7 things NOT to buy with your $1,400 s - 股票

原文標題：

7 things NOT to buy with your $1,400 stimulus check
不值得用你的1400鎂經濟刺激方案支票買的7個東西

原文連結：

https://reurl.cc/5oXqg7

發布時間：

Last Updated: March 22, 2021 at 10:01 a.m. ET
First Published: March 22, 2021 at 7:46 a.m. ET

原文內容：

Stimulus checks are quickly making their way into Americans’ bank accounts
and mailboxes.

Many Americans will put the money towards essential expenses such as food,
rent/mortgage payments and utilities — but some Americans who already have
those expenses covered might consider putting some of their stimulus money
towards Bitcoin, a new car, vacations or new clothes.

Americans have complete freedom to decide how they spend their stimulus
checks, but consumer advocates advise caution on some tempting purchases.

Bitcoin and meme-stocks
Some $40 billion worth of stimulus money is estimated to go towards
purchasing Bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.08%, according to a recent Mizuho Securities
survey. Prior to the latest $1.9-trillion stimulus package, the
cryptocurrency was already at all-time highs.

But the demand stemming from stimulus checks will only push Bitcoin’s value
higher in the short-term, said James Ledbetter, editor of fintech newsletter
FIN. That makes the cryptocurrency a riskier investment, he added.

On top of that, “It would be sad and painful to see people end up losing
this money that was designed to prop up the economy and get us out of
COVID-induced recession,” Ledbetter said.

“Having said that, assuming your rent or mortgage is paid up and your family
isn’t wanting for food or clothing, grown-up people have the right to invest
their money however they wish — and the chances of losing ALL the money
invested in Bitcoin is pretty small.”

By the same token, Ilian Georgiev, CEO of Charlie, a payment planning app,
recommends resisting the urge to invest in stocks like Gamestop GME, -2.89%
and AMC AMC, -10.34% recently seen skyrocketing share prices stemming from
social media-driven trading.

However, unlike Bitcoin, GameStop GME, -2.89% and other so-called meme stocks
aren’t as likely to get a stimulus-check boost, according to BofA Securities
analyst Curtis Nagle. The gaming stock is also considerably less ubiquitous
in Reddit stock trading forums than it was earlier this year, he noted.

A new or used car down payment
It may be tempting to say ‘When I get my stimmy, I’m going to finally put
down my first downpayment for a car.’

While the $1,400 check won’t cover the bulk of initial loan down payments
most people pay for a car, even if it does, it’s still a good idea not to
put it towards a car down payment, Georgiev said.

(Used car loan down payments on average amount to no more than 11% of the car
’s total price, which last year was around $21,000, according to Edmunds
data. The down payment for new cars tends to be a bit higher (11.7%) for new
cars, according to Edmunds.)

“Your income hasn’t really changed — your debt-to-income ratio is still
the same,” he said referring to the stimulus check funds. “By getting a
loan on a new or used car, you actually are making yourself poorer.”

When you take out a new loan, “you’re effectively working for someone else.
”

“The fact that you can afford a down payment doesn’t mean that you’re
going to be getting ahead. It means that now your disposable income going
forward is going to be even lower because interest payments.”

Summer vacations
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not revised its
advisory against non-essential travel even for people who have been
vaccinated against COVID.

Airport checkpoint data published by the Transportation Security
Administration suggests that people have been ignoring the advisory lately,
especially as more Americans become fully vaccinated.

But when it comes to summer excursions, consumers may actually get better
rates for domestic trips if they hold off booking until mid-April or early
May, said Adit Damodaran, an economist at Hopper, a travel-booking app.

“Domestic airfare prices are currently averaging $240 round-trip,”
Damodaran told MarketWatch based on Hopper data. He said he expects prices
to “remain low until early May, increasing roughly 12% leading into the
summer months to around $257 round-trip.”

If you’re thinking about traveling internationally, you should keep in mind
that the country you have your eye on could reinstitute a national lockdown
that bars tourists from visiting, which is currently the case in Ireland and
Italy.

Others are more lenient on the issue. “If you can book travel far enough
out, and one of the online travel agencies is having a sale, it’s perfectly
reasonable to put your stimulus check towards a trip,” said Julie Ramhold,
consumer analyst with DealNews.com.

