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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Why do you keep saying he has no debt?  He does have debt -- a large outstanding mortgage (in his 50s).  More importantly, he has refinanced his mortgage multiple times in order to pull cash out, and had $60-200k in credit card debt as of 1 year ago.  He's clearly living beyond his means.[/quote]

So now a supreme court nominee should not carry a mortgage? Or is it just people in their 50s who should not carry a mortgage?

The guy has 65k in his bank account, 500k in retirement, and carried debt that was paid off in a year.  The article also states that some of that debt was because he paid for tix he was reimbursed for.  He also purchased a home for 1.2M and now has a mortgage of 865K...so what?  that is not a smoking gun of any sorts. That's a 4K mortgage for a guy working in DC. Do you expect him to live in Ashburn?

Oh and BTW, MANY of us who have owned homes in the last 12 years have refinanced multiple times. In 2006, the average mortgage rate was 6.4%. Rates in 2015 when he last refinanced were under 4%. I refinanced myself for just under 3%

[b]Just curious, how do you know he pulled money out of his home?[/b] You do not need to refinance a home to pull money out. he's sitting on prime real estate, worth AT LEAST 2M I'm sure he could get a HELOC.  I personally do not think that is a moral failing either, but I'm curious to know where you found that info. I cannot find that anywhere.

Again, why are you so worried about him? Personally, I do not spend time worrying about the financial soul of people who have had a lifetime job for over a decade and have a full lifetime pension, and a net worth of over 1M according to the article:

[b]“At this time the Kavanaughs have no debt beyond their home mortgage,” Shah said.

He said that Kavanaugh has assets of nearly $1 million between the equity in his home and his retirement account.[/b][/quote]

We know he has been pulling money out of his house because he took out a 900k mortgage in 2006, it is 2018, and he owes $865 on his mortgage.  If he did not take money out when he refinanced, it would be much lower.

He has no debt other than his mortgage as of last year, but he was carrying $60k-$200k (we only know ranges because that's what is reported for each card) every year prior for a decade, and his income didn't change last year, so someone who is not him paid that debt off.  It's not a selling point that you're "debt free" if you didn't keep yourself out of debt, but rather got bailed out.

I'm not worried for him, he's the kind of guy who will always land on his feet.  He's got rich parents (and probably in laws) and lots of connections.  But what we can see from his financial disclosures is that he spends more than he earns, and just doesn't have to face to consequences for that behavior in a way that people situated differently would have to.  So I'm not impressed by what we've learned about him, no.[/quote]

Yes, not all of us have a lifetime job or lifetime pension. He is lucky. He does not need to build wealth. He has built in wealth due to hmthr nature of his job.  Yes, someone brilliant who went to Yale and at a young age got in elite political circles is going to always land on their feet unless they do something very very dumb. Uncle Sam gave him a. Very solid golden parachute back in 2006.

What behavior should be face consequences for? What is the immoral behavior he should be punished for if he was not a highly educated politician, lawyer and judge? Not having a larger Vanguard account? Having nice furniture he paid off? Maybe the behavior of having a screened in deck?

Again, you think racking up debt and paying it off and having a net worth of 1M is a moral failing? What would make him more moral in your eyes? What is the $$ figure to reach full moral financial nirvana?[/quote]

You're missing the point, either intentionally or because I'm not making it clear.  I'm not saying he "should face consequences" now, I'm saying he hasn't faced the consequences of living beyond his means in the past.  If you rack up $200k in debt and then someone else pays it off, you aren't facing the consequences of having to tighten your belt, pay your debts, and learn to live within your means.  No one is calling for him to be drawn and quartered, I'm saying he's gotten a pass that most people don't get because most of us don't have someone who will pay off high-four to low-six figures debt for us.

I'm not the same person who said he failed to build wealth.  I don't care if he spends every dollar he brings in.  But I do care that he spends more than he brings in, and gets bailed out.  That's not good judgment.

Just so you know, the last two posts have come from me (starting from when I truncated the quote tree), but I'm not the person you've been going back and forth with before.  I thought I could clear up some of your stated confusion about why people on the Money & Finances board were bothered by his disclosures, when you were saying you couldn't see the problem, he doesn't carry debt, what's the big deal.  But if you don't really care to know what we're talking about, or are taking this as a partisan issue when it's being discussed as a financial issue, we don't have to discuss it further.  I stay off the Politics board here because screaming at strangers who only came to scream at me, with neither of us listening to the other, is not my idea of a good time.[/quote]

How do you know hes getting bailed out by someone? Serious question. We had a bunch of cash on the the sidelines a few times. Opened multiple credit cards for points, racked up 90k in debt, held it for the interest free portion and then paid it off in one big chunk.

Is this an assumption you are making that someone bailed him out or was there something on his tax return in regards to gift money? [/quote]

It is an assumption, based on the fact that his CC debt held steady for 10 years, and then disappeared in one.  The financial disclosures show cash positions as well, and when he had the debt it outweighed his cash according to the WaPo article.  His income did not change in the year the debt disappeared, to account for suddenly paying off $200k in CC debt.  But if one of his refinances was in 2015 or 2016, I guess he could have technically bailed himself out.  If that's what happened it is slightly better than the bank of Mom & Dad, but still doesn't show any financial savvy IMO.[/quote]

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