This study investigates how Americans used their CARES Act Economic Impact Payments (EIP) for their spending needs, spending wants, and financial transactions. The results from a sample of 1,172 Amazon MTurk users collected in July 2020 suggest that EIP use varied across spending and financial transaction categories. Those with job instability, less financial resources, and more people to care for received essential support. A smaller proportion of the population spent at least some of their EIP on their wants. Americans' primarily focused their EIP spending on housing, food, and hobbies. In addition, people were able to improve their financial situation through investing and debt reduction. Decisions to save the EIP were related to economic recovery concerns; a broad policy package and public messaging strategy that offers assurance of economic recovery and stability might enhance policy effectiveness for boosting immediate economic growth through EIP spending. K E Y W O R D S behavioral life cycle hypothesis, CARES Act, COVID-19, economic impact payments, marginal propensity to consume, spending 1 | INTRODUCTION The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on U.S. society, the economy, and consumer spending. The pandemic has resulted in historically high unemployment rates (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020), with more than 51 million workers filing for unemployment benefits for the first time (Department of Labor, 2020). To alleviate the economic effects of COVID-19 and to stimulate the economy, the U.S. government passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). One of the major components of the CARES Act consisted of direct payments to individuals, called Economic Impact Payments (EIPs), to provide immediate relief and to stimulate consumer spending (U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2020). The CARES Act offered people a financial safety net and a choice about how to allocate their EIPs across their spending needs and wants, and their financial situation (such as saving and debt reduction). Given the extensive cost of the CARES Act and the decision-making opportunity for EIP use placed before Americans, the purpose of this study is twofold: to investigate how Americans chose to use their EIPs, and to determine the behavioral, economic, and demographic factors associated with those decisions. Additionally, this study aims to discern how individuals allocated their EIPs within major subcategories, such as saving, investing, housing, transportation, travel, education, hobbies, and charitable donations. It is important for policymakers to determine how people tend to use stimulus payments, like the CARES Act EIPs, and the factors associated with their decision-making to inform future legislation aimed at supporting Americans' financial and overall well-being. Beyond public policy implications, more information about how people use their EIPs

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Research on residential preferences has consistently orbited around their been correlation with economic and social factors. This study builds on the existing literature by investigating the personality characteristics that shape residential behavior. The specific objective is to examine the Big Five personality traits (OCEAN)—openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism—and their relationship with the value of individuals’ primary residences and mortgage debt using data collected from the Health and Retirement Study. Regression models are estimated to examine the associations between the OCEAN personality traits and home value and mortgage debt. The findings reveal the following associations: openness and conscientiousness are associated positively, and agreeableness is associated negatively, with larger home values; whereas openness and agreeableness are associated positively, and conscientiousness and neuroticism are associated negatively, with larger mortgage debts.

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