Got Your Check? Stimulate Your Future

President Bush wants you to spend the money. That stack of bills on your desk says deal with your debts.

And the kids, well you know their favorite words are "buy" and "me". So if you're one of the 130 million households receiving some of that economic stimulus money what are you going to do with it?

With gas prices approaching $4 a gallon some of you probably say that's a silly question. But hold on. ...

U.S. Job Woes

U.S. Job Woes
Alan Greenspan, former head of the Federal Reserve, says the country is "in the throes of recession." His remark comes as he defends his chairmanship of the U.S. central bank, rejecting suggestions that his policies contributed to the current rough times. (Photo by Lauren Victoria Burke/ABC NEWS via Getty Images)
U.S. Job Woes
Graphic charts monthly unemployment rate for the past 13 months.
U.S. Job Woes
Commuters climb the stairs from a train station as they head to jobs in New York's financial district on Thursday, April 3, 2008. The Labor Department reported Thursday that the national unemployment rate rose from 4.8 percent to 5.1 percent, the clearest signal yet that the economy might already be shrinking. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
U.S. Job Woes
Job seekers use computers to search for jobs at the Marin Employment Connection April 4, 2008 in San Rafael, California. The Labor Department announced Friday that the national unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent and nearly 80,000 jobs were cut in March as worries of a recession grow. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
U.S. Job Woes
SAN RAFAEL, CA - APRIL 04: Copies of the California Job Journal are displayed for people to browse at the Marin Employment Connection April 4, 2008 in San Rafael, California. The Labor Department announced Friday that the national unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent and nearly 80,000 jobs were cut in March as worries of a recession grow. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The extra three hundred to twelve hundred dollars some of you are set to receive could be a starting point for getting your financial act together.

Is now the time for you to open that IRA account you've been talking about?

Could this be the seed money for your child's college fund?

What about the account you've been planning to open to begin saving for your first home?

These are the kinds of goals that many people put off allowing the most important asset of all to dwindle away----time. The hardest part is the getting started part and here are three tips to consider before your windfall is wasted in one of those emotionally driven shopping sprees we all fall victim to.

Stimulus Tip No. 1 Open a Roth IRA account and with the money and set up a monthly automatic investment program from your checking or savings account. Visit www.morningstar.com to find to research mutual funds that will allow you to invest small monthly sums.

Stimulus Tip No. 2 Get a jumpstart on saving for college. Visit www.savingforcollege.com

Stimulus Tip No. 3 Locate a local housing program in your community that will match funds toward a down payment on a home. Learn more at www.habitatforhumanity.org or www.ameridream.org

Remember this is not a free lunch. This economic stimulus will cost American taxpayers 168 billion dollars. So how about stimulating your personal economic situation to create a brighter financial future you can be proud of.

Deborah Owens is author of Nickel and Dime Your Way to Wealth and is host of Real Money personal finance talk show on NPR affilliate WEAA 88.9 FM visit www.deborahowens.com