Finding unclaimed shares

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Somewhere out there more than 20,000 people are sitting on a $42 million share gold mine and do not even know it.

It sits in massive government slush funds.

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Unclaimed bank accounts, lost superannuation policies, life insurance policies never cashed in.

Claire Doherty from the Australian Shareholders Association said a lot of the time it has to do with someone not updating contact details.

"Much of it is because shareholders move and don't let the company know where they are," she said.

"Effectively the shares fall down a hole.

"They stay with the company for a couple of years then they go into this huge slush fund of government."

If you add it all up almost a million Australians have $500 million sitting around waiting to be claimed.

The latest $42 million surge comes from two companies, concrete maker Rinker and money manager AXA.

Both companies have handed registers over to ASIC having lost contact with thousands of investors and they have money just sitting there and it could be yours.

"The situation with Rinker is there is a decision which says that those people who owned Rinker shares, some of them might be entitled to more money," Claire said.

Claire said it is relatively easy to claim the shares.

"If you've lost your shares in a takeover and you've never collected the proceeds of those that's relatively simple," she said.

"If you've lost the proceeds of your dividends, that's a bit more difficult.

"You need to search for them in the state where they got lost, where that company was headquartered."

But there is a catch with Rinker. An application for lost shares or dividends must be in by tomorrow.

If the claim is not contested you could be in for a nice Christmas bonus.

Finding the money

For more information on finding lost money visit the Federal Government's Fido website at www.fido.gov.au.

The Australian Shareholders Association also runs a help site at www.asa.asn.au.

Unclaimed cash can also be checked through the office of revenue in your state.