一般來講，像我這種不善理財的人，不期的損失是隨時的。 但是，也常常都有意外的驚喜。
你要是跟我一樣，不大識數，但又做不到視金錢如糞土，那我給你推薦個好東西，叫作Search Detective :: Unclaimed Property & Hidden Personal Asset State Directory（含美國各州搜索網站連接）。
舉加州為例：California Unclaimed Property Search （加州搜索網站）
打開網頁，輸入自己的名字，它沒準就能幫你搜出長長一張單子，列的盡是你早就忘掉了或者壓根沒意識到屬於你的財產，比如電話公司或者信用卡公司欠你的錢；車行對某特定車型用戶作出的賠償；你也不知道什麽時候放出去的債；甚至N多年前美國領事館欠你的銀子。
總之千奇百怪什麽都有，不查不知道，一查或許就能嚇一跳。
幾個月前我知道了這個網站，查了一下，立刻跟無端夢見金元寶似的，對意外之財生出從未有過的幻想。興高采烈準備了需要的材料，填好表格，寄給政府要錢。
當時其實沒抱太大希望，因為許多羅列出來歸我所有的項目，看上去特別陌生。隻是挑了一打我還模模糊糊有印象曾經打過交道的單位，胡亂對付著交些證明文件，比如帳單駕照什麽的。沒想到果真被我要了不少錢回來。當然了，有些項目政府管我索要進一步的證明文件，我不記得有過或者已經找不到，所以那錢就要不回來了。不過，即便如此，我也已經感覺自己比司令幸運太多。她平時老是教育我，要學會管理錢財，改掉在投資和理財方麵缺心少肺的毛病。現在我發現，她的缺點竟然就是太會理財了！所以她搜索來搜索去，結果卻沒有發現什麽屬於自己卻尚未認領的財物。
現在我終於體會到成天丟錢那些馬大哈們的快樂。老有機會撿錢，盡管撿來撿去也都是自己的錢，那也比沒錢可撿感覺爽啊。
為此我特別感謝加州地區這項措施的負責人，加州的財務長官張約翰同學。
這裏附封信，是他關於這項舉措的一些說明。
祝感興趣的同學們好運！
For two decades, misguided State laws restricted my office from contacting the owners of what amounted to more than 80% of all unclaimed property accounts sent to the State. In August, that practice ended when the Legislature passed and the Governor signed my reforms that removed the laws, roadblocks and red tape from reuniting Californians with their property.
On October 18, a federal court in
Within the first week of being able to provide notices to owners of their State-held valuables, we sent notices to 99,086 Californians urging them to claim their property. Without the new laws, we would not have been able to send 77,078 of these letters.
Furthermore, our reform efforts re-established a unit that will aggressively find and track down property owners in attempts to reunite them with what rightfully belongs to them. In the first four weeks since our reforms took hold, more than 3,100 owners of lost, forgotten or abandoned property will be returned that would not have happened without long-overdue statutory changes.
I am pleased our reforms both satisfied the court, and coupled with common sense administrative changes, show progress in reuniting rightful owners with their unclaimed property.
I want Californians to know that I am putting them first, and there is much more work to do. I will continue my work to make sure the State is moving quickly to put their property back in their hands where it belongs. I also have sponsored comprehensive reform legislation (SB 919 by Senator Mike Machado) to restore interest paid on claims and impose strict penalties on banks, utility companies and other businesses that fail to comply with the law and notify their customers of unclaimed property they are holding.
There are additional reforms I plan on pursuing. Among the reforms, I seek to cut the time it takes to review and make a determination on property claims in half. Current law provides that most lost or abandoned property transfer to the State after three years of inactivity. I would like to extend this timeframe to provide owners with more time to notify their account holder of their intent to maintain their accounts, while still balancing the impact of holder fees which may draw down the account values. I want to protect owners of safe deposit boxes by prohibiting financial institutions from sending them to the State if the owner has other active accounts.
I remain confident that these measures will greatly improve the unclaimed property law and restore the public’s confidence that their lost property will be safeguarded by the State until Californians claim what is rightfully theirs.
Sincerely,
阿小名你節日快樂！