(Part 2 of 2)

There are a number of different types of assets that can become abandoned and deemed "unclaimed", but the state treasurer's site names the following as some of the more common: Dividends, Paid-up Life Insurance Policies, Money Orders, Demutualization Proceeds, Deposits, Stocks, Certificates of Deposit, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Refunds, Gift Certificates, Payroll, Wages, Commissions, Salary, Death Benefits, Uncashed Checks, Insurance Payments. Each type of account can only be considered "unclaimed" (and turned over to the state) after it has been dormant for a certain time period of time, which is unique for each type. These dormancy periods are generally between 1 and 5 years in New Hampshire, depending on the property type.

Due to the fact that each account type has its own period of dormancy, a person could search for money owed to them on a given day, when their account hasn't been turned over to the state, so the state will not have a record of it. Often times, people give up after that, not aware that their funds might be turned over to the state the next year, or even a few years down the road. Beyond that, the the state's own records have to be manually updated by a state employee, so the accuracy of the records is questionable, because there is not someone adding records in real time.

All of the issues with when a property actually gets listed in the the state's own records won't matter if a resident does not have any idea where to search. A lot of people just search any site that has a search box, but hardly any of these sites have any legitimate listings. The majority of the "databases" are not real. Choosing an unclaimed property web site to run your searches from is key. Just as important is perfecting the search strategies used by professionals in the missing money field, and putting them to work in your own searches.

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Spare change left at airport checkpoints
Unclaimed money, typically consisting of loose coins passengers take out of their pockets, is turned into the TSA financial office.

Unclaimed Money in Stocks: How to Track it Down
This week, I'm answering questions from readers, because there's an unclaimed money question that keeps coming up again and again. That tells me there's a need, so here goes. Here are two samples of the questions I've gotten:

Passengers leave behind over $400,000 in loose change at U.S. security checkpoints annually

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