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Man urges people to make simple check after he 'hit the mother lode' and discovered missing £18,000

Home> News> UK News

Published 10:36 30 Apr 2024 GMT+1

Man urges people to make simple check after he 'hit the mother lode' and discovered missing £18,000

Robert stumbled upon £18,000 in 'forgotten' money

Lucy Devine

Lucy Devine

Wouldn't it be nice if you stumbled upon £18,000 that you didn't know you had?

Well, that's exactly what happened to one man, who was able to boost his savings when he realised he had thousands of pounds in hidden funds.

Robert Sullivan had no idea he had some hidden funds. (Yau Ming Low/Getty Stock Image)
Robert Sullivan had no idea he had some hidden funds. (Yau Ming Low/Getty Stock Image)

Robert Sullivan, 46, is a former serviceman from the British Army. After leaving the forces, Robert spent a number of years in various different contracting roles, working as an electrician.

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After being in and out of different jobs, Robert didn't realise that he actually had six different pension pots that he had no idea existed.

After discovering the pots of cash, he managed to boost his savings by £18,000 - and now, Robert is urging others to do the same.

It's believed there are around three million pension pots worth £26.6 billion that have been forgotten about in the UK.

He was shocked when he discovered the money. (Mirrorpix)
He was shocked when he discovered the money. (Mirrorpix)

He told The Mirror: "I've been in and out the army four different times and I've had around 11 contracting jobs since leaving but I've not thought too much about my retirement and my pension.

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"Although it's creeping up, it's still I'd like to think it's still a long way away. I have always banked on my army pension really, and anything else would've been a bonus."

So how did Robert discover the missing money?

Well, in December 2022, he reached out to pension tracing service, Penny, which helps people track down lost pension pots.

Although Robert used Penny, you can track down the pots yourself, but if you decide to do this you'll need to contact former employers.

It's also worth noting that the government also has a free Pension Tracing tool which you can find here.

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Robert had six pots in total. (Mario Gutiérrez/Getty Stock Image)
Robert had six pots in total. (Mario Gutiérrez/Getty Stock Image)

A few weeks after contacting Penny, Robert tracked down his first lost pot.

"This was when I first started contracting for the army, and it was £385 and although it wasn't a mad amount, it was quite nice knowing that they found something from that long ago that I wouldn't have had," he said.

Soon, more and more pots were found, with one containing a staggering £11,000.

"I was properly shocked at the amount of that one, because of the ones we found, they were all a few hundred quid, just short of a grand, not really too much at all in the grand scheme of things," he said.

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"So I thought I was definitely not going to have that much in the pot but then when that one came through, I thought, blimey, this is worth it."

The extra money has allowed Robert to ease his workload.

"Being in a trade, well eventually your body is going to wear out, I won't be able to crawl through people's lofts and keep pulling cables, so it's nice being given a cushion, and knowing it is there," he explained.

With so many pots unclaimed, it's definitely worth looking into.

Featured Image Credit: Mirror/Getty Stock Image

Topics: Money, UK News

Lucy Devine
Lucy Devine

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