This Is How Inflation Is Impacting The Net Worth Of Multi-Millionaire 'Middle Class Joe'

Forbes Breaking News

America’s economy is booming, with the stock market up 15% over the last six months and 24% in the last year. Yet much of the country doesn’t feel any richer, thanks to a host of underlying complications, including stagnating home values, flat wages, high interest rates and stubborn inflation. The man many people blame for those issues, rightly or wrongly, is affected by them too. Joe Biden’s net worth has stalled out at an estimated $10 million. Forbes staff writer Zach Everson joins "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss.   Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverson/2024/06/22/heres-how-much-joe-biden-is-worth/  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes breaking news. Joining me now is my Forbes

00:07colleague, staff writer Zach Everson. Zach, thanks for joining me once again.

00:12Thanks for having me on once again, Brittany.

00:14Of course, Forbes is estimating the net worth of President Joe Biden. You have the number.

00:20How much is the commander in chief worth?

00:23It is about $10 million, which is the same as what we valued him at earlier this year

00:29and also last year.

00:31So $10 million making Joe Biden a multimillionaire. I mean, this is at odds with his middle class

00:38Joe persona. Can you talk about that a little bit for us?

00:42Yeah, obviously, $10 million. It's a solid amount. It's you know, I would I would like

00:50very much like to have $10 million right now. But remember, this isn't like it's all liquid

00:54and cash right there. It's it's he's got a lot of money that he made from his government

00:58pension. He's been working in government for decades, and that's just compounded.

01:02And then he's made a few good real estate purchases in terms of buying a house in Wilmington,

01:08Delaware and also his vacation home in Rehoboth, which is really what's what's led to one of

01:13the greatest increases. You know, he also did pretty well the four years he was out

01:17of office where he was making some money with speeches and books.

01:21By the numbers, the economy is doing a lot better than it has been the past couple of

01:25years. But as we know, economic concerns continue to be top of mind for voters, especially

01:30as we head into the November presidential election. And as you point out in your piece,

01:35many Americans are concerned about inflation, high interest rates, flat wages and stagnating

01:40home values. And many of them pin the blame on President Joe Biden. But as it turns out,

01:47he's suffering from the same issues. Can you talk about that?

01:50Yeah, possibly even more so, at least in terms of salary. The president has been paid

01:5640, excuse me, four hundred thousand dollars a year since George W. Bush entered the White

02:01House in 2001. So there has been no raise for the occupant of the White House. So, I

02:06mean, that is that is flat. They did not put any sort of adjustment for inflation when

02:11Congress passed the bill that raised the salary. So, you know, as a result, Biden's getting

02:15paid four hundred thousand dollars. The equivalent, George, the four hundred thousand dollars

02:19George W. Bush was getting back in 2001 is worth about seven hundred and seventeen thousand

02:25dollars in today's purchasing power. So, you know, obviously, presidents back 20 years

02:29ago when they passed this law were able to do more with the salary than what what Biden

02:33can do with his right now. Yeah, definitely. Four hundred thousand dollars in the early

02:372000s got you a lot farther than it does today. But as you noted, he has a lot of his money

02:43tied up in real estate, two thirds of his fortune, according to your report. And you

02:48are saying that he has his financial well-being has been tied up in real estate for a while.

02:53So can you talk about his portfolio for us? Yeah, so right now he has the two houses,

02:58one in Wilmington, one in Delaware, and they are flat in terms of valuation from last year.

03:03We haven't seen much appreciation there, but he at a young age got into real estate. You

03:08know, once he started making money after coming out of law school, he kept buying houses.

03:13He ended up buying three houses at one point that he was living in a fourth property that

03:18he was getting not having to pay rent for in exchange for managing a swimming pool.

03:23So he had those three properties. He ended up selling them to buy one property that he

03:28was going to move the whole family into. And then they fell in love with a different property

03:31and bought that one. And then shortly after he was elected to the Senate, they bought

03:37a house in Chevy Chase, Maryland as well. So he was back to having two homes there.

03:42Another pattern he has found himself in is refinancing and tapping into those properties

03:47before when he's needed cash. So can you talk about those times for us?

03:52Yeah. So, you know, originally those homes were all making money for him is via renting

03:58them out. Most recently in, excuse me, Rehoboth, he took out a loan. This is another area where

04:05he's getting hit by inflation. It had a variable interest rate plus one point nine nine percent.

04:09So a couple of years ago, I think the amount that he had borrowed from it was somewhere

04:13between fifteen thousand and fifty thousand. Most recently, he in his latest disclosure

04:19disclosed that he has taken out borrowed about one hundred thousand to two hundred and fifty

04:23thousand off against it. So, you know, it's one way to make up for your salary staying

04:27flat is to just keep tapping into the equity you have in your house.

04:32Is it normal to repeatedly refinance over and over again?

04:38You know, that's a good question. I'm not an expert in that, but I certainly know, you

04:42know, as a former homeowner that, you know, what it's it can certainly be beneficial depending

04:47on how interest rates change. And a lot of Americans do tap into their house for equity.

04:54You noted before that in 2016, after he left office as vice president, he made a good chunk

05:00of change. How did he do this?

05:03Books, speeches, the usual ways that former politicians make some money after after leaving

05:10the public sector. So he did pretty well during that four years earlier.

05:15When we looked at his wealth several years ago, we realized he probably could have made

05:18more and done better with his investments if he had put them in other places.

05:23So while he is worth ten million dollars, that number could probably have been higher if

05:27he had made some different choices.

05:29So looking at the past, when he first left office, let's say he doesn't win reelection

05:35and he leaves office again in 2025, would he make more money out of office opposed to

05:40that 400000 dollar salary?

05:43He certainly would have the possibility of making more money than that 400000 dollar

05:47salary. I mean, it's also likely, you know, if he were to lose, he may just want to retire

05:51because he is certainly of that age.

05:55Aside from his real estate and his salary, what are the other assets that make up his

05:59fortune? The big ones are his pensions, and then he has an annuity that holds I think

06:05it's about 10 different mutual funds in it as well.

06:08And he's got a few bank accounts with some cash.

06:11So ten million dollars, nothing to sneeze at for sure.

06:15But how does this stack up to his predecessor and biggest competitor now, Donald

06:20Trump's worth? It is pennies compared to what Donald Trump has.

06:26I don't know the exact number right now because that truth that Trump media stock has

06:30been bouncing all over the place of late.

06:32But, you know, Trump is worth five, six, seven billion dollars typically when I when I

06:37look at it. So, you know, this this 10 million dollars is certainly nice.

06:41But for Trump to compare it, it's about the value of, I think, one home that he has in

06:46the Virgin Islands that he's been trying to get rid of.

06:48So it's a rounding error for Trump.

06:50Well, Zach Everson, per usual, thanks for your reporting.

06:54Thanks for having me on again.

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