Interesting Facts About Naperville

Interesting Facts about Naperville


World-class libraries and schools. Top-notch dining, shopping and entertainment opportunities. Peaceful parks along the riverfront and numerous recreational spaces, with an integrated trails plan connecting many of them. A vibrant, energetic downtown hosting a mix of college students, families and seniors. All just a 30-minute train ride from Chicago, one of the leading business centers of the world.

This, of course, is Naperville. Those unfamiliar with the city view residents’ claims with skepticism. After all, how can one city boast so many advantages? Yet statistics, and national rankings, bear out these assertions. The library system is ranked number one nationally. Money magazine consistently rates the city as one of the top in the country in which to live. The schools, too, bring home awards and offer a multitude of opportunities for the students. The police and fire departments help ensure safe neighborhoods and peace of mind. The quarterly park district brochure of activities has the heft of some rural phonebooks.

For those who work in Chicago, or the many employed in the high-tech corridor along I-88, Naperville is hard to beat when choosing where to make a home. Naturally, it’s not particularly cheap. There is a price to pay for such fine public services, and it comes in the form of a high Naperville tax rate and some fairly expensive homes. Yet with a population of 140,000, the city offers a quite a wide range of home prices that might surprise some. There are modest neighborhoods, town homes, and apartments, filled with those who can enjoy the amenities as much as the folks in the custom homes along the Riverwalk.

The burgeoning population can lead to traffic snarls, but the good news is that you often don’t need to go very far. Getting to Chicago is a breeze on the Metra train, and even getting to the train station is assisted with bus routes throughout much of Naperville. As far as shopping is concerned, if you can’t find it in Naperville or along Route 59 at the western edge of town, you probably don’t need it! If you enjoy dining out, you can choose a different restaurant every night of the month without leaving Naperville.

So, although you might feel you’re biting the bullet with the Naperville income tax and the frequent crowds on a warm summer evening, you will discover that the advantages of living in Naperville outweigh the disadvantages approximately a thousandfold!

Naperville Education Planning and Soaring College Costs

Sometimes even the best-laid plans can go awry. For example, you have probably been hearing for years about how much money you will need to set aside for your children’s college. The tuition numbers can be staggering. Yet those make up only part of the picture. Even the best Naperville education planning can leave you unprepared when your oldest heads off to school.

First of all, tuition is only the starting point of the costs. Fees get tacked onto that number, as in “tuition and fees.” If you’ve carefully set aside money for tuition, an additional two or three thousand more in fees can come as a shock. Next up is room and board. Those rates go up at least as fast as the cost of living, and no matter how often your new collegian used to raid the refrigerator at home, your grocery savings will not cover the rates on campus.

The final surprise, once you’ve structured the various bills and loans and gotten your college student moved in, comes at textbook purchasing time. A typical full-time student, with a course load of 15 or more hours, might spend $1200 to $1600 on books each year. Even careful Naperville asset management can have trouble keeping up when the cost of texts rises at double the rate of inflation.

Some students opt not to buy the books. This is truly a backwards way to approach the education that is costing so dearly. A better option is to attend each class once or twice before make book purchases, and make sure the instructor plans to use the text. (For some courses with multiple sections, different teachers will utilize different material). In the past, many students saved money by purchasing used books. This is still a great idea, but publishers today come out with new editions so frequently that it has become much harder to find a used version of the text you need. Fortunately, online resellers like Amazon.com can help you broaden your search.

In the end, it turns out that careful Naperville asset management doesn’t end when Junior heads off to campus. Hopefully your example of prudent Naperville education planning will prompt him or her to continue the pattern once making decisions like textbook purchasing. If your college student has already learned to be cautious and make comparisons when spending money, then he or she already has a head start on practical, applicable life skills. Who needs college courses when they’ve got you setting such a good example?

The Importance of a Financial Education

While my 13-year-old daughter and I were watching the movie “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” I laughed, but it was pained, strained laughter. The lead character in the movie is a young woman who, although in debt up to her eyeballs, lands a job as a financial advice columnist. The painful laughter came during the shopping scenes, as the young woman frantically tried to get the remaining credit on her cards to add up to the cost of a scarf she simply had to have, or when her face lit up as she left a store laden with bags. I definitely recognized something familiar about her. I have seen the same acquisitive gleam in my daughter’s eyes.

In addition to the camaraderie found through soccer teams, swim teams, and youth groups, Naperville tweens and teens—particularly girls—have another popular group activity: shopping. If it were a competitive sport, local girls could probably put together a state championship team! Between the delightful charms of our downtown district and the proximity of Fox Valley Mall, shopping fanatics have plenty of lures. When one girl says to another, “Let’s hang out,” it usually translates to, “Let’s spend money.” In fact, hanging out at the mall ranks high on the list of favorite activities for many.

This hanging out can be a relatively harmless activity. The main concern I have is in teaching my daughter moderation and planning. It’s not always easy for a 13-year-old to differentiate between a want and a need. Even at her age, she can be practicing her own level of Naperville financial planning. Different families handle this different ways: maybe with a set clothing allowance or an agreement to split the cost of purchases. My daughter is very reluctant to part with her own money, for which I’m grateful. I’d hate to worry that she was one of those identified by psychologists as “recreational shoppers.” These are people for whom shopping has an inordinate value: it’s used to help achieve happiness. Recreational shoppers tend to be female, with a lack of confidence and self-worth. They frequently utilize shopping as fantasy, while they pretend to be someone else. The many attractive shopping venues around here make Naperville wealth management quite difficult for the recreational shopper.

