Your Buried Treasure

Your Buried Treasure

You could have hidden cash that you didn’t know existed.

And you may have social security or life insurance benefits that didn’t even cross your mind, says Debbie Riney Smith, a private wealth advisor at SunTrust Investment Services.

Many women don’t know what they’re due.

Since 2000, New York has received over $400 million in unclaimed life insurance property. If insurance companies can’t track down beneficiaries, the benefit goes to the state.

“Some widowers and divorcees miss the fact they can collect on social security,” she says. Widowers who were married for at least nine months can receive survivor benefits.

If you’re of full retirement age, and your spouse never collected his benefits, you’re entitled to all of it.

Divorcees who were married for more than 10 years, and remain unmarried, can collect spousal social security once both parties reach 62. If you are entitled to both, individual and survivor benefits, you can choose to collect one, then switch to the other later, Smith adds.

How to find your treasure? Schedule a “family wealth meeting” every few years, she says. Some assets in her own family were only uncovered in an emergency meeting, after her stepfather was diagnosed with cancer.

Visiting a financial advisor is crucial, especially after a recent family death or divorce. Most advisors have access to tools that help identify social security or insurance you’re due.

All states also have a free website to search if you have access to unclaimed insurance, to get you started.

Bonus PINK Link: What to do when you’re flushed with sudden cash.

Have more questions?

By Ruchika Tulshyan

“ Women don’t have to shout for their rights…when they are economically independent: then these come automatically.”
Lucia Quachey

*Supporting images from FreeDigitalPhotos.net, posterize, and Ambro.