Minding My Own Business

I can’t wait for my economic stimulus check. I’m not going to run out and spend it. Nope, not me. Remember, I’m the Money Earner, not the Money Spender on my team. I intend to sock it away in my money market account. I’m trying to kick off my investments in real estate, so the freebie handout from Uncle Sam will help me get my foot in the door, so to speak.

I’d been expecting a check for $1200 until late last week when I received a letter in the mail from our Uncle explaining that not only was I going to receive $600 for each adult, but an additional $300 for each child as well. A grand total of $1800. Not too bad. I’m a bit envious of my friends with five kids who are getting $1500 extra, but they have to deal with five kids all year round, so I can live with the fact that I’m only receiving $600 for having two children. $900 is a small price to pay for less chaos in my life. Those of you with children love them dearly, I’m sure, as I do mine. But sometimes they can be trying…..especially the boy.

Being curious about my letter, I went to the IRS website to see what I could dig up on the economic stimulus checks and found the following…

“To receive a payment, taxpayers must have a valid Social Security number, $3,000 of income and file a 2007 federal tax return. IRS will take care of the rest. Eligible people will receive up to $600 ($1,200 for married couples), and parents will receive an additional $300 for each eligible child younger than 17. Millions of retirees, disabled veterans and low-wage workers who usually are exempt from filing a tax return must do so this year in order to receive a stimulus payment.”

A key phrase in this quote is “Eligible people will receive up to $600.“ If you scroll down the web page about halfway, you’ll find some stimulus payment scenarios. I was surprised to find that there will be many people (both low and high income earners) who will not be receiving the full $600 per qualifying adult. You may want to check out the scenario that applies to you.

I had also been under the impression that the payments would all be in May. While that is true for many, there will be a lot of folks who won’t be receiving their checks until July. Thank goodness I e-filed and chose direct deposit for my refund. That unknowingly vaulted me to the head of the line for stimulus payments. Apparently I’ll be receiving a direct deposit (likely to my money market account ) before mid-May. Paper check payments will drag on into the summer. You can check out the payment schedule here.

So, what are you going to do with your economic stimulus check? Save it? Invest it? Pay down debt? Splurge on the huge flat screen TV? All of those are good options to me.

I just have to decide whether I’m going to communicate with my Money Spender about what I plan to do with our check. Out of sight, out of mind….maybe she won’t notice.

- Jeff

Learn about personal finance to successfully mind your own business.

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