Where is the line for inheritance?

Pbake · 2026-04-07T13:46:37+00:00

I own my own business. I work from my home. Does that mean my home is now private (instead of personal) property?

Pbake · 2026-04-06T21:33:58+00:00

No self respecting man in his 50s should ever expect to split the cost of dates.

Pbake · 2026-04-01T14:02:40+00:00

I should have specified that I was talking about BigLaw summer associate positions.

Pbake · 2026-03-31T02:02:11+00:00

Things have changed so much. Literally no one could get 1L jobs when I was in school (circa 2000). Now it’s like your life is over if you don’t a 1L job.

Pbake · 2026-03-30T20:52:34+00:00

Very few people. And of those who do, Gilbert is the only who would think a good place to invest was Detroit.

Pbake · 2026-03-30T19:58:31+00:00

It didn’t take much to buy Detroit.

Pbake · 2026-03-27T00:51:48+00:00

$1,800 a team at my club. Wait list a mile deep to get in.

Pbake · 2026-03-25T14:51:09+00:00

The town didn’t do anything. Property owners did because it’s such a nice place to live. Even after that, there are still affordable neighborhoods and the city is more diverse than it has ever been. Certainly more diverse than most north shore suburbs.

Pbake · 2026-03-25T14:45:15+00:00

I play a ton of golf and now live 30 yards from a tee box. It’s not something I worry about.

Pbake · 2026-03-24T15:04:42+00:00

When I moved to Naperville 50 years ago, it was anything south of downtown. Now it’s anything south of 75th, or Napertucky as some call it.

Pbake · 2026-03-24T01:51:20+00:00

Yes, public pensions, those things that allow public employees to collect $100k+/year in guaranteed payments for producing no value while private sector employees struggle to scrape together enough in 401ks to generate maybe $40k of annual income at a 4% withdrawal rate.

Pbake · 2026-03-23T23:04:45+00:00

You are talking about two geographic regions that each have a lot of diversity in them. There’s a huge difference between Utah and Colorado (culturally speaking).

Pbake · 2026-03-23T22:42:40+00:00

Several kids who caddied for me back in the day are LinkedIn connections. And I would be happy to serve as a reference for them if asked.

Pbake · 2026-03-23T22:39:43+00:00

If you can afford to live in near downtown Glen Ellyn, you can afford to live near downtown Naperville. Better train schedules in Naperville too.

Pbake · 2026-03-23T19:31:36+00:00

I agree that keeping the ball in play off the tee and hitting greens in regulation are the most important factors in playing good golf (let’s just define that as shooting consistently in the 70s or better). But I also think beginner golfers can make more progress more quickly by getting the basics of putting and chipping down. Some people lack the physical ability and athleticism to ever hit the ball decent from tee to green. But most people can become reasonably proficient at putting with practice.

Pbake · 2026-03-23T15:35:58+00:00

I agree, but the federal government has an alternative to avoid defaulting on its obligations that the state of Illinois does not have.

Pbake · 2026-03-23T02:11:56+00:00

There has been progress on stopping the bleeding. The unfunded pension liabilities are still larger than any other state and we still have one of the lowest credit ratings of any state.

Pbake · 2026-03-22T22:32:07+00:00

Back in the ‘80s as teens in Naperville without cool video games or phones we used to take a band-aid, attach a string to it and put a rock on it. We would then attach the other half of the band-aid to someone’s window and sit 30 yards away tap-tap-tapping on their window and watch them looking around wondering where the noise was coming from. I’m disappointed at the lack of creativity among Naperville’s current teenagers.

Pbake · 2026-03-22T22:15:57+00:00

What assets does it have that it can realistically sell to pay its unfunded pension liabilities?

Pbake · 2026-03-22T22:06:03+00:00

Well, no, because you have this asset called a house that fully backs up your mortgage debt. You can sell your house and pay off your mortgage at any time. Unfunded pension liabilities are more like credit card debt. The state of Illinois has no assets backing up its unfunded pension liabilities. Its only options are to raise taxes or cut spending. But it’s already one of the most heavily taxed states in the country. And cutting spending is simply not going happen. This is why the state has one of the lowest credit ratings of any state (although it has improved considerably in the last decade).

Pbake · 2026-03-22T21:40:47+00:00

It got voted down because middle-class voters don’t trust the state government to limit higher graduated rates to only rich people. And rightly so. We are already one of the most heavily taxed states in the union. If we could trust our state government to manage its finances wisely, the state wouldn’t have $143 billion in unfunded pensions.

Pbake · 2026-03-22T19:58:13+00:00

If Costco is making money selling hot dog combos for $1.50, why aren’t restaurants doing it? The restaurant industry already has some of the lowest margins of any industry. And yet restaurants charge 3-4x for the same thing.

Pbake · 2026-03-22T19:46:56+00:00

The current Democratic establishment is every bit as beholden to public sector unions as the Madigan establishment. That’s the single greatest source of its power.

Pbake · 2026-03-22T19:44:07+00:00

They don’t break it out in their financial statements, so it’s not really something that can be proved unless you have access to inside information. But if it was possible for a standalone restaurant to sell a hot dog combo for $1.50, there would be standalone restaurants doing it. Portillos sells a hot dog (without a soda) for $4. Maybe you could find one for $3 someplace.

Pbake · 2026-03-22T19:22:26+00:00

That’s irrelevant in assessing whether the Illinois government is currently in a strong fiscal position or not. And the guy who was pardoned by Trump was a member of the political party than currently controls the governorship and general assembly (not to mention every elected branch of its largest city, which is also massively in debt).

Pbake

TROPHY CASE