Do you have unclaimed money coming to you? There are $16 billion in unclaimed U.S. savings bonds that have not been cashed in. That is a ridiculous amount of money, and it seems like the government got a good deal on these investments.
Part of the reason so many savings bonds have gone unclaimed is because they take two to four decades to mature. A lot of things happen in that many years, so people often simply forget or misplace the bonds. That is a lot of times to go to sleep.
On average, people who find they have unclaimed money out there end up netting $1,000 per bond. That is certainly nothing to sneeze at. The government sold so many savings bonds back in the day that it takes a room the size of a football field to hold all the microfiche reels (there are a million).
70-year-old Lorraine Silva went to work helping the government reunite people with their unclaimed bonds, and she found that she had some herself. The shock came when she realized they were worth $521. She plans to plant flowers with the money. She said, "I thought, I'm just going to plant flowers," she said. "$500 worth. $500 worth of flowers. I'm just planting them." What a beautiful garden she will have.
Right now, there is one person out there with 13,000 in unclaimed savings bonds worth $2.5 million now. Wow. That would be a major windfall. Do you have any savings bonds you've forgotten about? It's certainly worth checking.
Like this article? See more at Kate James on Gather.com.
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