Did you know you could be sitting on a gold mine and not even know it? There could be hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of dollars out there in your name just waiting for you to rediscover it.
1) SUPERANNUATION
The most common money that gets lost can be your superannuation. That’s because we may have had many part-time jobs when we were younger and didn't even know superannuation existed, and were hardly likely to make sure it followed us to our next job. Each employer may have had different superannuation accounts so you could have tiny little pools of money everywhere. The best place to track it all down is the ATO’s SuperSeeker http://www.ato.gov.au/calculators-and-tools/superseeker/. Don’t use websites or services that charge a fee. And once you’ve tracked it all down make sure you consolidate it into the one fund so you’re not paying too much in fees.
2) BANK ACCOUNT
You may also have some long lost money in bank accounts you’ve forgotten about. I just tracked down $4.50 in an old INGDirect account and feel so much richer for it. Hopefully you’ll be a bit more fortunate than I was. You can use the ASIC’s MoneySmart Unclaimed money search. https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/find-unclaimed-money/unclaimed-money-search A quick search of my surname didn't reveal anything more in my name, but I did find something substantial for a relative who is very grateful.
3) SHARES AND DIVIDENDS
You might also have shares or dividends in your name that you didn't know about or had forgotten about. You can use the unclaimed money search for that, which also searches life insurance policies. You can also try the state government public trustee or state revenue offices websites. Google your state and office of state revenue for their website addresses. A quick search here http://www.osr.nsw.gov.au/info/online/ucm again didn't reveal anything of mine, but did uncover another relative with missing money.
4) WAGES
Finally you can check if there might be any wages owed to you from a former employer. The Commonwealth Government’s check for that is here https://www.fairwork.gov.au/resources/search-for-unpaid-wages/pages/default. You will have to enter the name of the employer, along with your name. Sadly I didn't come up with anything here either.
You may come up with thousands, and you may come up with nothing, but it’s much better to check and make sure you don’t have hundreds of dollars sitting in a dormant bank account when it could be working so much harder for you in an offset account or something similar. So start the search now!
