💰 How to Find Forgotten 401(k) Accounts [AARP Article]

[Winter2025VA]

FROM THE ARTICLE: 5 Steps for Tracking Down Old 401(k)s.

A new federal database will make it easier to find your retirement funds from past jobs.

By Patricia Amend and Andy Markowitz, AARP.

Updated January 21, 2025.

Have you changed jobs and left retirement accounts behind?
“Forgetting about old 401(k)s, or even how much is in them, is more common that we would all like to think,” says Kashif Ahmed, president of American Private Wealth in Bedford, Massachusetts. “I recently had a client who forgot about an old 401(k). Once we uncovered it, it had more than triple what she thought it might contain.”

USE LINK BELOW TO READ THE ARTICLE: https://www.aarp.org/money/retirement/find-forgotten-401k-and-other-money/

[fffred]

@Winter2025VA 

I have actually gotten funds back 2 or 3 times. I remember the last time was about 6 years ago. I had closed a Public Storage rental and then moved to another state. My understanding was that everything was clear. Maybe 10 years later I was again doing a search for "lost" dough (mostly on a whim, I had done this before) and the state of Texas showed I had around $200 from Public Storage. I completed the forms and quickly got some cash!

I know there are companies that one can pay to do these searches. But at the time I did this each state had their own office of "unclaimed funds" and a website. I think there was even a national clearinghouse that run these too. And there was no fee for using any of these public databases. Look at it this way, if the funds are turned over to the state, then the state database is going to show those funds. And you don't have to pay said state for the search. I assume the AARP article discusses all this.

Anyway, it worked for me!

[Winter2025VA]

[2/23/25] GOOD for you @fffred !!! 🙃

I use the STATE ones when I think of it but so far nothing.

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[*** @fffred wrote:

@Winter2025VA 

I have actually gotten funds back 2 or 3 times. I remember the last time was about 6 years ago. I had closed a Public Storage rental and then moved to another state. My understanding was that everything was clear. Maybe 10 years later I was again doing a search for "lost" dough (mostly on a whim, I had done this before) and the state of Texas showed I had around $200 from Public Storage. I completed the forms and quickly got some cash!

I know there are companies that one can pay to do these searches. But at the time I did this each state had their own office of "unclaimed funds" and a website. I think there was even a national clearinghouse that run these too. And there was no fee for using any of these public databases. Look at it this way, if the funds are turned over to the state, then the state database is going to show those funds. And you don't have to pay said state for the search. I assume the AARP article discusses all this.

Anyway, it worked for me! ***]

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