“But if you’re trying to book something now, especially to another country,
you’re better off waiting until things return to normal again.”

Spring apparel
In the first round of stimulus checks last year, many consumers used their
stimulus checks to purchase new clothes, retail data showed.

They may have even scored deals comparable to Black Friday since retailers
heavily discounted inventory that couldn’t be sold during initial lockdowns.

This time around, you should hold off on purchasing new spring clothes, said
RetailMeNot’s shopping and trends expert, Sara Skirboll.

“March is the official start to spring and retailers are currently stocking
the shelves with new inventory that won’t be discounted for a few months
into the spring and summer,” she added.

The iPhone 12
Even though the battery on your iPhone that you’ve had for several years
might be getting consumed faster each day, if you can, don’t rush to buy
Apple’s AAPL, +2.83% latest iPhone 12 which starts at $799, experts say.

“At this point in the year, unless you need a new phone, you’re better off
waiting,” Ramhold said. “Apple will likely have its typical September event
where it announces the successor to the iPhone 12. Once that happens, we can
expect prices to drop at least a little bit on the iPhone 12, so it’s worth
holding off for now.”

(Apple didn’t respond to MarketWatch’s request for a comment.)

In general, electronics tend to go on sale on long weekends like Memorial Day
or Amazon’s Prime Day AMZN, +1.17%, Skirboll said.

Outdoor furniture
With people working from home and spending more time at home, it obviously
makes sense that folks want to be comfortable as the warm weather approaches.

But that’s why this is the wrong time to buy outdoor furniture. Demand is
high and so are prices.

Outdoor furniture tends to go on sale around Memorial Day said Keith Jelinek,
a managing director at Berkeley Research Group, an international financial
consulting firm.

Clearance sales for patio furniture tend to begin in July.

The U.S. residential outdoor furniture market is valued at approximately $1.8
billion, according to Statista.

“Waiting, if you can would yield more for your money,” he said.


機翻如下：

刺激經濟支票正在迅速進入美國人的銀行帳戶和郵箱。

許多美國人將把這些錢用於食品、房租/按揭付款和水電費等基本開支--但一些已經有這
些開支的美國人可能會考慮把一些刺激資金用於購買比特幣、新車、度假或新衣服。

美國人有完全的自由來決定如何使用他們的經濟刺激支票，但消費者宣導者建議謹慎對待
一些誘人的購買行為。

比特幣和迷因股票
根據瑞穗證券最近的一項調查，估計價值約400億美元的刺激資金將用於購買比特幣
BTCUSD，-0.08%。在最新的1.9萬億美元刺激計畫之前，該加密貨幣已經處於歷史高位。

但金融科技通訊FIN的編輯James Ledbetter表示，刺激措施支票帶來的需求只會在短期內
推高比特幣的價值。他補充說，這使得該加密貨幣成為一種風險較高的投資。

除此之外，"如果看到人們最終失去了這筆錢，這將是可悲和痛苦的，這些錢是為了支撐
經濟，讓我們擺脫COVID引起的經濟衰退，"Ledbetter說。

"話雖如此，假設你的房租或抵押貸款已經付清，而且你的家人也不缺吃不缺穿，成年人
有權按照自己的意願投資自己的錢--而失去所有投資於比特幣的錢的幾率相當小。"

同樣的道理，支付規劃應用Charlie的CEO Ilian Georgiev建議抵制投資Gamestop和AMC等
近期因社交媒體驅動的交易而出現股價暴漲的股票。

不過，據博時證券分析師Curtis Nagle表示，與比特幣不同，GameStop和其他所謂的追憶
型股票並沒有那麼容易獲得刺激政策支票的推動。他指出，這只遊戲股在Reddit股票交易
論壇中的氾濫程度也大大低於今年早些時候的情況。

