Author Topic: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice  (Read 4530 times)


jengod

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2018, 08:36:55 PM »
1. He's not confirmed yet.
2. I get the pull of hedonism, but he sounds like an idiot as far as his personal finances go. Debt for season tickets!? WTH man?! Your daughters probably want to go to college someday, dude--I'm all for making them work their way through but if you've got surplus funds, like...what?

MrUpwardlyMobile

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2018, 08:40:50 PM »
1. He's not confirmed yet.
2. I get the pull of hedonism, but he sounds like an idiot as far as his personal finances go. Debt for season tickets!? WTH man?! Your daughters probably want to go to college someday, dude--I'm all for making them work their way through but if you've got surplus funds, like...what?

Articles basically point out that he bought tickets for his group of friends and they ultimately reimbursed him for their respective shares.  It’s not unusual for big fans to do ticket pooling. Ultimately, one member is the one that does the purchase.  It was already paid off or paid below reporting requirements so it sounds like a non-story.

SugarMountain

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2018, 10:21:11 PM »
1. He's not confirmed yet.
2. I get the pull of hedonism, but he sounds like an idiot as far as his personal finances go. Debt for season tickets!? WTH man?! Your daughters probably want to go to college someday, dude--I'm all for making them work their way through but if you've got surplus funds, like...what?


Articles basically point out that he bought tickets for his group of friends and they ultimately reimbursed him for their respective shares.  It’s not unusual for big fans to do ticket pooling. Ultimately, one member is the one that does the purchase.  It was already paid off or paid below reporting requirements so it sounds like a non-story.

$60-200k is a lot of tickets, even if he's doing it with some friends, and certainly fits on the anti-mustachian wall of shame.

SugarMountain

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2018, 10:21:56 PM »
1. He's not confirmed yet.

He's a lock.

dang1

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2018, 10:43:48 PM »

YttriumNitrate

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2018, 11:21:52 PM »
1. He's not confirmed yet.
He's a lock.
If the best the Washington Post can do is dig up dirt on him that he bought playoff tickets for some friends (and was reimbursed) I agree that he's a lock.

Also, considering the debt was from 2016, and was paid off in 2017 my guess it was closer to the low end of the range than the higher.



FIPurpose

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #9 on: July 12, 2018, 05:49:20 AM »
The man is 53 and most people here accomplished that net worth in their 20's.

I would say though that makes him pretty representative of the average citizen lol.

YttriumNitrate

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #10 on: July 12, 2018, 08:41:51 AM »
The man is 53 and most people here accomplished that net worth in their 20's.
I would say though that makes him pretty representative of the average citizen lol.

That's really only true if you don't count his retirement account, and the fact that federal judges have an insane retirement plan. At 65 he can retire at full salary (with cost of living increases). However, many/most federal judges think it's such a plum position that they continue working well into their 70s, 80s, or 90s (effectively for free).

FIPurpose

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #11 on: July 12, 2018, 09:03:39 AM »
The man is 53 and most people here accomplished that net worth in their 20's.
I would say though that makes him pretty representative of the average citizen lol.

That's really only true if you don't count his retirement account, and the fact that federal judges have an insane retirement plan. At 65 he can retire at full salary (with cost of living increases). However, many/most federal judges think it's such a plum position that they continue working well into their 70s, 80s, or 90s (effectively for free).

No I was including his retirement account. I would estimate that a large percentage of people here in the forum make it to a half million before 30.

charis

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #12 on: July 12, 2018, 09:13:20 AM »
The man is 53 and most people here accomplished that net worth in their 20's.
I would say though that makes him pretty representative of the average citizen lol.

That's really only true if you don't count his retirement account, and the fact that federal judges have an insane retirement plan. At 65 he can retire at full salary (with cost of living increases). However, many/most federal judges think it's such a plum position that they continue working well into their 70s, 80s, or 90s (effectively for free).

Exactly, he was appointed, I believe, to a lifetime position in 2006 with a lifetime salary even at retirement (not even including his retirement plan/account).  I think he's probably doing just fine by FI standards.

Raenia

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #13 on: July 12, 2018, 09:34:38 AM »
The man is 53 and most people here accomplished that net worth in their 20's.
I would say though that makes him pretty representative of the average citizen lol.

That's really only true if you don't count his retirement account, and the fact that federal judges have an insane retirement plan. At 65 he can retire at full salary (with cost of living increases). However, many/most federal judges think it's such a plum position that they continue working well into their 70s, 80s, or 90s (effectively for free).

No I was including his retirement account. I would estimate that a large percentage of people here in the forum make it to a half million before 30.

My impression was that it included his retiremement account but did not include the value of his pension, which would itself cover his full salary plus COLA.

My question is, why is this even news?  He put some reimbursed group expenses on a 0% card and paid it off within the year.  Even if it was a stupid thing to do, what on Earth does it have to do with his fitness for the office?  Shouldn't we focus on his judicial history and policies instead?

GrumpyPenguin

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #14 on: July 12, 2018, 09:40:25 AM »
I thought having that much credit card debt is a bit ridiculous, though it was buying a group of tickets that other folks probably paid him back for.  Looking at all the details, clearly he's not mustachian, though he does seem about average. I don't think the financial part of his background is much of note one way or another.

