In late March, the U.S. Congress passed a $2 trillion economic rescue plan, dubbed the CARES Act, to provide relief to Americans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill included cash payments to individuals, increased unemployment insurance benefits, changes to student loans and to retirement account rules, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The amount of the payments varied by income, but most people fell into these categories: single adults with an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less would receive $1,200, while married couples with no children who are earning $150,000 or less would receive $2,400. An additional $500 per dependent was also included. You do not have to pay income tax on the payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re in a situation where you have a choice how to spend it (i.e. you’re able to use it for discretionary purposes instead of rent\/mortgage\/food), what should you do? Market Watch had some ideas after polling financial experts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In late March, the U.S. Congress passed a $2 trillion economic rescue plan, dubbed the CARES Act, to provide relief to Americans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill included cash payments to individuals, increased unemployment insurance benefits, changes to student loans and to retirement account rules, among others. The amount of the payments varied […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finance","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t