Not So "Sleepy" Joe Biden's Net Worth
Many think Joe needs to take an afternoon nap between making appearances and maintaining his efforts in support of his political campaign. Joe Biden’s net worth in 2023 is estimated to be around $9 million. It is pretty low when compared to politicians’ net worth of the other rich politicians.
The net worth of Joe Biden is made up of the equity value in two Delaware homes for a total of about $4 million in real estate plus cash and investments with a value of $4 million and the value of his federal pension, which is about $1+ million.
Joe Biden’s net worth is respectable for a man who is 80 years old and who spent the bulk of his life in public service and now is the President of the United States.
Joe Biden earned a salary for many years as a Senator and then for eight years as the Vice President of the United States and now as the POTUS. After he left the office of the vice president, he was able to make substantial fees for public appearances. He also became a professor. However, most of Biden’s net worth came from earnings he made from book deals.
Joe Biden was broke in 2014. At that time, his net worth was estimated to be less than zero with the debt of up to $1 million more than the value of his assets. He was previously known as the poorest guy in the Senate. He was able to live decently while in the Senate and better as the Vice President; yet, he did not accumulate massive wealth until leaving government service. He concentrated more on serving his country.
Since that low point in his net worth during 2014, Joe Biden and his wife Jill started bringing in more money. They earned a total of about $15 million over five years after he left the White House. Plenty of taxes were paid on the windfall income, as reported on the publicly released tax returns and Biden’s financial disclosure statement.
Biden’s 2016 income tax return is a joint-filing with his wife Jill. It shows the family income was $400,000 that year. The following year this increased substantially with the windfall from the book deal. The 2017 return shows a family income of $11 million. The family income in 2018 was around $4.6 million.
Now, the Bidens have an estimated net worth of about $9 million. He became a millionaire in his 70s from writing books. The first book was written in dedication to his son, Beau, who passed away from cancer. A very admirable reason.
Joe Biden 2020: What you need to know about
Political Career
Joe Biden’s career in politics represents most of his life, with a combined total of 46 years in service to America. First, as a U.S. Senator from Delaware, then as the Vice President of the United States during the Obama administration and finally as the President of the United States.
Senator from Delaware
Fox Business reports that Joe Biden served 35 years as a U.S. Senator from the state of Delaware. His salary was $42,500 annually when he started in 1973. At that time, he was one of the youngest people ever elected to the Senate. He was only 29. His elation about his successful run for the Senate did not last long. A few weeks after he won the election, his wife and daughter died in a car accident.
It was four years before he would marry again to his current wife Jill. They have been happily married for the past 33 years and raised two boys together, Beau and Hunter. Jill worked as an English professor teaching courses at community colleges. She was always instrumental in the success of Joe Biden’s political career.
By 2008, his salary as a Senator rose to $169,300 per year.
Vice President of the United States
In 2009, he left the Senate at the request of Barack Obama to join him on the ticket for a run at the presidency. When Obama won, he went on to serve as the Vice President of the United States. He worked with President Obama for eight years. Becoming Vice President was a step up financially. He made 30% more than what he got paid as a Senator. His salary was $230,000 per year as the Vice President.
Live a Financially Stable Life
Visit the Wealthry Store.
president of the united states of america
On January 20th 2021 Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. He won the election over the former Republican president Donald Trump. His salary now is $378,333.
Pension
Members of Congress, which includes the Senate, get a pension based on their age and on the number of years of service they gave to their country.
If they served in Congress for at least five years, which would require three terms for a member of the House and one term for a Senator, they receive an annual pension once they become 62 years old. If they complete 20 years of service their pension starts at age 50 or whenever the 20 years of service is finished before the age of 62. Their pension starts at any age before 62 if they complete 25 years of service.
Joe Biden served 35 years as the Senator from Delaware, starting in 1973. This means he qualified for a pension staring in 1998 when he completed 25 years of service. The pension amount for a person that qualifies for full benefits is a maximum of 80% of their full salary. However, Biden continued to be employed by the government and his pension was not yet paid.
When Joe Biden became vice president, he qualified for an increase in his pension calculation amount based on his salary as Vice President. He qualified for a pension based on the years of service that he already competed in the Senate.