Chris22

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #15 on: July 12, 2018, 09:49:14 AM »
this Supreme Court nominee is miles behind where a 50-something’s finances should be

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/brett-kavanaugh-has-saved-almost-nothing-so-does-he-actually-understand-business-2018-07-11?siteid=rss
Careful of fake news.  Kavanaugh has a government retirement account worth nearly half a million dollars that also was not required to be disclosed.

Is that a 401(k) (government equivalent)?

Because otherwise the man gets a pension for life, which has to be valued at way more than $500k given it will pay that in 2 years.  Going forward it would be tied to his new ~$250k ish salary as a Justice, but I'm guessing his old role wasn't a significant paycut.  If you tell me I'm guaranteed to make 100% of my salary forever whether or not I'm going to work, hell, I'm not saving much either.  What's the point?  The only caveat would be my wife and kids and if something happened to me, but that's what life insurance is for. 

I also liked how the article mentioned savings for kids' college a couple of times; don't you think various prestigious colleges would be falling all over themselves to have the kids of a sitting USSC Justice attending?  Those kids will have money thrown at them by big name schools. 

It simply doesn't make sense to judge (heh) his financial success/lack thereof versus others given the enormous uniquenesses in his world that aren't relative to the rest of us. 


I do wonder how he services the $900k mortgage on his salary though; my wife and I are in the same income range and our mortgage is 1/3rd that much.  And I'm betting his property taxes aren't significantly less than mine (IL vs MD).

SugarMountain

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #16 on: July 12, 2018, 09:51:21 AM »
1. He's not confirmed yet.
He's a lock.
If the best the Washington Post can do is dig up dirt on him that he bought playoff tickets for some friends (and was reimbursed) I agree that he's a lock.

Also, considering the debt was from 2016, and was paid off in 2017 my guess it was closer to the low end of the range than the higher.

It has nothing to do with what the Post or other media can dig up (he apparently lied, to the Senate Intelligence Committee and nobody gives a crap about that).  There are 51 GOP Senators who would vote to confirm a ham sandwich at this point. Not that the Dems would be any different if they controlled all 3 branches. Such is the state of politics in the 21st century.

My point was not whether he paid off the debt or not.  Financing 5-6 figures of sports tickets on credit cards is worthy of being on the Antimustachian Wall of Shame.  Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say that there were 10 people in his consortium and his debt was at the low end of what was reported - $60k.  That's still $6k for tickets for a 50 year old with apparently only a few thousand in savings and the purchase went on multiple credit cards/loans.  He almost certainly carried the debt for a while our he wouldn't have had to report it at all. 

But, I guess when you have a lifetime appointment, which he already has, FIRE is not really a concern.

eljefe-speaks

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #17 on: July 12, 2018, 11:16:13 AM »
He disclosed his finances? I didn't think that was necessary anymore...

I'm a red panda

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #18 on: July 12, 2018, 11:18:28 AM »
I think almost nothing positive of this man; but this is a non-story.


zolotiyeruki

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #19 on: July 12, 2018, 03:07:14 PM »
My point was not whether he paid off the debt or not.  Financing 5-6 figures of sports tickets on credit cards is worthy of being on the Antimustachian Wall of Shame.
I disagree--if I had the opportunity, I'd be happy to do it just for the credit card rewards...

SugarMountain

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #20 on: July 12, 2018, 03:38:02 PM »
My point was not whether he paid off the debt or not.  Financing 5-6 figures of sports tickets on credit cards is worthy of being on the Antimustachian Wall of Shame.
I disagree--if I had the opportunity, I'd be happy to do it just for the credit card rewards...

Sure, if you paid it off that month.  It doesn't sound like that's what happened.

SugarMountain

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #21 on: July 12, 2018, 03:39:01 PM »
I think almost nothing positive of this man; but this is a non-story.

Right, that's why it's posted in the "Anti-Mustachian Wall of Shame" forum and not the "Should we confirm this guy as Supreme Court Justice" forum. 

MrUpwardlyMobile

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #22 on: July 12, 2018, 07:44:13 PM »
My point was not whether he paid off the debt or not.  Financing 5-6 figures of sports tickets on credit cards is worthy of being on the Antimustachian Wall of Shame.
I disagree--if I had the opportunity, I'd be happy to do it just for the credit card rewards...

Sure, if you paid it off that month.  It doesn't sound like that's what happened.
It sounds like he put it on a 0% interest card, racked up crazy good points, and paid it off before anything extra was owed.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #23 on: July 12, 2018, 09:24:16 PM »
I think almost nothing positive of this man; but this is a non-story.

Right, that's why it's posted in the "Anti-Mustachian Wall of Shame" forum and not the "Should we confirm this guy as Supreme Court Justice" forum.

But it doesn't even sound like real debt.

one piece at a time

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Re: Our spendy new Supreme Court Justice
« Reply #24 on: July 12, 2018, 09:56:35 PM »
If you tell me I'm guaranteed to make 100% of my salary forever whether or not I'm going to work, hell, I'm not saving much either.  What's the point?  The only caveat would be my wife and kids and if something happened to me, but that's what life insurance is for. 

Exactly. Cost of living is increased by the guaranteed income. He would be foolish not to hedge his death so that his wife and kids are looked after, but that hedging costs money.