FINANCIAL FOCUS® – Don’t lose track of financial accounts
By Toby Karr, AAMS®
Edward Jones Financial Advisor
http://www.edwardjones.com/toby-karr | 720-509-0504
For years, people save and invest in 401(k) plans, IRAs and other financial accounts.
They wouldn’t lose track of this money, would they?
You might be surprised. About 1 in 7 people has unclaimed cash or property,
totaling billions of dollars, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property
Administrators.
People lose track of their money for a variety of reasons: They change jobs and
forget about their retirement accounts; they move and leave no forwarding address;
they change names and don’t notify former employers; or their employers go out of
business or merge with another company.
Whatever the reason, losing tabs on accounts that could be worth thousands of
dollars is never a good thing. What can you do to avoid suffering this type of loss?
Here are a few suggestions:
- Maintain good records. Keep records of all your financial, investment and retirement accounts – and let a family
member know where these records are kept. - Keep a manageable number of financial accounts. The fewer bank and brokerage accounts you have, the easier it
will be to keep track of everything. You might even want to consolidate accounts when possible. - Report your change of address. Whenever you move, contact your financial services providers and any former
employers with whom you may have retirement accounts. - Report name changes. If you change your name, notify new and old 401(k) plan administrators, banks, brokerages
and any other institution connected to your money. - Manage retirement accounts when you change jobs. If you leave your job, you might be able to leave your 401(k)
behind with your old employer. But if you do, keep track of it. On the other hand, you could roll your old plan into
your new employer’s plan or into an I RA. - Inform your (lnancial professional about all your accounts. If you work with a financial professional, they can help you
track your accounts, so inform them of all past and present IRAs and 401(k)s or similar employer-sponsored plans.
So far, we’ve looked at ways you can prevent losing track of financial accounts. But can you do anything if you
suspect you’ve already left some money behind?
If you think you’ve losttabs on an IRA, you can check old tax returns and bank statements to help you track your
contributions and find the name of the financial provider that held your account. If it’s a 401(k), you can contact
your old employer’s plan administrator.
You can get some help from other sources, too. The Department of Labor recently launched a retirement savings
lost-and-found database (lostandfound.dol.gov) that can help you find pension or 401(k) plans connected to your
Social Security number. For a stray IRA, you can check unclaimed.org, the website of the National Association of
Unclaimed Property Administrators. And for various other sources of money – including uncashed checks from
corporations and financial institutions, inactive brokerage accounts and unclaimed safe deposit boxes – you can
check MissingMoney.com, the unclaimed property website of the National Association of State Treasurers.
These sites offer no guarantees of finding your lost or missing accounts or other sources of money, so you still
may have to do your own sleuthing. But as the old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” –
which, in this case, means you’ll help yourself greatly by tracking your accounts from beginning to end.
This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor.
WALL STREET BY THE NUMBERS
By Joanna Silosky
World Systems Builder Finance and Insurance Group
jmsilosky@gmaiLcom | 8327710854
Have you ever looked at the statements from
your retirement plan and wondered, “What
do all these indexes mean?”
We see the terms Nasdaq, Dow, or S&P
on our financial plans, but most of us just
skim through them. However, as the economy
rapidly changes, as some people seem to have
more money than ever while others are doing
worse, it might be worth taking the time to
understand where our money goes.
The Nasdaq composite has been around
since 1971. It measures the performance of
over 3000 companies, heavily focusing on the tech sector. This index is
market cap weighted, which means that the performance of the biggest
companies strongly swings the overall performance of the composite.
So, when tech companies are booming, the Nasdaq flies high. However,
if tech crashes as it did in 2000 or 2008, this index can plummet more
quickly too.
The S&P 500 Index was established in 1957. It tracks the performance
of 500 of the largest American companies across eleven major industries,
including healthcare and finance. Like the Nasdaq, it is market cap
weighted, so the biggest companies strongly influence the performance
of the index overall. It is used to gauge the health of a broader section of
the American economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index is the oldest major American index,
having been established in 1896. It tracks the performance of 30
blue-chip companies. A blue-chip company is a large, well-established
company with a long history of steady dividend payments to investors.
Unlike the other two major American indexes, this one is price weighted,
which means companies with the highest-priced individual stocks are
most influential, rather than the biggest companies overall.
Other developed countries have their own market indexes, too.
The EURO STOXX 50 tracks leading European companies. The Nikkei
225 tracks the performance of companies in the Tokyo stock exchange.
Around the world, people invest in businesses to help their money grow.
None of this information constitutes investment advice. It is merely
provided to pique your interest in your own retirement and investment
plans.
