your family. Oprah Winfrey stated as many as 8 out of 9 Americans are owed unclaimed cash. This article will tell you how to find and claim your unclaimed cash and get a check in your mail box!

WHAT IS UNCLAIMED MONEY

You may think there is no way you have lost money. Unclaimed cash may be money you never knew existed, like an inheritance or childhood savings account. It may come from accounts you lost track of over the years like stocks or dividends.

The most common types of Unclaimed Cash are:

• Savings and checking accounts and safe deposit box contents
• Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and dividends
• Uncashed cashier’s checks or money orders
• IRS refunds
• Wages, child support payments
• Matured or terminated insurance policies
• Estates
• Mineral interests and royalty payments, trust funds, and escrow accounts
• The list goes on and on…

Unclaimed cash is deposited by the institutions where the money was held after they have not had contact from you for about 3 years and were unable to reach you with the contact information listed on the account.

The money is then turned over to the state or federal government for holding until it is claimed. Since you are not notified your money is being turned over as “unclaimed cash” most people never even think to look for it. And if you did think to look for it, where would you need to look?

WHERE DO YOU LOOK FOR YOUR UNCLAIMED MONEY?

Unclaimed cash can be searched through state databases, using your name, but often these searches will not find accounts that are owed to you. This is because they only search the database in one state and even if you have only lived in one state your whole life you may have money that is in another state or federal database. Searching one state database will not find that money.

To avoid have to search 50 state and multiple federal databases you should utilize an all-in-one database that searches all state and federal databases with one simple search.

Bill McIntosh, Founder of Cashunclaimed.com and all-in-one database, states, “It is important to search your name and the names of your relatives and friends.” Most sites, like Bill’s, allow unlimited free name searches that will tell you if the name you searched has an account that is owed money. Bill also stated, “good sites will also search name variations to ensure your money is found even if it is listed under a variation of your legal name.”

TIP MOST DON’T KNOW ABOUT

TIP: Remember to search variations of your legal name. For example, William Ford may be listed as Bill Ford, W. Ford, etc.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR UNCLAIMED CASH

Once you have found your unclaimed cash the claims process is relatively simple. You fill out a claim form and submit it to the state or federal agency holding the funds. Usually you are required to submit proof of identification. This may be a drivers license and/or birth certificate. On occasion, you are also required to submit proof of ownership or entitlement to an account, as is the case with inheritance claims.

The checks are usually processed within 2 weeks to 3 months depending on the speed of the organization.

So now the secrets out! It is really that simple to get a check from unclaimed cash in your mailbox!

Nicole Anderson offers more information about unclaimed money at cashunclaimed.com. Would you like to receive your lost funds check without searching 120+ individual databases? Click on http://www.cashunclaimed.com for a free money search, that includes all state and federal databases, and locate your missing money today!