Bad Dad

July 26, 2008 by Tim · 1 Comment
Filed under: Family 

While watching the Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds concert, the show gets to the high-heel race some radio station put on for the Dads to win 4 tickets to the concert, and backstage passes. These guys went all out, raced hard, sacrificing their bodies, just to get a priceless memory for their girls.

My 9-year old yells across the room, “You would so lose THAT!”. To me. The guy that took her to not one, not two, but 3 Father-Daughter Dances.

I didn’t miss a beat.

“You’re right, honey, because I’d have never started the race. I s’pose that means I don’t love you as much as those other Dads love their little girls.”

Finding lost money: It freakin’ worked!

July 21, 2008 by Tim · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Florida Government 

Long-time readers might remember that last fall I posted about finding lost money with the Florida Bureau of Unclaimed Property. My grandfather passed away a few years ago, and he’d been a long-haul value investor for decades, buying and holding and living off dividend checks, pensions, and social security in his retirement years. But, many of his stock purchases would be small lots - ten shares of this, 20 shares of that.

He was never a rich man, but he lived comfortably and always had a dollar or two for his grandkids when he visited. His final years were spent in nursing homes, which drained the majority of his savings before he died. My father handled his financial affairs for years, and they’d prepared well and had all the usual trusts set up so everything flowed smoothly in life and death.

So, it was with only mild surprise that I reacted to finding his name in the database. I sent the information to my father, wrote a quick blog post, and promptly forgot about it.

My parents came to Huntsville this past weekend for their first visit since our move, and while my father and I were out running errands and eating barbecue, he says, “Ooops, I almost forgot again - I’ve been carrying this around for months meaning to give it to you”, and he opens his wallet and hands me a Benjamin!

Turns out, the unclaimed property was a couple hundred dollars of stock that had been missed back when my father and grandfather set up the original financial arrangements. The hundred was my “finders-fee”. Not life-changing money, but even at my age it feels good to get a little found-money.

Good stuff, good stuff…

More "Unclaimed Property" Posts

  1. I found old money with the State of Florida Bureau of Unclaimed Property
  2. Finding lost money: It freakin’ worked!