Author Topic: How much of a stimulus check are you expecting and how are you going to spend i?  (Read 22311 times)

CCCA

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I made a stimulus check calculator/visualizer here:
https://engaging-data.com/stimulus-check-calculator-dec-2020/

It includes the $600 payment that has currently been passed and signed into law, and the $2000 payment that was being discussed (passed by the house but not yet the senate).

I'd be interested in hearing how much others are expecting and what they plan to do with it.

I'll go first:
Family of four, $1490, we don't need it but might buy more takeout just to spread the money around (since that's the point of the stimulus).

Updated to include the new American Rescue Plan (in March 2021) $1400 plan with quicker phase out schedule
« Last Edit: March 06, 2021, 11:57:28 AM by CCCA »

shuffler

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$0, but of course I'm spending it exactly according to my IPS.   ;^)

bacchi

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We received our $1200 today.

Some will go to take-out to support local restaurants and the rest will go to local charities.

TheInsuranceMan

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Family of 5, shows $5,800, but that, of course, requires the $2k to be approved.  We'll get $3,000 when we get it, and it'll sit in our savings account most likely.

Mustache ride

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$1800 for a family of 3. It will eventually be invested.

bbqbonelesswing

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Cool calculator! We are DINKS and expecting the full amount. It will all go into our savings.

For anyone interested, I started reading this paper today on how people in the U.S. used the first stimulus payment:

https://bfi.uchicago.edu/insight/finding/how-did-us-consumers-use-their-stimulus-payments/

Michael in ABQ

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Family of 8 so $4,800 or $6,400. It will go into savings to buy a business, along with what should be a very nice tax refund in a couple of months (+1 for combat zone tax exclusion).

BlueMR2

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Based on what I'm reading, we won't receive anything, but instead will have it as a tax credit.  From what I understand anyone that doesn't receive it by January 15th won't receive it as a payment at all, but instead has to claim it come tax time.  Since we don't have banking info on file with gov't, we won't get direct deposit and it's looking impossible for checks to go out in just a couple weeks...

That's just details though...  On the spending part, not planning to.  I've got a few repair parts I'd like to get, but they're not hinging on the stimulus (I'm deferring buying because of A) ordering online is such a trainwreck right now that I won't do it and B) buying in person is risk to life and limb best saved for actual important thing).  There's nothing extra I want, so it'll just get banked.

charis

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It will go to savings or a pricey piece of exercise equipment that I'm finally desperate enough to buy now that the cold weather is here.

American GenX

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It will be either $600 or $0.

I made too much to qualify in 2019, but not in 2018.   I filed an extension in April and filed in Oct.  The IRS sent a notice last week that I need to confirm the return is actually from me before they will process, with a deadline of Jan 8th.  So, I'm hoping I will get the stimulus just as I got the first one, based off my 2018 income since they haven't processed my 2019 return, yet.

If I get it, it's not enough to make much of difference in my spending.  So, I'll try to stimulate the economy with it, eat at some restaurants after I've had my second dose of the vaccine, and donate more to the local food pantry.

Edit:  After looking into it further, I found that they are not using 2018 returns for people whose 2019 have not been processed, which differs from the first stimulus.  And I won't be able to claim anything on my 2020 return, either.  So I won't be getting anything.  My 2019 and 2020 AGI's are both above the $0 phase out.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2020, 08:01:26 PM by American GenX »

TheContinentalOp

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U$600 and I'll use it buy more ammo.

YttriumNitrate

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The timing works out well for maxing out our 2021 Roth IRAs and 529 plans (up to tax break max) as fast as possible.

DireWolf

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Expecting $1800, but hesitant to do anything but invest it, as I know tnstaafl and without a better view as to where this money is magically coming from, I’m expecting I’ll pay for it down the road

Jack0Life

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U$600 and I'll use it buy more ammo.

If you can find some. And when you do, its like 3x the normal price.

BlueMR2

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U$600 and I'll use it buy more ammo.

If you can find some. And when you do, its like 3x the normal price.

Indeed, my preferred calibers are totally unavailable.  Even the firearms themselves are unavailable.  My old CCW piece has become unreliable so I want to replace it.  Replacement that I want is not going to happen anytime soon.  Demand far outstripping supply.  Production decreased due to COVID and demand seems to be way up as well.  All the firearms stores have been VERY busy.

scottish

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U$600 and I'll use it buy more ammo.

Is there a shortage?

