Personal Finance - News, Photos and More on the Windy Citizen

Jennifer Smith already had her Chase loan application approved and had submitted her paperwork to the financial aid office at Roosevelt University in Chicago when she was told that, instead, she would be borrowing directly from Uncle Sam.

“They never told me why,” the 24-year-old integrated marketing communication major said. “All of a sudden I had direct loans of this and that much.”

As Cook County's newly increased sales tax rate entered its second day Wednesday, shoppers from communities along the county's border with Indiana flocked to retail outlets across the state line, where taxes are now more than 3 percent lower.

The new Cook County rate of 10.25 percent-an increase of one percentage point-dwarfs Indiana's statewide sales tax rate of 7 percent.

Chicago-area investors are looking to shift their portfolios into higher gear—with greater risk—to keep pace with rising inflation.

The Standard & Poor's 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average are in the red for 2008—down 4.6 percent and 3.0 percent respectively. Home prices have declined an average of 8.3 percent in the first quarter of 2008.

A gallon of regular gasoline in Chicago has soared 20 percent since President George W. Bush proposed an economic stimulus package in mid-January. That means a $600 stimulus check from the IRS now translates to purchasing power of only $480 at the pump.