32,000 People Are Owed Pensions in the US: Are YOU One of Them?

Government Agency Offers Free Search Engine

A total of $133 million in retirement benefits haven't been claimed, the federal agency that insures private pension plans reported on April 3rd.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp (www.pbgc.gov). said 32,000 people are owed money. Individual benefits range from $1 up to $611,028. The average unclaimed benefit is about $4,950.

Vince Snowbarger -- the agency's interim director, said in a prepared statement, "...Although the vast majority of workers receive their full pension, sometimes people lose track of benefits earned with former employers." The agency urged people who may have lost track of a pension earned during their career and think they may be owed retirement benefits to conduct a search using PBGC's online directory:

http://www.pbgc.gov/search.

People can search by their last name, company name or state where the company was headquartered, the PBGC said.

The states with the most missing pension participants and unclaimed pension money are:

-New York: 6,885 people, accounting for $37.49 million in unclaimed benefits.

-California: 3,081 people, $7.38 million

-New Jersey: 2,209 people, $12.05 million

-Texas: 1,987 people, $6.86 million

-Pennsylvania: 1,944 people, $9.56 million

-Illinois: 1,629 people, $8.75 million

-Florida: 1,629 people, $7.14 million.

The PBGC insures pensions for 44 million workers and retirees. According to the PBGC website, over the past twelve years more than 22,000 people have found $137 million in missing pension benefits through PBGC's Pension Search program. The states with the most found participants and pension money claimed are: New York, California, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan.