Why do people keep talking like he spent his entire career in public service? The guy was a Kirkland & Ellis partner for crying out loud.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People, did you not read the details?

This man has had significant credit card debt on and off for ALMOST A DECADE. He took a LOAN from his retirement for "baseball tickets".

He REFINANCED his home twice in less than ten years.

This is someone that is living beyond his means who doesn't know how to manage money. This is poor judgment. Sure if confirmed to SCOTUS his finances will improve but these disclosures show very poor long term planning.

Btw, our HHI is one third of his, we are ten years younger and we have a net worth outside of retirement and home equity that is at least six times his.

+1

Whatever his credentials are, he is a financial idiot.

It doesn't really speak to his credentials as a potential Supreme Court member. It's just provides a window into the lives of a lot of well-educated, but not financially astute, types who live in places like Upper NW and Chevy Chase.

Absolutely it does. You can't even get a clearance with that kind of debt -- it leaves you open to blackmail.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People, did you not read the details?

This man has had significant credit card debt on and off for ALMOST A DECADE. He took a LOAN from his retirement for "baseball tickets".

He REFINANCED his home twice in less than ten years.

This is someone that is living beyond his means who doesn't know how to manage money. This is poor judgment. Sure if confirmed to SCOTUS his finances will improve but these disclosures show very poor long term planning.

Btw, our HHI is one third of his, we are ten years younger and we have a net worth outside of retirement and home equity that is at least six times his.

+1

Whatever his credentials are, he is a financial idiot.

It doesn't really speak to his credentials as a potential Supreme Court member. It's just provides a window into the lives of a lot of well-educated, but not financially astute, types who live in places like Upper NW and Chevy Chase.

+1. I’m often shocked at things friends will mention in passing that involve finances. There are MANY people in this town barely scraping by and living paycheck to paycheck for their $1.2-2mm home, nice cars, activities for kids, etc. Honestly makes me feel better about my own situation as we make a similarly income and save 4-5k outside of retirement each month but have to really work hard to make it happen

I assume he was banking on the revolving door into biglaw at some point, but then understood he had a chance at scotus due to his connections and the likelihood of an eventual Republican prez. Even if he couldn't pull $3M per year in biglaw, which I suspect he could, he could at the very least get to seven figures.

Regarding his loans/debt, nothing suggests he was carrying debt for more than brief periods. I have good credit and can pay large expenses over time for a nominal fee, so it's not even as if APR necessarily kicks in.

I couldn't live this way, but I also don't have his earning power. I need to be slow and steady. He was clearly investing in a later payday or major prestige position, and it worked.

Where are the reports that he tapped into his retirement fund to pay off his debts? I haven’t seen that anywhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People, did you not read the details?

This man has had significant credit card debt on and off for ALMOST A DECADE. He took a LOAN from his retirement for "baseball tickets".

He REFINANCED his home twice in less than ten years.

This is someone that is living beyond his means who doesn't know how to manage money. This is poor judgment. Sure if confirmed to SCOTUS his finances will improve but these disclosures show very poor long term planning.

Btw, our HHI is one third of his, we are ten years younger and we have a net worth outside of retirement and home equity that is at least six times his.

+1

Whatever his credentials are, he is a financial idiot.

It doesn't really speak to his credentials as a potential Supreme Court member. It's just provides a window into the lives of a lot of well-educated, but not financially astute, types who live in places like Upper NW and Chevy Chase.

Anonymous wrote:He could say "screw it all" today and make $3MM+ per year at a dozen different law firms.

Not necessarily. He'd be considered a prestigious hire, but brought on as an appellate lawyer, and that's not the sort of work that (1) leverages lots of associates and (2) usually results in big partner draws.

Anonymous wrote:People, did you not read the details?

This man has had significant credit card debt on and off for ALMOST A DECADE. He took a LOAN from his retirement for "baseball tickets".

He REFINANCED his home twice in less than ten years.

This is someone that is living beyond his means who doesn't know how to manage money. This is poor judgment. Sure if confirmed to SCOTUS his finances will improve but these disclosures show very poor long term planning.

Btw, our HHI is one third of his, we are ten years younger and we have a net worth outside of retirement and home equity that is at least six times his.

+1

Whatever his credentials are, he is a financial idiot.

People, did you not read the details?

This man has had significant credit card debt on and off for ALMOST A DECADE. He took a LOAN from his retirement for "baseball tickets".

He REFINANCED his home twice in less than ten years.

This is someone that is living beyond his means who doesn't know how to manage money. This is poor judgment. Sure if confirmed to SCOTUS his finances will improve but these disclosures show very poor long term planning.

Btw, our HHI is one third of his, we are ten years younger and we have a net worth outside of retirement and home equity that is at least six times his.

Agree with PP - his situation is different than most as he’ll get a hefty annual retirement income. He does not need to save for retirement.

Still, where he is up to this point is surprising. As is Thomas’ finances.

Sounds kinda like the finances of the guy who wrote the Declaration of Independence and who is often credited with founding the Democratic Party.

He has a $200k+ job for life as a federal judge and has the backup of being able to bail out and make real $$$ in the private sector if he chooses. Financial planning for someone in that circumstance is wildly different than for avg person in the workforce.

Even in retirement a federal judge can still take senior status. I dont know if it is still the case but there was also a FICA workaround + various income tax exemptions for Senior Status in the past.

So long as he has the proper insurance to protect his earnings if he were unable to work, dont really see what the problem is here.

Anonymous wrote:You are all clueless. He has a guaranteed $200k+ income for the rest of his life and his only liability right now is a mortgage. Most of you could only be so lucky.

That's now. Just a year ago, he had 200K in credit card debt attributed to baseball tickets and assorted home repairs. I hope. I'm never that "lucky."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even as an appeals court judge, he never would retire so didn’t really need retirement savings except to support his wife after he is gone. But I would never be that far in debt on credit cards. We pay off every month. Unless he was buying a big block of tickets for friends and waiting for them to pay him back, it’s stupid to buy tickets you don’t have cash for.

I sort of assumed he had family money—what did his dad do?

None of us can count on that. Senility, dementia, chronic disease - it is downright stupid to forgo retirement savings based on "never retiring."

I am boggled that anyone with his education would be so stupid. It tells us that he has terrible, terrible judgment.

None of those things will remove you from the bench. There are plenty of senile and very infirm senior status judges who still get paid. They get good clerks who push out the work and, if they are appellate judges, sit on panels where their colleagues cover for them. If I was guaranteed to be paid six figures until the day I dropped dead, regardless of how much work I did, I might also blow my retirement on fun stuff.

Have you ever cared for someone with Alzheimer’s, or significant dementia? Some people forget how to speak, do not recognize anyone, do not know/remember how to swallow.

My mother lived like this for years.

Have you ever spent time with a person with ALS? Or Parkinson’s? People in advanced stages of these diseases can barely handle the activities of daily living, much less a job. Of any kind. No matter how much support was built in.

There is absolutely no way that someone with that degree of infirmity could work. No way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC Circuit Court judges make $220,600, so I guess I'm not surprised of the lack of savings with a $1.2 Million house.

We just started making a combined $210,000 and have a $450,000 mortgage; even that with similar school expenses to Kavanaugh ($20k/yr for preschool) makes it hard (but not impossible!) to save. This just seems like bad financial planning on his part-- when he was 35 I'm sure he wasn't banking on being a Supreme Court Justice!

Yes, that is why a person with that income shouldn't buy a $1.2M house, particularly since the value of the house relates in large part to the local public schools, which the person in question doesn't use. WTAF

I am the same age as Kavanaugh, with a similar HHI. DH and I live in Silver Spring, in our paid-off house worth about $800K. Our combined retirement accounts have a current value of $2.5M and we have another $300K in college savings, plus $200K in mutual funds and $80K liquid for emergencies.

Isn't planning ahead and minimizing exposure to risk what lawyers are supposed to be good at?

I'm the same age as you and him and quit my job because I have more than double your assets and all of my kids out of college already. Does that make me better than you?

It means that we both have better money since then he does.