新車或二手車首付
可能很想說'等我領了經濟刺激資金，我終於要付第一筆買車的首付了'。

格奧爾基耶夫說，雖然1400美元的支票無法支付大多數人買車的大部分初始貸款首付款，
但即使支付了，也最好不要將其用於汽車首付款。

(據Edmunds資料顯示，二手車貸款首付平均不超過汽車總價的11%，去年約為21000美元。
根據Edmunds的資料，新車的首付往往更高一些（11.7%）。

"你的收入並沒有真正的改變--你的債務與收入的比例還是一樣的，"他指的是經濟刺激支
票資金。"通過貸款購買新車或二手車，你實際上是在讓自己變得更窮。"

當你貸款買新車時，"你實際上是在為別人工作"。

"你能付得起首付，並不意味著你會有出息。這意味著現在你未來的可支配收入會因為利
息支出而更低。"

暑假
美國疾病控制和預防中心並沒有修改對非必要旅行的警告，即使是已經接種了COVID疫苗
的人。

運輸安全管理局公佈的機場檢查站資料顯示，最近人們一直在忽視這一警告，特別是隨著
越來越多的美國人全面接種疫苗。

但在夏季出遊方面，消費者如果推遲到4月中旬或5月初預訂，實際上可能會獲得更好的國
內旅行價格，旅遊預訂應用Hopper的經濟學家Adit Damodaran表示。

"國內機票價格目前平均往返240美元，"Damodaran根據Hopper資料告訴MarketWatch。他
說，他預計價格將 "在5月初之前一直保持在低位，進入夏季後大約會上漲12%，達到往返
257美元左右。"

如果你正在考慮國際旅行，你應該記住，你看中的國家可能會重新實行全國封鎖，禁止遊
客前往，目前愛爾蘭和義大利就是這種情況。

其他國家在這個問題上則比較寬鬆。"如果你能預訂足夠遠的旅行，而且其中一家線上旅
行社正在進行促銷，那麼把你的刺激支票用於旅行是完全合理的，"DealNews.com的消費
者分析師朱莉-拉姆霍德說。

"但如果你現在想預訂一些東西，尤其是去另一個國家，你最好等到事情再次恢復正常。"

春季服裝
零售資料顯示，在去年的第一輪經濟刺激支票中，許多消費者利用經濟刺激支票購買新衣
服。

他們甚至可能獲得了與 "黑色星期五 "相當的交易，因為零售商對最初封鎖期間無法出售
的庫存進行了大幅打折。

RetailMeNot的購物和趨勢專家Sara Skirboll表示，這段時間，你應該暫緩購買新的春裝
。

"3月是春季的正式開始，零售商目前正在用新的庫存儲備貨架，這些庫存在春季和夏季的
幾個月內不會打折，"她補充道。

iPhone 12
專家表示，即使你用了幾年的iPhone的電池可能每天都在加快消耗，但如果可以的話，不
要急於購買蘋果的最新的iPhone 12，它的起價為799美元。

"在今年的這個時候，除非你需要一部新手機，否則你最好等待，"拉姆霍德說。"蘋果很
可能會在9月份舉行例行的發布會，在那裡宣佈iPhone 12的下一代。一旦發生這種情況，
我們可以預計iPhone 12的價格至少會下降一點，所以現在值得暫緩。"

Skirboll表示，一般來說，電子產品往往會在紀念日或亞馬遜的Prime Day等長週末進行
促銷。

戶外傢俱
隨著人們在家工作，在家裡度過更多的時間，隨著溫暖天氣的到來，人們想要舒適顯然是
有道理的。

但這也是為什麼現在是購買戶外傢俱的錯誤時機。需求大，價格也大。

國際金融諮詢公司伯克利研究集團（Berkeley Research Group）的董事總經理Keith
Jelinek說，戶外傢俱往往在紀念日前後開始銷售。

庭院傢俱的清倉銷售往往在7月開始。

根據Statista的資料，美國住宅戶外傢俱市場的價值約為18億美元。

"如果可以的話，等待會有更多的收益。"他說。




心得/評論：

有沒有一種看美國人討論消費券要怎麼利用的感覺？

要猜測美國人的經濟刺激方案對經濟的影響

除了直接和美國人討論以外(聽說有人要拿去買遊戲王卡片...)

看新聞也是一個不錯的角度

這一篇裡面也有一些不錯的美國人生活上的消費時間點

可以作為投資的參考

--