Unclaimed Property? When was the last time you checked?

What is unclaimed property?

Any financial asset with no activity by its owner for an extended period of time is considered unclaimed property. This includes unclaimed wages or commissions; savings and checking accounts; stock dividends; insurance proceeds; underlying shares; customer deposits or overpayments; certificates of deposit; credit balances; refunds; money orders; and safe deposit box contents.

What are some examples of unclaimed property?

Unclaimed property consists of certain financial assets that have been abandoned by their owners for an extended period of time. Examples of unclaimed property include:
Dormant bank accounts
Lost or forgotten uncashed checks
Stocks or bonds, dividends and bond interest
Insurance proceeds
Utility refunds
Safe deposit box contents

What is not considered unclaimed property?

Items that are not considered unclaimed property include abandoned vehicles, real estate, furniture and stolen property. Many people are confused by unclaimed property, expecting to find listings and addresses for vacant homes. In fact, tangible items are rarely included in unclaimed property. Those that are included usually consist of small items, such as coins or jewelry that can fit inside a safe deposit box.

How do people lose track of their assets?

Individuals or businesses may lose track of assets if:
A change of residence or business relocation occurs, and an updated address is not provided, or an account or deposit is simply left behind.
A check is received and accidentally discarded, lost or forgotten.
A rightful owner dies and relatives are unaware of a bank account, safe deposit box or stock owned by the deceased.
Notification of a divorce or marriage is not provided.
A clerical error at a company alters a former employee's name or address, resulting in returned mail.

To find out if you have unclaimed property in your state of residence, visit www.missingmoney.com

VISA Secured Credit Card - 0% APR, Build Credit History

15 Insurance Policies You Don't Need

Via Investopedia

Fear of the future sells insurance. Because we can't predict the future, we want to be ready to cover our financial needs if, or when, something bad happens. Insurance companies understand this fear and offer a variety of insurance policies designed to protect us from a host of calamities that range from disability to disease and everything in between. While none of us wants anything bad to happen, many of the potential catastrophes that happen in our lives are not worth insuring against. In this article, we'll take you through 15 policies that you're probably better off without.

1. Private Mortgage Insurance

The infamous private mortgage insurance (PMI) is well known to homeowners because it increases the amount of their monthly mortgage payments. PMI is an insurance policy that protects the lender against loss when lending to a higher-risk borrower. The borrower pays for this insurance but derives no benefit. Fortunately, there are several ways to avoid paying for this unnecessary policy. PMI is required if you purchase a home with a down payment of less than 20% of the home's value. The small down payment is viewed as putting you at risk of defaulting on the loan. Put down at least 20% and the PMI requirement goes away. Alternatively, you can put down 10% and take out two loans, one for 80% of the sale price of the property and one for 10%, although interests rates can prevent the economics of this maneuver from working out in the homeowner's favor.

2. Extended Warranties

Extended warranties are available on a host of appliances and electronics. From a consumer's perspective, they are rarely used, particularly on small items such as DVD players and radios. If you purchase a reputable, brand-name product, you can be fairly certain it will work as advertised and that the extended warranty is statistically likely to be unnecessary. If you spend $5,000 on a giant, flat-screen television, the policy is still unlikely to pay off, but might make you feel better. For everything else, forget it.

3. Automobile Collision

Collision insurance is designed to cover the cost of repairs to your vehicle if you are involved in an accident. If you have a loan out on the car, the loan issuer is likely to require that you have collision insurance. If your car is paid off, collision is optional; therefore, if you have enough money in the bank to cover the cost of a new car, collision insurance may be an unnecessary expense. This is particularly true if you are driving an old car, because cars depreciate so quickly that many vehicles are worth only a fraction of their purchase price by the time the loan is paid in full.

4. Rental Car Insurance

Most auto insurance policies offer additional coverage for the cost of car rentals, touting it as a useful feature if your car is ever involved in an accident and needs to spend some time in the repair shop. This may sound like a good idea, but in reality, most people rarely rent a car, and when they do, the cost is relatively low and hardly worth insuring against. Although rental car insurance is relatively inexpensive, amortized over the course of a lifetime you are still likely to spend far more than you will benefit.

5. Car Rental Damage Insurance

Many auto insurance policies already cover rentals, so there's no need to pay for this twice. Check your policy before you pay. Depending on where you rent the vehicle, you may also be able to pay a small fee for insurance on your rental when you pick it up at the rental center. If this fee is less than what you'd pay for a year in your old policy, choose the fee over the policy.

6. Flight Insurance

Flight insurance coverage is completely unnecessary. Despite media portrayal, airline accidents are relatively rare, and your life insurance policy should already provide coverage in the event of a catastrophe.

