Finding lost money: It freakin’ worked!
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
- I found old money with the State of Florida Bureau of Unclaimed Property
- Finding lost money: It freakin’ worked!
Bonus Lotto Tickets
I just heard that the Florida Lottery has come up with another way to separate poor people from our hard-earned money. The lottery is going to start selling bonus tickets on March 2. As I understand it, the $1 ticket still works the same but the player has the option to play it for $2 or $3 for bonuses of $10M or $25M.
As I wrote in my 7 Weird Things… post, I play the lotto despite knowing better. I rarely play more than $3 on 3 tickets, though. Now, do I play one ticket for $3? If so, which set of numbers? Because you just know that as soon as I pick one set, one of the other sets will hit.
I know it, I just know it!
What to do, what to do…
Rudy, you sly, sly dog!
Rudy Giuliani is all over Florida. See him there! What about there! Hey, hey, I got him, he’s over here!
He’s getting a lot of flack over his perceived exploitation of 9/11, but never let it be said his campaign lacks for creative thinking in working ways to remind us:
Rudy Giuliani’s Subliminal Endorsement
Ahem.
No one under the age of 30 should be allowed to vote
From the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, where Recount, a movie about the 2000 election, is being filmed:
OVERHEARD
Don’t know much about recent history
Two 20-somethings chatting in a San Marco bakery earlier this week.
First guy: They’re filming some stuff for that HBO movie Recount today.
Second guy: Yeah, I saw the crew working on signs. Why are they setting up so much stuff to make it look like everything is happening in Palm Beach?
I found old money with the State of Florida Bureau of Unclaimed Property
I read an article about a First Coast woman that just received a check for over $28,000 from the State of Florida Bureau of Unclaimed Property.
I knew this existed, but I leave the search for windfalls to my wife, who takes care of things like joining class-action lawsuits and filing for insurance claims for us. But, it was early, I was awake, and I was bored.
I went to the site and did a search for my last name. I found 4 accounts in my late grandfather’s name, all stock. Two of the accounts were for the same company, which I recognized. I recognized a second company, also. Both are tech companies. The third company appears to be a bank.
Oh well, more money for my father and uncles to claim. Sigh. Maybe they’ll give me a finders’ fee?
More "Unclaimed Property" Posts
- I found old money with the State of Florida Bureau of Unclaimed Property
- Finding lost money: It freakin’ worked!
Only in FLA: St. Johns County Commissioner Threatens Old Man With Forcible Sodomy
Wow. I don’t have a clue what drove St. John’s County Commissioner Ben Rich to jump on this guy. For all I know, Bud Markel could be the biggest jerk on the planet. What isn’t in doubt is that it’s pretty inappropriate to threaten a citizen with anal rape.
Let’s go to the tape: Ben Rich vs. Bud Markel
Really? Let’s say everything Ben Rich is saying about Bud Markel is true. Let’s say Bud Markel really is a liar. I don’t know that, but for the sake of argument, let’s say Ben Rich is 100% accurate in his opinion.
Is it still ok for an elected official to threaten a citizen, a SENIOR CITIZEN with assault? Is it ok for an elected official to threaten a citizen with forcible sodomy? Is it ok for anyone at least 20 years younger than the Bud Markel to threaten him with assault?
I suppose with Larry “Bud” Melman in the grave, Commissioner School Bully Ben Rich had to move on to the next oldest guy he could find.
Only in FLA: Key West election decided by pulling name out of hat
Filed under: Florida Government, Humor, Key West, Only in FLA
Shades of 2000: Key West election decided by pulling name out of hat
But, the funniest part?
Harry Sawyer, Monroe County’s supervisor of elections, says the same hat was used to break a tie in 1985 on a decision to purchase a county fire truck.
If only that hat could talk…
Only in FLA: Nub City
Man, this is weird, even for Florida…
Seems that back in the 1960’s a bunch of the men in town blew off hands and feet for the insurance money. You simply HAVE to read this story at tampabay.com!
Here’s a couple teasers for you:
Once upon a time, the Panhandle city of Vernon was a national laughingstock. Its people were ridiculed as bumpkins and cranks, freaks willing to shoot off their own hands. Then things changed. Time and hard work helped bury the past, and now Vernon has reclaimed some of its dignity. If only that were the end of the story.
Hmmm… tell me more…
The characters are not heroes. They are not even villains. They are merely conniving mercenaries with a tolerance for gore.
No shee-ite, y’all ain’t gonna believe this…
How does a town become known as Nub City? Why did more than two-thirds of all loss-of-limb accident claims in the United States in the late ’50s and early ’60s come from the Florida Panhandle? What was the first event in the bloody chain that led a national insurance investigator to Main Street in Vernon, to sit in a parked car on a hot summer night, watching the maimed walk by in a shuddersome parade?
Ok, I’m not going to steal this guy’s thunder, it’s a great story and you gotta go over there to read about the amputees of Vernon, FL. However, here’s a list of things you can find in Vernon, FL that you can’t find anyplace else:
- A REAL second-hand store.
- More one-legged women named “Eileen” per capita than anyplace else.
- The original IHOP.
- Every parking spot in town is a handicapped spot.
- Wheelchairs with mud tires and lift kits and gun racks… up on blocks…
Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton rapidly losing all credibility
The local rag in Jax, The Florida Times-Union, with it’s website, Jacksonville.com, are occasionally taken to task by smaller organizations for being too close and soft on business and political leaders in Duval County.
But, credit where credit is due, someone over there has their teeth into Mayor John Peyton’s rear-end and is shaking loose a host of sweetheart contracts awarded to friends and associates, including a $48,000 no-bid contract to an efficiency consultant.
Now, I have no idea if this person earned their money; I do know that a $48,000 no-bid contract in every business I’ve been associated with (Revenues ranging from $4M to $9Billion) would never fly. As someone that has been involved in selling products and services to the federal government for most of his career, I can say sole-source contracts exist when the government knows there is no viable alternative in the market.
This all comes on the heels of revelations of similar shady deals for a provider of IT consulting services, owned by a former Peyton staffer.
It is my opinion that IT consulting services and organizing-consulting services do not meet this threshold. Neither is unique, neither possesses technology nor skills that couldn’t be found elsewhere, and frankly, neither business has high barriers to entry.
Mayor Peyton has been a vocal opponent of property tax reform in Florida, warning that city services would have to be cut. When the reform package was passed and signed into law, Peyton submitted a budget that included heavy cuts in city services and new/increased fees for basic services.
A single instance, ok, you can forgive as a lapse in judgment or “slip”. But, it’s beginning to look like there is a pattern of corruption at Jax City Hall, and the mayor wants the taxpayers to foot the bill.
Only in FLA: Politicians can be scared into performing gay sex acts in public
Here’s a follow-up to a report I psoted a couple weeks about a Titusville State Senator that got busted for offering to pay some dude to perform the oral magic on him.
Now, an audiotape has been released of his arrest interview where he says he went along with the conversation because he was scared of the guy, because the guy was black.
Please, someone take his shovel away, the hole is deep enough.
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