OT: what did you do with your stimulus check?
Or did you even get yours yet? My girlfriend is still waiting on hers since she owed the IRS and they “didn’t have her direct deposit info”
I saved a good chunk, paid off some credit card debt, made an investment and of course bought some Michigan memorabilia which I posted on here a few days ago.
There’s some proposals on the table right now for more stimuli in the future according to Forbes. Not gonna link the article and incite political chatter but it’s out there.
Will let you know once I get it.
What stimulus check?
Exactly
No check yet for me either... got refund with direct deposit for 2018 taxes, owed small amount for 2019 taxes and paid through auto draft checking. Apparently the government only looks at 2018 for account info if you haven't filed 2019. Everything you love about #government... efficient as a lead swim suit.
Me neither... does this count as a humble-brag?
April 24th, 2020 at 11:35 PM ^
Ditto.
Ditto.
I was wondering how long it would take for this comment to appear. I'm glad I took the under. ;)
I haven’t gotten it yet.
Great choice! Four Roses is delicious.
Nice try, the government.
Put it in the savings account. Going towards a down payment on a new house.
Got mine, consolidated my financial position a bit for a longer-term downturn, if it happens.
Same... this isn't going to be over any time soon.. might as well pad the savings account a little more.
I'm married -- wife stays home with our 4 kids -- so we got a nice direct deposit last week. We have 529 college savings plans for each of our kids, though they have very little in them as our kids are all under 8 years old. We put $500 in each of their accounts because we received that same amount for each of them. I'm in home building and we've stayed busy, so I am very fortunate to continue working.
Because we've been so fortunate during this whole crisis, we anonymously gave $500 to a family in our neighborhood/church congregation who have lost almost all of their income during the pandemic.
The rest is sitting in our account. Don't think I will purchase anything else specifically because of the stimulus money.
If I knew giving anonymously and then telling everyone about it was an option, I would have taken that option.
Cant decide if I have to explain the reference since the board is so jumpy lately.
Larry David?!
Ha! I don't know the reference, but funny nonetheless.
I hesitated even putting that, but since no one here knows me or the family, it's still anonymous, right? ;). I was just answering the question truthfully.
It's a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode...friggin hilarious. Larry and Ted Danzen both donate money to something,I forget what, but Ted puts "anonymous" for the plaque to read, but everyone knows it and compliments him, meanwhile Larry donated but had his name on the plaque and got less credit for his philanthropy!
Great episode. LD is a genius.
The benefit to 529's is tax-free appreciation. The longer the time period (other things being equal), the greater the tax benefit. If you wait until the kids are older to put money in a 529, you will likely not have much benefit to having a 529.
Good to know. It's a little depressing to see how much college expenses are and then look at how much money we have in the accounts. I am not necessarily expecting for it to pay for ALL of their schooling. But I figure a college education is going to look very different 11 years from now when our oldest would be finishing high school. I think they are trending more to online and if we still live here in Utah, there are several good in-state options.
Utah has been praised for their 529 plan. Not sure how it compares to others, but no complaints so far.
Yes, you can say that again. But like you say, it's better to have something saved than nothing.
Utah's 529 plan has been managed better, offered more options and had lower expenses than its peers over the last decade or so. They also offer various perks to in-state investors.
The other thing about any investments is considering the timeframe. If your kids have a decade before they'll need the money, this is a fine time to put in what you can spare, to get the power of compounding interest and getting solid funds/investments at bargain prices. (Yes, they may dip further over the next few months - possibly the next year - but they'll have nine years after that to recover and grow.)
On the other hand, if you're a retiree, or about to cash out that 529 plan for college expenses, consistent income is probably more important to you than growth.
Transferred it from my checking to my savings. My job is pretty safe, thankfully, but I would rather have extra cash on hand right now, than nearly anything else.
I think I'll spend mine on pheasant hunting.
I haven't gotten one and, AFAIK, I won't be getting one. This is not intended to be a political statement, but I always had an issue with the "means testing" approach they applied to distributing the funds and a big reason is that it is (a) based on possibly years-old data, and (b) doesn't take into account regional differences in income and cost of living.
If I did get a check, it would likely go to the kids' college funds and to pay down some small debt.
I tend to agree with your premise, here. Just because one makes a certain amount, doesn't mean that person is 'rich'.
This is my costal elitism talking, I guess, but $200k a year for a family of 4 isn't the same as in other parts of the country. For perspective, two 40-ish year old HS teachers who have been at their schools for 10-15 years would be clearing about $200k between them and they wouldn't be living particularly extravagant lifestyles.
Would love to be making 100k after 10-15 years on the job. Our scale is about half that.
Become an engineer
Ha! I would love to know what districts pay like that. I've been teaching 20 years, and I'm still well under 100k.
