Finance Wanted.

By Russ D Johnson

Mention Arizona and picturesque desert sunsets and multi-hued walls of the Grand Canyon usually pop in to people's heads. True, Arizona's giant Saguaro cacti and jagged horizons rival some of the world's best nature vistas, but there's a lot more to the 48th state than meets the eye. A few lesser-known facts: Arizona is home to the Petrified Forest, the beautiful ridge-nosed rattlesnake, the endangered Apache Trout (found only in the state), and lots and lots of pennies. Arizona leads the 50 states in copper production, but the Treasury Department has more than just pennies sitting-around. Hundreds of millions of dollars in Arizona unclaimed money are waiting for their rightful owners to come and take them home. Problem is, most current (and former) residents aren't even aware that these AZ lost funds are waiting for them.

Jane Tressler, upon receiving a letter from Arizona's Department of Revenue, was clueless about unclaimed property. "I got this letter and was really wondering why the Department of Revenue would need my Social Security number." the Arizona resident said. "It was telling me I had possibly some unclaimed property. I've been racking my brain trying to think what it could be, but I've come up with nothing." After personally going to the Department of Revenue to see if her letter was for real, Tressler was surprised she was really owed unclaimed money from 10 shares of unredeemed Metlife stock worth $63 each. "Six hundred and thirty dollars, well that's OK!" exclaimed the once-doubtful unclaimed money owner. There are more people out there like Tressler, according to Daniel Corcoran of the Arizona Department Of Revenue Unclaimed Property Division.

In this day and age of the internet, multi-cored home computers and PDAs that do everything short of heating your leftovers, one would think life would be more organized. The more tools and gadgets we have at our disposal however, the more things we have to think about and the more complicated our lives get. This might account somehow for the over $400 million in Arizona state unclaimed money languishing in the Unclaimed Property Division of the Arizona Department of Revenue.

Unclaimed property includes financial assets like forgotten bank accounts, uncashed checks, unclaimed insurance and retirement benefits, stocks and stock dividends, even safe deposit box contents whose owners can't be found. The Unclaimed Property Law in Arizona requires these to be turned-over to the state if not returned to their rightful owners after a usual period of 3 years. The proceeds are then held by the state as unclaimed money redeemable at any time, but if you had Arizona unclaimed money in your name, wouldn't you want it now? Use today's technology to work for you and find out if you're owed unclaimed property money without even having to take a trip downtown.

If you know where to look, doing an on-line unclaimed money search can be quick, easy and simple. The key is learning from Arizona unclaimed money experts and putting their tactics in to action to help locate your lost money.

Unclaimed money and property expert Russ Johnson has been assisting Americans in finding their unclaimed money online since 1997. His site, http://www.unclaimedmoney.net, is updated regularly and offers guaranteed official searches for Arizona unclaimed money and missing money across the country.