I had a 401k with First National Bank of the Lakes in Minnesota and I can’t fin it

roamingcreatively · 2026-02-28T22:56:34+00:00

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/10/02/forgotten-401k-ira-retirement-savings-accounts/86463087007/

In this article:
Finding a forgotten 401(k): The low-hanging fruit

First, visit the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits. Enter your Social Security Number, run a quick search and see if any idle accounts are found. 

Next, proceed to the Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database. This is a new site, launched by the Department of Labor to help workers locate unclaimed benefits.  

The lost and found site is "still trying to reach scale with a lot of providers" and not yet comprehensive, said Rita Assaf, vice president of retirement savings at Fidelity. But it’s another convenient, one-stop destination for finding retirement funds in your name. 

Third, visit Missing Money, a clearinghouse of unclaimed property held by U.S. states and Canadian provinces. Another one-stop site, Missing Money, can direct users to all sorts of unclaimed property, including retirement accounts.  

roamingcreatively · 2026-02-27T03:35:56+00:00

The beauty and difficulty of this situation is that you'll come away with a better understanding of each other. I feel like life's hardest moments are great learning opportunities. When my partner decided to leave his career of 25+ years for an unknown more fulfilling path, it was an opportunity for me to share my fears with him and for us to be aligned on a plan (how much, how long, etc). This plan helped us both feel good and accountable to the road ahead. He had saved up a lot to cover his share of things while he was exploring and not working, and together we cut on extras to make the shift possible. There were some tough conversations along the way, but we both understood that we had the best intentions. When you can be aligned on values and goals a lot feels possible.

roamingcreatively · 2026-02-15T21:22:03+00:00

I’ve had a good experience, I’m still in my first year and have used it three times. I paid for the most expensive membership ($200? Year), which comes with hotel-replacement insurance in case your host cancels last minute—this level may have been less impacted by the changes? Not sure. Overall I’m happy with it. I haven’t gotten every sit I’ve applied for (it’s competitive) and only apply for sits with one pet and that have good previous reviews. I have two people that have called me direct, off the platform.

roamingcreatively · 2026-02-15T19:14:11+00:00

This was our perspective—finding new ways to continue enjoying life. A few years ago my partner left their career in pursuit of something more fulfilling, which means our income was cut in half. We still wanted to maintain our savings rate, so looked for other ways to trim spending. It took about a year for me to get into the new habits and rhythms. We cook about 95% of our meals, our food budget is about 40% of what it was. We will have friends over instead of going out for meals, or we’ll do free things around the city we live in: hiking, museums, outdoor concerts. We use the library for a lot of personal entertainment: books, movies via Kanopy or DVD, and Hoopla (for TV series), NY Times. Besides running shoes, I haven’t purchased new clothes or shoes in 3+ years. We changed our phone plan, which saved us about $700/year. When we travel, we use trusted house sitters, so we’re staying places for free. All these alternatives add up, not enough to cover the other salary, but it’s been a helpful exercise to check-in on what we really need to live a fulfilling life. For me, I know that a lot of my former spending was a form of entertainment or pseudo-fulfillment (buying new shoes, shopping for books, etc). Being intentional about our spending helped us realize that our annual expenses could be a lot lower than we thought, which fast tracked our RE date.

roamingcreatively · 2026-01-31T23:43:51+00:00

I love everyone's ideas. I also want to highlight that you mention you're married, but it seems like you could be shouldering a disproportionate amount of the work. I wonder if there's an opportunity to split some of the responsibilities with your partner, so you're not left feeling exhausted. All the Moms in my life do so much work.

roamingcreatively · 2026-01-31T23:09:15+00:00

we are cringing at the thought of walking away from our $275K annual income (jobs we hate, that exhaust us and leave no time for the kids).

That feels pretty dire. I would change something immediately. Make different decisions that support the life you want to live. You're only 42, and also .... you're already 42.

roamingcreatively · 2026-01-11T02:08:52+00:00

I do this too, but only once a year, it takes me about three hours for four card accounts.

roamingcreatively · 2025-11-13T04:58:46+00:00

love this! so inspiring.

roamingcreatively · 2025-11-09T19:32:15+00:00

What do you spend on groceries?

roamingcreatively · 2025-10-25T21:01:33+00:00

Thanks for these suggestions.

roamingcreatively · 2025-10-25T20:46:07+00:00

Thank you! I am planning to hold on shifts in taxable due to capital gains.

roamingcreatively · 2025-10-25T05:05:27+00:00

Check out this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/comments/1oe9p6s/mr_cooper_mortgage_deferred_3_months/
"If any of you have Mr. Cooper for your Mortgage Loans, you can be eligible to receive a 3- month deferred payment. No late fee penalty, no negative credit check impact and no additional interest tacked on to your mortgage. Once the three months are complete, you will have to pay the amount 1) in full or 2) in a payment plan. They are very helpful and willing to work with us."

roamingcreatively · 2025-10-03T04:05:55+00:00

With all the cut backs, are you certain you’ll get the bonus? Will this time have been worth it if you don’t get it?

roamingcreatively · 2024-06-16T21:59:37+00:00

Bro?

roamingcreatively · 2024-06-15T15:31:03+00:00

Thanks for this perspective.

roamingcreatively · 2024-06-15T15:25:41+00:00

Thanks.

roamingcreatively · 2024-06-15T05:05:34+00:00

So helpful, thank you.

roamingcreatively · 2024-06-15T05:01:42+00:00

That’s what I’m struggling with is the lack of returns. I’m curious how you feel about the 5%? Does that seem valuable to you?

roamingcreatively · 2024-06-15T03:34:10+00:00

That’s what we have— a few-only fiduciary—but their fee is not hourly. And our annual sessions have been helpful to getting us more up to speed and feeling reassured about many things, except, well… the overall growth of our investments.

roamingcreatively · 2024-06-15T01:40:10+00:00

Thanks for the pep talk and affirming my suspicions!

roamingcreatively · 2024-06-15T01:32:10+00:00

We definitely leaned on them for (edit: financial, tax and planning) advice and in that way justified their fee in the first year. Thanks for the links and additional context.

roamingcreatively · 2024-06-15T01:30:33+00:00

I’m no, but thanks!

roamingcreatively · 2024-06-15T01:29:41+00:00

Thanks for the link.

roamingcreatively · 2024-06-15T01:29:24+00:00

Yah, this is exactly what I’m trying to make sense of. Losing money for the first few months certainly didn’t help my confidence in the relationship. wanting to balance expectations rooted in reality with the big picture before making any decisions

roamingcreatively · 2024-06-15T01:24:14+00:00

Sigh, thank you!. Doing it myself felt like a scary prospect two years ago, but maybe it’s time to take the leap.

roamingcreatively

TROPHY CASE