Boston public school, for example, pays around $100k each if you have a Masters (which most people get as part of their ongoing certification as a public school teacher) and what amounts to about 15 years of experience. NYC is about the same, though I believe the top end is a bit higher if you have, say, a doctorate. Now, 15 years as a K2 teacher is less compensated than a HS one, but lots of school districts on the coasts pay around $100k for "experienced" teachers, and oftentimes they earn additional pay by taking on other responsibilities both during the school year and beyond. And I've heard that some of the high-priced suburbs pay even better.
Again, we can quibble with the numbers a bit but I know multiple couples who are both teachers who bring in around $200k all told. But when the average cost of a house in your town is north of $600-700k, it's all relative. My goal is not to shame anyone based on salary; I'm a decently-paid software developer yet my salary in SV would be low for someone with half my experience. Only to point out that raw numbers don't tell you the whole story.
I guess, but $200k a year for a family of 4 isn't the same as in other parts of the country
This was a debate back in month or so ago.
You're right, it's not.
You're not on gov't cheese but if in New York, VA, or the Bay Area -- especially where rents are ~$3,000/month and 1,000 sq/ft bungalows in Sunnyvale go for $1.3MM, that kind of cheddar doesn't go as far.
But try telling that to the WDs of the world who think government's role is to give them handouts and you shouldn't be bitching about your $200K.
Shouldn't you get $1000 for your two kids? I thought only the income gradient was means tested?
Yeah, I’m with you on the means-testing. We got a small (<$200) amount. It’s covered our increased food costs, because we’re doing grocery delivery to help flatten the spread, and we’re personally lucky to have two incomes that have yet to be affected. But we’re by no means rich for our area, and certainly many of our neighbors who were deemed ineligible because they made too much last year have seen more than a $1200 loss in income.
If we got the full $1200 most of it would have been donated to local food-based charities. If we get something in the future and still have stable income, that’s what will happen.
We haven’t seen anything. I’m not sure wtf is going on.
I'm old school and still mail in my tax returns. I don't expect to get it for weeks. Wife and I are able to work from home and not financially impacted by pandamic, will probably donate the amount to charity to help those who aren't as insulated from virus as we are.
Go here and enter your Bank Account info. Will get it much quicker.
Should get it quicker. At least faster than via check which are going out after DDs.
I did this the first day it was up and running (I always owe a little come tax season) and I've seen the same message ever since, which is they don't have a payment date for me yet.
Thanks for reminding me to check "Get My Payment" just now—I started checking it the first minute it was up on the 15th, and kept getting a message stating "We can't determine your eligibility at this time" which prevented me from entering DD info. I'm far from the only person to have encountered this.
However, just now I was able to get into the system and enter the DD stuff.
FYI, this site has info on the schedule for mailing out paper checks:
"When will I get the check?
The IRS will begin sending money via direct deposit first. It started sending out the “checks” via direct deposit the week of April 13, 2020 and will continue to send them throughout the summer. Most eligible Americans will have received their payments by April 17, according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. If the IRS put your refund (from 2018 or 2019) into a bank account — that’s how you’ll get the money.
If you did not get a tax refund and instead owed money, you can read eligibility requirements and check on the status of your payment on the IRS website. The IRS may need more information from you on where to send the check.
The first paper checks will be sent on April 24 to the lowest-income Americans who make $10,000 or less, according to reporting by the Post. On May 1, paper checks will be sent to Americans making between $10,000 and $20,000, on May 8, to Americans making $20,001 to $30,000, and so forth.
You can find out more about how you will get the money by using the IRS’ “Filers: Get My Payment” tool.
I'm starting to get the feeling that if they didn't have your DD on file when this started (you've always owed or always filed via physical forms) that you're screwed and will have to wait until the paper checks start going out.
I was as on top of this as possible for someone in my situation. Provided my DD info the day the portal opened. Single, making ~$70k, and have always filed like a good little citizen. So I fall into the most basic bucket for this with the exception of having DD on file. Don't have to adjust the payment for income reasons. Don't have kids to require the additional funds. Taxes are in order.
I'm not expecting to see it for another month. I don't need it, thankfully, but it's what I've come to expect.
It takes awhile for the pres to sign all those checks you know.
Had a brief flicker of hope when I saw this and indeed I didn't get the we can't determine message this time ... instead it tells me that there are technical difficulties after I input all my info. Argh.
That's what I get for being self employed and always owing more money I guess. Oh well, it's going to end up right back in their pocket in July as an estimated tax payment anyway.
Reinvested it into a local small business who's coming over next week to fix my leaky basement
Well, I haven't gotten mine, since Trump held them up so he could get his signature plastered on them. What a tool!
Try being a responsible citizen and saving for emergencies and not a drag. Blame yourself.