Do you have money in the attic??
If it's held by New Jersey, it just got harder to find.
Everyone knows the Peanuts comic strip and TV specials. My sister does a great impression of Charlie Brown's sister Sally, who makes a long Christmas list to Santa. When Charlie expresses dismay at the many items Sally wants, Sally asserts, "All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share."
Greed aside, you SHOULD claim what is rightfully yours. Especially when it's your money in the first place.
In my book, articles, presentations, and newsletters, I often talk about "unclaimed assets" and provide tips for retrieving money you've left behind. Frankly, it's one of my favorite topics. So imagine my dismay when I recently learned that New Jersey has ceased participating in MissingMoney.com, the national finder database. I've long recommended MissingMoney as the starting point for any lost-asset search, even though it contains asset information from only 40 states (plus DC and Puerto Rico). Well, now it's down to 39 states: at some point in the past couple of months, New Jersey dropped off the site. So to help my Garden State readers, here's New Jersey's unclaimed site.
This change is more significant than you may realize: I firmly believe this is the harbinger of state moves to come. Every state has an unclaimed-assets fund; no state makes an effort to return those assets to the rightful owners. Consumers must know to search for their assets directly. MissingMoney circumvents the need to search each state individually. If you get a hit, you will be re-directed to that state's specific website. However, with shutdowns continuing across the country and decreasing tax revenue to state coffers, I predict that more states will move to make searching for lost assets harder. I expect that states will continue to shorten the dormancy period as well, meaning that an account could be considered "inactive" after just a few years. Once an asset is determined to be inactive, the next step is escheatment from the holder company (bank, firm, advisor) to the unclaimed fund of the respective state where the asset owner was last known to live.
What is a responsible consumer to do?? First, keep track of your accounts, policies, and investments. Update your address with each institution following a move. Consolidate old 401(k)s when you switch jobs. Maintain a minimum "one-touch" policy: have contact with each of your financial partners at least once a year. Document your holdings for your loved ones to find in case of serious injury or death. Annually search for your own lost assets in each state in which you've lived. Claim them NOW -- it gets harder with the passage of time.
If you would like to hire me to do a thorough search for your lost assets, simply call (845) 200-3500 or email me at eileen@legacyestateorganizing.com. Let's get that money working for you again!