Just like much of parenting, striving to teach my daughter some frugality will involve persistent effort. If I maintain my vigilance, hopefully her own teen years will not provide the script for “Confessions of a Shopaholic 2”!

Year Round Naperville Tax Preparation

Year-round Naperville Tax Preparation

Every once in a rare while, it seems as though laws actually have some logical, common sense basis. Maybe the legislators who designed them are even something like me! Obviously the tax code has been written for procrastinators: we’re allowed to contribute to IRA’s beyond December 31st and still count them for the previous year; the nearby Naperville Post Office remains open until midnight on April 15th.

Unfortunately, this stretching of time frames doesn’t help cure my procrastination. It’s kind of like setting all my watches ahead 5 minutes in an effort to be more timely. For a while I’m pleasantly surprised that I’m not running as late as I thought, but soon I begin to depend upon that extra time, figuring it into my optimistic estimations of how long it will take me to get ready or to drive somewhere.

What I ought to develop in my daily habits is actually allowing sufficient time rather than tricking myself. I should make a more structured change to my tax habits as well, and plan for my Naperville income tax throughout the year rather than just in April. In fact, looking at my finances only as tax day approaches means I really don’t have time to consider them thoroughly. I’m more likely to simply stay with the status quo.

However, if I sit down with my Naperville accountant on a more regular basis, I can make adjustments that will make April 15th less fraught and perhaps less costly. Investments should be reviewed on a regular basis as industries change, as the stock market fluctuates, as I near retirement and as my situation in life goes through stages. I can be making better choices about my budget and expenditures, if I bear in mind the tax regulations as they relate to my income level.

Granted, my procrastinating nature can be difficult to overcome. But I have tremendous incentive when it comes to tax strategies: keeping more of my hard-earned money in my own pocket. True, the tax laws allow me to postpone all my planning until April 14th if I wish. But the tax laws also allow me to forgo itemizing deductions, thus paying more to Uncle Sam. That may be logical to legislators, but it’s not a very common-sense way to plan my personal budget.

Madoff victims may get millions in tax refunds

Madoff victims may get millions in tax refunds
Lita Epstein

Aug 6th 2009 at 2:00PM

Taking advantage of a special IRS rule for Ponzi-scheme losses, some Madoff victims are starting to get some of their money back in the form of IRS refunds, according to a report in today's Wall Street Journal. So far the biggest refund is about $500,000 dollars, but some people have filed returns for multi-million dollar refunds. In March the IRS ruled that investors could take a theft loss on their amended 2008 returns. Since many Madoff investors let their money grow with Madoff for 20 years or more and paid taxes on the dividends and capital gains they supposedly earned, even though they didn't take the money out, they are sitting on multi-million dollar loses.

The IRS is paying out less to those who are suing third parties, on the assumption that they have a better prospect of recovering losses. Some tax accountants advised their clients to wait on filing because they didn't know how the IRS would handle the refunds. So their clients will need to file for refunds on their 2009 returns. I'll bet the people that were advised to hold off wish they had filed those amended claims. Who knows how generous the IRS will be next year?Those that did file amended 2008 tax returns will soon have cash in their pocket. Sometimes not playing games does pay off with the IRS.

Lita Epstein has written 25 books including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tax Breaks and Deductions.

Cash For Clunkers - The governments gift to Americans in an attempt to further stimulate the economy, and the auto industry. To be honest, its simply a great deal, and if in the car buying process, one to take advantage of. What is more cool is that many of the automakers are combining this with additional savings, for instance Dodge is currently running this special and, in certain circumstances, doubling it. Toyota, Jeep, many other automakers are following suit to attract the buyers. So if you have that vehicle that is leaving oil spots on your garage floor, or gets horrible gas mileage, take a look, the prices are right and the savings is there. Take this one step further and look into the hybrids, after all, green is good.

See you at the dealership!!

Susan

Naperville Retirement Planning

After raising a family, working hard for many years, and developing bonds through clubs, church, work or volunteering, many seniors are loathe to leave an area they’ve come to know and love. They may have friends who retire to warmer climes, but a number of retirees find that their strongest ties to friends and family remain in and around Naperville.

Fortunately, the city offers a number of choices for retirement living. Even when the yard work, upkeep—and taxes—of a single-family home grow too cumbersome, Naperville offers a wide range of other living options. Retirees who have practiced careful Naperville retirement planning may continue to enjoy the lifestyle available here.

One option is to move into an apartment or townhouse. There are a wide variety of sizes, floor plans and locations available throughout the city, including some with walk-to-town convenience. Active retirees can enjoy independence yet be freed from the burden of home maintenance. If more assistance is required, Naperville offers a range of retirement communities, from senior apartments to assisted living to nursing home options. Many of these facilities offer welcome help by providing meals or transportation services while still allowing seniors to remain as independent as possible. An added advantage to these retirement communities is the opportunity to develop even more friendships, joining new neighbors in book clubs or bridge clubs or computer classes.

Of course, the key to getting to this point is careful planning. Many people think first of cost, and that’s an important aspect to an enjoyable retirement. Numerous Naperville financial planning services can assist with that. The best bet is to talk to an advisor when retirement still seems far in the future. Beyond financial considerations, though, lie other planning aspects which can be equally important in developing a happy retirement. Making plans, particularly for goals not yet achieved, can keep the days lively and interesting. Finally visiting Rome or learning to paint helps this stage of life offer new beginnings rather than long stretches of empty time. Developing new friendships, maybe while also developing a new hobby, can also add to the enjoyment of retirement.

So if you plan ahead, you can enjoy the post-working years in Naperville even more than the busy career-filled years.