7. Water Line Coverage

Water companies have made an aggressive push to sell policies that cover the repair of the water line that runs from the street to your house. The odds are in your favor that you will never use this coverage, particularly if you live in a newer home. If you live an average suburban neighborhood and you do need to repair the water line, the distance to the street is short, the likelihood of a problem is low and repair costs are a few thousand dollars or less. The same goes for policies offered by other utility companies.

8. Life Insurance for Children

Life insurance is designed to provide a safety net for your heirs/dependents. Because children don't have heirs to worry about and, statistically speaking, most kids will grow up safe and healthy, most parents should not purchase life insurance for their kids. Instead, use the money that you would have spent on life insurance to fund an education plan or an individual retirement account (IRA).

9. Flood Insurance

Unless you live in a flood plain or an area with a history of water problems, don't even bother buying flood insurance. If none of the homes in the area has ever been flooded, yours is unlikely to be the first.

10. Credit Card Insurance

Purchasing coverage to pay your credit card bill in the event you cannot pay it is a waste of money. A far better idea is to avoid running up your credit cards in the first place, so you won't need to worry about the bills. Not only do you not save on the insurance premiums, you'll also save the interest on your debt.

11. Credit Card Loss Insurance

Federal law limits your liability if your credit card is stolen. Your out-of-pocket costs are limited to $50 per card and not a penny more. In fact, many credit card companies don't even try to collect the $50.

12. Mortgage Life Insurance

Mortgage life insurance pays off your house in the event of your death. Rather than add another policy - and another bill - to your list of insurance plans, it makes more sense to get a term-life policy instead. A good life insurance policy will provide enough money to pay off the mortgage and to cover other expenses as well. After all, the mortgage isn't the only bill your survivors will need to pay.

13. Unemployment Insurance

This coverage makes minimum payments on your bills if you are out of work, which sounds like an attractive proposition. A better plan is to save your money and build up an emergency fund instead. You won't have to cover the cost of the insurance policy and, if you are never out of work, you won't spend any money at all.

14. Disease Insurance

Policies are available to cover cancer, heart disease and other maladies. Instead of trying to identify every possible disease that you may encounter, get a good medical coverage policy instead. This way, your medical bills will be covered regardless of the problem you face.

15. Accidental-Death Insurance

Unless you are extraordinarily accident prone, an accident is unlikely. Major catastrophes such as car wrecks and fires are covered under other policies, as is any harm that comes to you while at work. Accidental-death policies are often fraught with stipulations that make them difficult to collect on, so skip the hassles and get life insurance instead.

When Choosing Insurance

There are so many policies to chose from, and they all cost money. While a certain amount of insurance coverage is necessary and prudent, you need to choose carefully. In general, broad policies that offer coverage for a multitude of potential events are a better choice than limited-scope policies that focus on specific diseases or potential incidents. Before you buy any policy, read it carefully to make sure that you understand the terms, coverage and costs. Don't sign on the dotted line until you are comfortable with the coverage and are sure that you need it

You can save big bucks by skipping unnecessary financial products and services.

There are many things that people buy, sometimes repeatedly, that are a waste of money or just a bad value. Often, you don't need them at all or you can opt for less-costly or free alternatives. Take a pass on these financial products and save hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Skip it: Collision on older vehicles
Save: $300 a year, based on national averages in 2007

If you have an accident, collision coverage reimburses you only up to the value of your car, no matter how severe the damage. So at some point, the cost of the coverage might approach or exceed the maximum the policy would pay on a claim. You might consider dropping collision once its cost equals 10 percent of the car's book value.

Do this instead

Self-insure by putting away a fixed amount each month to cover unexpected losses. Decide whether you should keep comprehensive coverage. Typically less costly than collision, it reimburses you for theft and nonaccident damage, for example, if a rock cracks your windshield or a falling tree limb dents your hood. But like collision, it won't pay more than the vehicle's worth, so weigh the cost.

Skip it: Load mutual funds
Save: About $200 to $300 on an initial investment of $5,000

Load funds siphon off 4 to 6 percent of your investment for sales commissions. No-load funds generally perform as well or even better.

Do this instead

Skip the load and put your entire investment to work for you. Compare funds by type and rating at www.morningstar.com.

Skip it: Extended warranties
Save: $30 to a few thousand dollars

Some products, such as cars, have become more reliable, and others, including electronics, aren't likely to break down during the extended service contract period. Service plans often cost more than you'll recover, and many have fine-print terms that can limit or disqualify your claim.

Do this instead

Buy reliable brands and models, and follow the manufacturer's usage and maintenance recommendations. If possible, make purchases with a credit card that extends the warranty. And if a product fails after the warranty has expired, try negotiating with the retailer and manufacturer for compensation.