Unlike being the President, the Vice President does not usually get a pension for working as the Vice President. It is only because Joe Biden was already qualified for his work done in the Senate that he got a pension. Luckily for him, the amount of the pension was calculated based on the much higher salary he received as the Vice President than when he was a Senator.
And now, when he is the POTUS he qualified for a bigger pension. Since 2020 pension for the former president of the country is $219,200 per year. The pension begins immediately after a president's departure from office.
Public Speaking
Joe Biden’s net worth got a boost from the fees he received for public speaking after he left the White House. Biden’s speaking fees before he announced his 2020 campaign for the presidency, ranged from $40,000 to $190,000.
His average fee was about $100,000. He got a minimum of $40,000 per appearance to a high of $190,000 for giving a full lecture that he gave at Drew University in New Jersey. Over about five years, he was able to accumulate about $2.7 million in earnings from these activities.
Jill Biden also was able to make substantial money from public speaking engagements during this period. She earned about $700,00 in total speaking fees.
Professor Biden
Joe Biden became a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. He taught a course there and earned $540,000 as Professor Joe Biden.
Book Deals
Cover of a book by Joe Biden, Promise Me, Dad
Image source: amazon.com
Joe Biden and his wife negotiated a multi-book deal with Flatiron Books that is valued at $8 million. Joe Biden’s first book was an emotional recounting of his personal experiences surrounding his son Beau’s death from cancer. The book, entitled Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose, topped the bestseller lists in 2017.
Joe And Jill Biden’s Real Estate
Money reports that the family’s main estate is a 7,000 square-foot custom-built home situated on a private lake in the small town of Greenville, Delaware that is near Wilmington. They also own a stunning $2.7 million vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
The vacation home has six bedrooms with beautiful views of the Cape Henlopen State Park as well as nice views of the ocean. It is fitted with a gourmet kitchen, an elevator, and three massive fireplaces that are perfect for spending a cold winter’s night by the fire.
The property is not lavish when compared to its neighbors. It is not on the beach, which would triple the value. It is very comfortable and nice, yet it sort of blends in with the surrounding homes. It is an upper-class home; however, a wealthy doctor could easily afford it.
Investing in real estate is one of the best ways to boost your net worth, however, in order to be able to invest, you first need to save up some money. Joe Biden himself didn’t come from a rich family, but he earned his wealth throughout the years and has been spending it wisely.
Joe Biden's Net Worth Compared To Other Celebrities
Joe Biden’s tendency toward the middle-class lifestyle is appropriate based on his upbringing and his modesty. Joe Biden’s net worth of $9 million, on its own, would not be enough to get him invited to Hollywood parties. Coincidentally, Joe Biden’s net worth got big help from his earnings that came from a book deal. It pays to be an author or an author who is the President.
Joe Biden's Net Worth Compared To Top Politicians Net Worth
I took a look at Joe Biden’s net worth to see how it compared with the richest among politicians globally. Money Inc. reports that the richest politician in the world is Vladimir Putin. Putin has an estimated net worth of $200 billion. Of the Americans, the richest politician is Michael Bloomberg with an estimated net worth of $70+ billion. Other Americans, like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet have more money. They may support politics but did not hold a political office.
When it comes to the richest politicians in America, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s net worth stands out as well. His high net worth is not from being the former governor of California, but from his earnings as a Hollywood superstar. Schwarzenegger’s net worth is about $450 million. He made most of his wealth by investing his earnings, from being a bodybuilder and a movie star, into real estate.
President Obama is one of the more modestly-wealthy people on the list of richest politicians with an estimated worth of $48 million. In comparison, Joe Biden’s net worth of a measly $9 million is much more modest.
Conclusion
Calling Joe Biden “sleepy” is fun and partially true. He has been caught falling asleep on camera while sitting in the audience at a congressional session when President Obama was discussing budget issues.
Another moniker Joe Biden has is “Middle-Class Joe.” This is true from his upbringing but not exactly true now. In Washington, D. C. being called “middle-class” is an insult. Joe Biden may find that to be helpful for his political campaign, if they continue to call him “Middle-Class Joe” but, technically, this is no longer true. The good news is, at most of his appearances in public he is doing much of the speaking or at least debating others. This means it is less likely that he will fall asleep.
Maybe, he needs a new nickname name like “Upper-Class Joe” or “Woke Joe”.