Cooper62

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Expecting $1,800 for two adults and a child.  Also have a child in college that doesn't qualify.  We have had some recent medical bills and have a high deductible health care plan so will use a big portion of it to pay the medical bills.  Will use what is left after the medical expenses on supporting local restaurants, new shoes for my teen son and a sweater I have been wanting.

Optimiser

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$2,400 is pending in my bank account. Haven't decided what to do with it yet, but will probably add it to the down payment for our next house.

meandmyfamily

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Family of 6 so $3,600 right now and it will got towards a roof repair.

Kazyan

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The $600 will get shoveled into either my Roth IRA or cryptocurrency (for speculation and tax loss harvesting), depending on when it gets here.

RetirementDreaming

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$0, family of 4.   If I got any it would also go to repairing the roof. 

Zikoris

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We got $1000, just in time for my dental crown in January... fun stuff.

geekette

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$1200, Food bank, chocolate.

Sibley

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Which check? the one from earlier this year? I think I got $600, and it just got rolled into the budget/savings. Though I did make a couple extra donations, which totalled maybe $300?

This upcoming one? I have no idea what Congress is doing. If money shows up in my account, great! I'll make a donation to the local food bank and a donation to the animal shelter, the throw the rest into savings.

Steeze

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Bought Bitcoin and Ether the first time around and tripled it. Sent the profit to my parents for Christmas to (hopefully) make extra mortgage payments.

This time around I will get $1200 and will use most of it to buy all the stuff we need for our first baby who will arrive in March. Have about $600 worth of stuff picked out on Amazon - stroller, car seat, bottles, diapers, etc.

If we get more than $1200 ($4000) then I will set that aside to pay my mom to come stay with us for a month to help us out. DW’s parents cannot travel to the US and were planning on coming for 6 months. My mom is going to take a month off of work to fill in, would be awesome to replace her lost income, if she will let me.

Otherwise, will make sure DW has a pile of $10s and $20s so she can order lots of take out when my mom leaves and I have to go back to work.

Still not 100% sure how my company will handle the PFML - if they will give me my full salary or just the state minimum. By state law they have to give me 12 weeks at ~50% pay, but taking that kind of pay cut would not be great. Maybe I can negotiate a 12-week WFH setup with half days to get full pay.

Dicey

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We got the first one, because we hadn't filed our 2019 taxes yet. Score one for procrastination. This round, because we had an earned windfall in 2019 that's now been reported, we get zip. Oh, well. I'd rather have experienced the huge bump once in our lives, and I'm super grateful we are financially okay in these trying times. Most of the first $1200 went to the Food Bank, plus I co-chaired a massive Food Bank drive that netted 19 tons of food and nearly $19k in cash donations.

American GenX

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Update:  2018 AGI is irrelevant, even though my 2019 return hasn't been processed, yet.

After looking into it further, I found that they are not using 2018 returns for people whose 2019 returns have not been processed, which differs from the first stimulus.  And I won't be able to claim anything on my 2020 return, either.  My 2019 and 2020 AGI's are both above the $0 phase out.

So I won't be getting anything.  Oh well, I won't be stimulating the economy any extra after-all.

For the first stimulus, it just became part of my cash flow and was never designated for anything specific.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2020, 08:06:23 PM by American GenX »

Weisass

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Most of the first $1200 went to the Food Bank, plus I co-chaired a massive Food Bank drive that netted 19 tons of food and nearly $19k in cash donations.

Way to go there Dicey.

We are due to get 3600 or 6400, depending. We will do as we did last time- donate half, save the rest.

bmjohnson35

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We received our $1200 today.  As of right now, it will just be used to pay monthly bills.


neophyte

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Expecting $600. Tentative plan is to donate $200-300, spend ~$200 at local restaurants and stores that I'm hoping to see survive the pandemic, and save $100-200.

Free Spirit

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If we get $1200 that's rent and groceries taken care of for January. Huzzah

chicagomeg

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From the $600 one, I'm getting something like $350. I'm going to donate that to my hometown foodbank.

If the $2000 one comes through, I may spend part of it on gift cards to some local restaurants/business and then save the rest.

Paul der Krake

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I haven't earmarked money since I was 15 years old, so IDK, probably whatever is on sale at the grocery store that week.

iluvzbeach

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We won’t be receiving any and that’s perfectly fine by me. We’ll still contribute to help others in our area, especially locally owned restaurants and businesses.

kanga1622

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Family of 4. With the $2400 we will spend $400 now on an inexpensive home improvement project and a mirror replacement on our car. The other $2000 will go into a vacation fund to help expand the vacation that was canceled this summer.

