There is a report that over 32,000 pensions have gone unclaimed. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp reports that over $133 million in retirement funds are up in the air. How does this happen? Believe it or not, I am going to tell you. The cause is a complete lack of awareness. A lack of awareness about your company's benefits, a lack of awareness about your retirement plans, and a lack of awareness about your household finances.

See if this has ever been you.

So you gotta a new job, and it appears that it offers a great benefits package. You have health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, a 401k, and a pension plan. Now you clearly understand your health insurance and 401k because you actively contribute to both. You don't quite understand your disability benefits, and you have no idea how much life insurance you have. You just know that if you die, then your family gets a pretty good amount of money. You don't really understand your pension because there are all sorts of formulas and time lines. Anyway, ten years into your job you decide to move on. Since you never understood your pension, you don't really know that you should find out if you are owed any money. Therefore you may be owed some money years later when you finally retire for good. A complete lack of awareness has been the culprit, and your bank account is the victim.

Financial awareness will separate you from your peers. The difference between you and the guy in the cubicle next to you is awareness. Are you the one that is aware? Or is he?