Welcome to Credit Withdrawal, if you like what you see, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

  Many large-chain stores, such as Target, Wal-Mart and other that focus mainly on the middle class are gearing up to attempt to separate you from your stimulus checks (due in late May) as quickly as possible.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the intent of the stimulus package was to stimulate the economy. The government is fervently hoping that Joe Consumer gets the check and turns around and blows it on ANYTHING except debt reduction. If everyone were to spend their checks ONLY on debt reduction, the only 'stimulus' that would happen would be for the bankers and lenders, and they ALREADY have lots of money coming to them from the Fed in the form of reduced prime rates and now direct loans to non-banking businesses.

This reminds me of the Reagan Era "Trickle-down Economics" except in reverse. Back then, tax cuts for the rich were given out with the idea that if the rich had more money, they would spend more and it would 'trickle-down' throughout the economy. What everyone failed to realize is that the rich already had everything they wanted, and MORE money wasn't going to cause them to spend it any faster.

Now, the reverse, or "Trickle-Up Stimulus" is attempting to get the opposite thing to happen. Give money to the people that need it () and hope they go out and spend like crazy.

Blood in the Water

Since business KNOWS that people are going to get a nice chunk of 'disposable' income in May, they're gearing up their sales forces to target the May-June timeframe for sales, sales, sales!! Don't be surprised if you see MORE ads than ever before. Big business can smell the money in the water and they want their share (and everyone else's' too).

If you don't have plans for your money and you TRULY are treating it as disposable income. Then enjoy it. Spend it on things that will enrich your life without feeling (too) guilty about letting it go. It was meant to only end up in your hands temporarily anyway.

If you don't have plans, but you DO intend on using it a bit more responsibly, now is the time to plan out a little and make sure that it goes where it's supposed to. Money sitting in a bank account for any length of time has a strange ability to 'disappear'. Houdini would be proud of how the money disappears without anyone noticing.

What to Do, What to Do?

No matter what you decide to do, remember that this is a one-time thing (hopefully). Windfalls like this come around only once every few years/decades. Don't 'plan' on it happening again anytime soon.

Use it, enjoy it, save it, pay down debt with it, whatever. Just remember that it's really YOUR money anyway (taxes) and use it as if you hadn't given it to the government.

Have you decided what to do with YOUR Federal Stimulus check? We'd love to hear your plans. Leave us a comment and tell us what you're planning to do.

We hope you liked the article, Subscribe to the Feed and get our articles every day!