S/O Is this really a stimulus check?

The poorest of us will spend it on needs.

Those who can afford to save it, might. Or maybe they will spend it on a larger purchase for their home, etc.

The people on this board are, generally, well off enough that we can make a choice between saving and spending windfalls like the stimulus check. I think it's really smart to save it. But, since the vast majority of Americans live paycheck to paycheck I imagine that this check will be spent on some pressing repairs or bills. I wouldn't look askance at anyone stocking up on food or entertainment with it either.

Is the amount based on your income or is everyone getting the same? If someone is saving it they might just mean short term because they may be fune financially today but depending how long this carries on they may need it soon. Which could be 6 months from now vs saving it for some big future purchase.

That’s my thought too. Whether it’s called a stimulus check, I’m thinking for many it will be used to pay existing bills, whether this month or 3 months from now.

If this had happened to us in 2012, we would be using it to keep ourselves afloat amidst job loss and other nightmares that happened to us that year. In fact, I have no memory of the last stimulus check as I'm sure it was quickly used to pay off some past due bill or other emergency. For me, it reinforces how very, very lucky we are to no longer be living paycheck to paycheck anymore. As many of the others have said, much of the country is not so lucky and are waiting anxiously for that money to show up so they can float a little while longer.

I thought it phased out at one point until, for single earners, it phased out entirely at $99,000.

That’s true. We won’t be getting as much as most because our adjusted gross income was higher for 2019, but we will still get some of it plus the $500 each for our two youngest children (but nothing for the two oldest who still live with us while they’re in school).

The stimulus calculators I’ve used say my husband and I should receive about $2600 total. My husband is still safe and working in Afghanistan so we’re fine. The kids and I are planning on donating most of the stimulus to local charities.

It's barely enough for rent for one month for many many people. I wish there was a way to cover everyone's housing costs right now until people get back to work.

I have to save it. I need dental work once the local dental clinics start scheduling non-emergency appointments again. And with my dental "insurance" plan being so shitty, I will need it all for the down payment.

Nothing has changed for me regarding my income so I'm not spending mine. My 23yo daughter has been laid off from her job for weeks now and her unemployment hasn't started yet. She still has enough money for a couple of more months of bills, but if she ends up needing help I'll give mine to her. More likely, I'll end up giving it to my mother who is on Social Security.

I don't need it and don't want it. There ain't no free lunch. Who do you think will have to pay that back? The taxpayers that’s who. Our taxes are going to go through the roof when this is all over.

What I'd really like to do is change it into rolls of quarters and send it to the White House with a request for someone to please shove the rolls up trump's ass.

BEFORE coronavirus, only 40% of Americans could afford an unexpected $1000 expense. And now ~16 million new people have applied for unemployment since the lockdowns started.

Make no mistake, many many many many Americans will be spending these payments. Don't be deluded by your personal circle. And even then, no one wants to admit they are one missing paycheck from financial disaster, so you (general you) may not be getting accurate information when "everyone" says they're saving it.

If this check was the only sort of relief available, it wouldn't be much of a stimulus because so many who receive it would have not choice but to use it for food, utilities, rent or some other necessity.

However, there is a pretty wide-ranging unemployment package that will help many (obviously not all) meet their immediate needs, and the assistance to small business to help them keep their employees working will also help. In that case, even those that "save" it will probably spend it once the country opens back up. And that is where the real stimulus will be felt--getting consumer spending back to a more "normal" level once the immediate crisis is over.

By sending it out now, it helps those who need it now and also sends a message to Wall Street that things will be getting back to "normal" again at some point in the near future.

Now whether that scenario works out the way it is hoped, who knows?