Skip it: Fee-based checking
Save: $36 to $600, plus any per-check fees each month

There are many no-fee checking accounts that don't require you to maintain a minimum monthly balance. Some even pay interest, such as FNBO Direct (www.fnbodirect.com), which pays 1.25 percent.

Do this instead

Check local and national banks and credit unions for the best deals. If you regularly use your debit card for purchases and can set up direct deposit or automatic billing, consider a high-yield checking account. To find one, go to www.checkingfinder.com orwww.kasasa.com.

Skip it: Credit-card insurance
Save: 18 cents to $1.35 for every $100 of your balance each month

Also known as payment protection and credit safeguard, this coverage promises to make your minimum payments for a certain period or erase your entire credit-card debt in case of unemployment, injury, disability, or death.

Do this instead

Check for coverage you already have in other policies, such as life and disability. Or set up a fund to cover your bills if you lose your income.

Skip it: Cancer insurance
Save: $200 to $3,000

Like any disease-specific coverage (including those for strokes or heart attacks), cancer insurance might duplicate or even negate coverage you already have under your basic health insurance. Some cancer policies exclude certain types of cancer, or they might not pay at all unless you're hospitalized. And they're certainly no substitute for comprehensive medical coverage.

Do this instead

Check to see what your health policy covers. If you're on Medicare and want more coverage, consider buying a Medicare supplemental policy. Medicaid recipients don't need additional coverage.

Skip it: Identity-theft protection
Save: $120 to $240 a year

These services might do less than they claim. In May, Lifelock, a leading vendor, agreed to pay $12 million to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission and 35 state attorneys general that "the protection it actually provided left enough holes that you could drive a truck through it," said Jon Leibowitz, the FTC's chairman.

Do this instead

Take steps to protect your identity. For example, you can place a security freeze on your credit reports at all three major credit-reporting bureaus (Experian, Equifax (NYSE: EFX -News), and TransUnion). That will deny access to your credit report to prospective creditors and prevent a scammer from setting up an account in your name.

Skip it: Cell-phone insurance
Save: $48 to $96 a year

Between the cost of the coverage and the deductible, typically $25 to $100 or more, this insurance might not save you anything if you need to replace your phone because there might be fine-print exemptions. And if the policy does replace your phone, you might get a different or refurbished model.

Do this instead

Check your home and auto insurance policies to determine if your phone is (or can be) covered. When you get a new phone, don't chuck your old one if it still works. If the new one is lost, stolen, or breaks down, you might be able to use the old one for the duration of your contract. Another option is to buy a less-costly "unlocked" replacement.

provided by

Go Green: Top 5 Easiest Ways to Save Money While Saving the Planet

If you don’t care much about the environment, then here's a jolt of motivation: MONEY. The numbers are in, and it turns out you'll save cash — a lot of it — by adopting these five tried-and-true eco-conscious habits. From turning off the lights to using energy-efficient appliances, there are hundreds of ways to eco-nomize.


TURN OFF THE LIGHTS


When the five o'clock whistle blows, but before you "yaba-daba-dooooo" home, shut down your workstation — the whole thing, including printer, disk drive, and central processing unit. According to the United States Department of Energy, a year of nightly computer sleep will save you $90. If you'd rather not economize for your office, then at least try powering down at home. Tell your kids to shut down when they're done searching the Web, IM-ing, and doing their homework (if you're lucky). Make a habit out of unplugging at-rest cell phone chargers, iPod mounts, electronics on standby, and anything else that hemorrhages electricity and your money.


PUT ON A SWEATER

Thirty years ago, President Carter asked the country to turn down the thermostat and "put on a sweater." Carter wasn't making a fashion statement; he was encouraging Americans to conserve energy during the 1979 Oil Crisis. Sound advice never gets old. Considering we're in a just bit of an oil pinch — funny how history repeats itself — it might be a good idea to heed Carter's advice...if not for foreign policy and the environment, then at least to fatten our pockets. As Americans spend more than ever on heat, the Alliance to Save Energy claims a one-degree thermostat reduction can save 3 percent on your heating bill. I don't know about you, but I'd rather wear a cute sweater and spend my money on massages, fancy chocolates, and bourbon.

GET EFFICIENT WITH ENERGY STAR

If you have a terrible memory, or just can't be bothered to unplug and power down, at least replace old and inefficient electronics — even if still working — with Energy Star-certified alternatives. Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the USDE. It employs hundreds of energy wizards to identify and label (with a blue and white badge) the most energy-efficient products on the market. With over 18,000 highly efficient appliances, Energy Star products saved America a whopping $14 billion in 2006 — enough energy to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equal to 25 million cars.A single-family house revamped with Energy Star products will decrease energy use by 30%, salvaging the average American family $600 a year.

