Found money !

[1HVACOWNER]

Sorry no pics on this one... This is just a good true story. In 1999 I went on a noise call to this old womans home. It was a old cinderblock house about 1000 square feet in the older part of our town. She was at least in her early-mid 90s at the time. I look at the gas pak and it sounds like the blower is off balance, so I open it up. I put my hand in and think im pulling out old dust covered paper. After I rubbed off a piece of it I saw it was a 20.00, then I pulled out another and several 5s. I looked up the return line and saw several more laying in the duct! So I go to the floor return (It used to have a floor oil furn, they took it out years before and turned it into a return), and look down and see a few more. Im a little flustered because I cant figure this out, Then I look to my right and see where they panned up under the floor were stacks of cash in older rubber bands. I stop right there and call the womans daughter (who called me out to look at the system, The old woman was 90% blind and deft) to come to the house. She shows up and then I tell her what I found and then start pulling it out, She starts crying and calls her brother and husband. Turns out her father told them that he had money stached away, but did not tell anyone where it was at. He died in his sleep in 1991. They checked all the local banks and found nothing. I think he just kept putting cash away because all the stacks had $1,$5,$10s,20s,100s, Oldest money I saw was late 50s. Rubber bands were shot and breaking apart. I did not stay to count it, but I figure it was at least 12-20K. And I can honestly say I did not take one dime of it. Thats my wall of pride.

[toocoolforschool]

Kudos to you. There is no money better than a gift from family passed down hopefully used for good.

[uniservice]

Good on You!!!!!

[Freightshaker]

Great story and that sure is good of you to do the right thing!

[Core_d]

Ide guess u have a customer for life.

[ClimateCntlJohn]

Wow, I thought I was the only one with a story like that. I went on a call on a very hot summer evening. System not keeping up, another tech had just been out and "added some charge." I got looking around and decided to double check the evap. I cut a little access on the ductboard plenum and that bad boy had wet money all over it. I pulled it off the coil and counted it, I think it was around $700. I was confused on what to do. I brought money down out of the attic and they thought they had won the lottery. I didn't take a dime BUT he gave me a $50 bill when I left for being honest! HAHA

[davidj001]

good man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[techtraining]

It wasn't on a service call. But when my ex-wife's grandmother passed away, we moved into the house and I noticed a couple of the registers weren't blowing very well. I took the cover off and dug down to pull out stacks of 20's. I checked all the other registers and found money in half a dozen. All told, we found nearly 20k. Gave the money to my mother-in-law and she paid for the whole family to go on vacation!

[motoguy128]

The good news, they foudn the money.

The bad news... even just in a IRA or some relatively safe investment, it should have been worth what $100? $200K? if that really goes back 40 years. Inflation aloe at 3-4% would have tripled you money. Even if you do n't trust the banks, you could have bought gold, diamonds, anything being better than paper money over that time period. Hard to explain that to many that were children during hte deperssion and "real" hard time. We don't know hard.

[ga-hvac-tech]

The good news, they foudn the money.

The bad news... even just in a IRA or some relatively safe investment, it should have been worth what $100? $200K? if that really goes back 40 years. Inflation aloe at 3-4% would have tripled you money. Even if you do n't trust the banks, you could have bought gold, diamonds, anything being better than paper money over that time period. Hard to explain that to many that were children during hte deperssion and "real" hard time. We don't know hard.

Lots of folks from those times to not trust banks... and the surely do not trust govts. (IMO smarter than we are today).

There are lots of ways for the system to take your $$$ from you... as many as there are corrupt polecats and corrupt bankers. A good example is the housing boom/bust cycles... And please do not tell me this all happened by circumstance... one really has to not be watching to believe that...

[fliks]

Had an old friend who had been saving for retirement. Had $30,000 saved. His wife had to go thru surgery and they took all of it before the government took over. They can barely put food on the table now. I think the risks outweigh the benefits. At least you get to keep it if the government doesn't know about it.

[Legitshop]

goodjob brother

[motoguy128]

Had an old friend who had been saving for retirement. Had $30,000 saved. His wife had to go thru surgery and they took all of it before the government took over. They can barely put food on the table now. I think the risks outweigh the benefits. At least you get to keep it if the government doesn't know about it.

That's an unfortunate and all too common story. It helps to know how to properly shelter retirement savings and in extreme cases, how to utilize the bankruptcy system. He clearly had no plan for a major life event. It you don't have a plan (insurance, protected assets) then you are just playing the odds.

I suppose if you can't afford to hedge yourself with any insurance, you're forced to hang on to cash and your "insurance" becomes the taxpayers and your cost is 2-5% in inflation.

Gee, everytime I hear a story like this, it makes me realize that some sort of health coverage should be required for all since in the end, taxpayers pay for it regardless. It's like either paying to PM a furnace, or paying to replace it early. Either way, you pay.