State Treasurer Sounds Alarm About Americans’ Retirement Money ‘Lost In The Either’

More than $1 billion in retirement checks owed to Americans are sitting unclaimed as state financial officials push President Donald Trump to overhaul how the government handles the lost money, North Dakota Treasurer Tom Beadle told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Beadle joined financial officers from 18 other states in urging Trump to give states unclaimed-property programs a larger role in returning retirement benefits to people who cannot be located or who never cash checks sent by their retirement plans. The officials argued states were better equipped to track down owners than the current system, which can leave retirement money sitting with financial institutions for years.

“We’re talking about over a billion dollars in uncashed retirement checks that are sitting out there,” Beadle told the DCNF. “And that number is growing by about $100 million a year.”

The problem can arise when a retiree moves, changes an address or otherwise loses contact with the company administering a retirement plan. A retirement plan may send a distribution check to the address it has on file, but if the recipient never receives or cashes it, the money can remain outstanding.

The Department of Labor acknowledges retirement plans can lose track of people because of outdated contact information and incomplete records. Since 2017, the department’s enforcement efforts have recovered more than $7 billion in retirement benefits for missing participants and beneficiaries.

“What we’re talking about is money that’s already been distributed,” Beadle told the DCNF. “The check’s been cut. It just hasn’t been cashed.”

The Department of Labor announced a policy in January 2025 allowing retirement-plan fiduciaries, under certain conditions, to transfer benefit payments worth $1,000 or less to state unclaimed-property funds when they cannot locate the person owed the money.

The department’s guidance requires participating state programs to maintain searchable databases, permit electronic claims, search for updated addresses and hold the money for its rightful owner without reducing the amount through fees.

Beadle said the $1,000 limit means the policy reaches only a fraction of the missing retirement checks, estimating roughly 28% fall below the threshold.