REPLACE YOUR LIGHT BULBS

I think everyone knows about this one.

BUY LESS STUFF

More stuff will only waste your money and the world's depleting resources. Reckless spending tends to leave us broke, guilty, and looking for storage space. When you do have to make a purchase, seek only the best--quality, highest-efficiency product available. If you're not afraid of cooties, consider the Salvation Army — far cheaper and more eco than any behemoth retailer. To learn more about how you can save money while saving the planet, visit greendandsave.com. Other excellent sources of information can be found on the USDE, EPA, and Energy Star websites.

By Olivia Zaleski

When was the last time YOUR finances had a checkup ?

We are often reminded by family and friends to get a physical checkup by our doctor, but when was the last time that anyone reminded you about the importance of an annual personal finance checkup?

#1: Check Your Credit Score

Your credit score is more important than ever.

In the wake of the financial meltdown, credit is much harder to come by, especially if you don’t have a good history. If you are fortunate enough to obtain a credit card or loan, you’ll pay higher interest rates if you have any prior problems.  Here’s your first step: Order your free annual credit report to check on your current score and see if there are any problems. It’s easy to do. Just go to www.annualcreditreport.com or call 877-322-8228. (Here’s a tip: To get a credit report every four months, rotate among all three credit agencies, getting one per year from each.)

#2: Check Your Savings

We recommend you have at least three to six months of living expense tucked away.  We understand that there are lots of calls on your money these days, but if there’s one thing we’ve been reminded of during this economic crisis, it's that nothing is more important than having an emergency fund.

If your savings aren’t quite what they should be, get started. The first step is always the hardest.

Make savings easy by paying yourself first every month. You can deposit the money in your savings account yourself or set up automatic deductions from your paycheck.

#3: Check Your Investments

When you go to the doctor for a checkup, certain things are more painful than others. After the stock market free-fall we endured — one of the toughest ever — this investing checkup will hurt a little bit … OK, maybe a lot … but you must do it!

When was the last time that you checked your brokerage statement?   Check your statement now.

This is the perfect time to review your investments, consider selling losers and taking the tax loss, and revisit your investment goals for the next 12 months. 

#4: Get Organized

Having your finances properly organized is one of the most overlooked and underrated keys to getting the most from your money.

Do you have any idea how much money you’re spending on specific items during the year? If not, you should. We guarantee that there will be some surprises in there that will make you want to change a few things. 

#5: Check Your Insurance

This is a biggie and covers many different areas, so here are the highlights of what you want to check:

Homeowners: Is your home insured for at least 80% of its replacement cost? Do you have “replacement cost” riders on the contents of your home? 

Auto: Do you have at least $300,000 of auto liability insurance? 

Disability: Do you have a disability insurance policy to replace lost wages should something unexpected prevent you from working? 

Life insurance: Do you have adequate coverage to protect your family? As a general rule of thumb, eight to 10 times the annual income of the major breadwinner in life insurance coverage is the minimum amount necessary so that your family may maintain their current standard of living when you are no longer around. 

Long-term care: These policies are really worth looking into to protect your assets in the event of catastrophic illness and/or nursing home expenses.

#6: Check Your Retirement

Most people’s biggest retirement fear is that they may outlive their assets. That fear has only deepened in light of the stock market debacle.

If your employer offers a 401(k) or other type of retirement plan and offers to match some or all of your contributions, take full advantage! This is one of the easiest and best ways to build your wealth for retirement.  The key to a successful retirement is knowing whether your current portfolio strategy and investments will provide the income that you’ll need after you retire. To determine that, you must first figure out how much income you’ll need.

#7: Check Your Tax Planning

We’re law abiding citizens, so we believe that you should pay every penny of tax that you owe, but, frankly, not a penny more. Smart tax planning — both at tax time and throughout the year — can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

Taxes are complicated (there’s an understatement), so we recommend that you talk with a professional. But rather than have your tax pro simply prepare your taxes every April, sit down with him to create tax-planning strategies to be sure you’re paying only what you owe.

#8: Check Your Estate Planning

How’s this for a shocking statistic? More than one-third of Americans do not have a will.

If you’re in that group, get one ASAP or your state will get to decide how your hard-earned assets are distributed when you pass away.

If you do have a will and have had any major life changes in the past year, such as a death in the family, divorce, birth of a child, grandchild, inheritance, major sickness, etc., then it’s time to update your will.  

Even if you haven’t experienced a major life change, it’s a good idea to review your will every few years to be sure your beneficiary designations on insurance and retirement accounts accurately reflect your current wishes.