If we move up to the $5200 mark, DH and I would have to discuss where to put the extra $2800. Likely split it into Roth or the kids’ college savings. Or maybe for the medical bills I see headed our way this spring.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2020, 11:06:05 PM by kanga1622 »

SwordGuy

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Donation to a food bank.  $1800 from our 3 checks.

ministashy

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WA Food fund.  I've been lucky enough not to need the help, and it doesn't feel right to keep it when others are in desperate straits.

Blue Skies

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We are going to hard quarantine and then go stay with relatives for a few weeks.  Stimulus $ will pay a pet sitter during this trip.   I cringe at how much that will cost.

Car Jack

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Judging by the last check, I guess we'll get half that, so $375 or so.  I plan to throw it in the street.

Cranky

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$1200. We gave the first round away, but we’ll probably buy new house stuff with this one.

Bloop Bloop Reloaded

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I've never received any stimulus in my life (in Australia we had one round in around 2009 for the GFC and multiple rounds this year and I received nil) and if I got anything I wouldn't spend it anyway...so I guess you could say our stimulus has been "well targeted"

SwordGuy

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I'm getting nothing.  I'm just a useless medical provider risking my life every day to save other people's lives, so it's not like I'm doing anything valuable enough to merit a stimulus check.
Then you or your spouse are apparently paid very well or otherwise you would be getting one.   Be happy, you could be losing your home or business to this pandemic instead.

You may be a useless medical provider but you're apparently not a poor medical provider. :)

nirodha

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For those who wonder - "when do I end up paying for this free money?" or "I work hard, where's my handout?" - I've been given some hope by learning about MMT.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Monetary_Theory

Maybe this doesn't manifest in inflation or some other devaluation of assets currently held. Maybe it actively keeps people off their couches, contributing to GDP. Understanding the underlying economic strategy reduced my concerns.

wageslave23

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I'm getting nothing.  I'm just a useless medical provider risking my life every day to save other people's lives, so it's not like I'm doing anything valuable enough to merit a stimulus check.
Then you or your spouse are apparently paid very well or otherwise you would be getting one.   Be happy, you could be losing your home or business to this pandemic instead.

You may be a useless medical provider but you're apparently not a poor medical provider. :)

The amount of people losing jobs and businesses to the pandemic is greatly exaggerated.  Unemployment is up about 3% higher than its record low.  The percentage of people who are small business owners is also low, and of those some are not affected or their business has increased.  None of this helps the people who are greatly affected, but still I would estimate that number to be under 10%.  Thank you medical providers for your service!

SpareChange

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$600. Will make its way into stock etfs in taxable account same day.

ericrugiero

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U$600 and I'll use it buy more ammo.

Is there a shortage?

Very much so.  Biden is going to compete with Obama for gun/ammo salesman of the century. 

JLee

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I'm getting nothing.  I'm just a useless medical provider risking my life every day to save other people's lives, so it's not like I'm doing anything valuable enough to merit a stimulus check.
Then you or your spouse are apparently paid very well or otherwise you would be getting one.   Be happy, you could be losing your home or business to this pandemic instead.

You may be a useless medical provider but you're apparently not a poor medical provider. :)

With the income threshold being location-agnostic, that's not really a fair perspective to hold.

$600 wouldn't even cover two weeks of my property taxes, though, so even without an income cap it wouldn't do much for me if I were jobless.

Cranky

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I was amused to see that my bank’s log in page this morning said (and I paraphrase) - “Direct deposited stimulus money will show up NEXT week! Don’t ask us any questions about this!”

Michael in ABQ

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I was amused to see that my bank’s log in page this morning said (and I paraphrase) - “Direct deposited stimulus money will show up NEXT week! Don’t ask us any questions about this!”

One of my bank accounts had a similar message that payments are supposed to start arriving on January 4th but they may show as pending earlier than that. Makes sense since tomorrow is a bank holiday, and for whatever reason in this country it takes multiple days to transfer money from one institution to another. I mean, it's not like there's some bank clerk manually approving each of these transactions - still not sure why things aren't any faster than they were decades ago.

Fishindude

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First go round we received $1200 and gave it to charity.
If we get any more we will also donate to charitable causes.

We are fortunate, I don't like the idea of a government hand out, and there are people out there that need it more.