It’s My Money – and I want it NOW

I had a day off recently, and I was playing a game on the computer when my husband brought in the mail. He had received a check for $150 from the State Comptroller’s office. I looked at him in disbelief and asked him what the heck was that for? We weren’t expecting to receive any money much less over $100 dollars. He said to go to the internet and google “unclaimed cash”, we found a site called NAUPA.gov which is a free database for searching unclaimed property. My husband said he didn’t think he was going to receive anything because the computer wouldn’t let him finish.

So, I go to this site and search and low and behold, I see 3 instances of my name that I recognize as locations we had once lived at. I find $33 here, $29 there, and a stock certificate with an unknown amount to be claimed. Later that week, I receive claim forms from the State Comptroller, rather than checks.

Today, I have another day off, we look up in the attic, and we find the original stock certificate. I have completed the claim forms and submitted copies of proof of who I am (drivers license, social security card, etc.) Now it is a waiting game. I will patiently wait to see if I get my money.

So, if you have a day off and nothing better to do. I recommend going to NAUPA.gov and seeing if you can find unclaimed property that belongs to you. You can search all 50 states. The unclaimed property might be money from stocks, savings account, college refunds, utility company refunds, insurance refunds, etc. You never know until you try it – what you will find. Good Luck and most of all have fun!

Money Management Tips during this recessive economy

I’m reading Suze Orman’s new book “Women & Money: Owning The Power to Control Your Destiny” which I checked out at my local library (I always check the library for good reads before going out and buying them). Anyway, if you’re not familiar with Suze like I wasn’t until a few weeks ago, she is a self made millionaire, she started out as a waitress with a speech impediment to now hosting her own CNBC TV show and makes her money as a financial advisor. I encourage you to read her life story, which is very entertaining. She doesn’t hold anything back. She made some embarrassing mistakes when she was younger, but she learned from them, and grew to be this powerful, amazing, and rich woman that she is today. You can read all about her at Suze Orman’s Website as a matter-of-fact, this link About Suze Biography link is the link you need to follow to read her life story which is also in her book, as well.

I decided to blog about this book because of how important I feel it is, plus it is so needed right now. As a mother to 2 grown daughters, I feel like I was not much help to either of them as far as money matters goes. This book is a complete guide for someone who has never had a checking account to those professional women who are at the top of the corporate ladder! Suze explains that the reason she wrote this book was she was surprised to find that very close friends of hers, although they had successful careers and were very prestigious women, that they had problems managing their finances and their long term financial future. Suze is not just emphasizing the current things we must do, but she explains what we need to do in the future. Her plan “The Save Yourself Plan” covers a 5 month program which Suze specifically detailed actions to take during each month. Each month covers the following topics: Checking & Savings, Credit cards and credit scores, Retirement investing, Important documents like wills and trusts, Insurance protection like life insurance and home owners insurance.
Not only does she cover these important financial aspects, but she also includes her own beliefs and values that she feels women should have and ways to work on maintaining balance not only with a checkbook, but in a woman’s life as well. How learning to maintain balance in her own life has created so much happiness (not just wealth) and she even gives examples of the changes she made and how the changes worked out for the better. Friends and relationships are emphasized. Also how we tend to sell ourselves short is a very important part of this book. Basically if you could take your knowledge if you were given a set of rules to follow on money management, and you followed all those rules of money management, that is what this book is in a nutshell. It is to inspire and encourage women to not fear financial matters, but to confront them while giving us knowledge that we didn’t have before on some issues. If I could write a book about all the things a woman should know how to do to manage her money her whole life then this would be the book I would want my daughters to read.