money Here's How Joe and Jill Biden Amassed a $9 Million Net Worth Over Time
Joe Biden is no average Joe, at least when it comes to the Democratic presidential nominee’s finances. Though the former vice president is not the wealthiest of the once sizable cast of Democratic characters vying for the presidency (that honor went to billionaire Michael Bloomberg), Biden is by no means a Joe Six Pack.
In his memoir Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics, the longtime politician claimed to have grown up “broke.” Biden’s father faced a number of financial struggles during Joe's younger years, and during the economic downturn in Scranton, PA, was unable to find steady work. As a result, the future Vice President spent some of his youth living with his maternal grandparents, before moving to Delaware.
Despite his relatively modest upbringing, Biden’s financial situation has since changed quite dramatically. Per Forbes, the combined net worth of Joe and his wife Jill Biden is $9 million, including two homes in Delaware, cash and investments, and a federal pension.
In fact, in the two years after leaving the White House, the Bidens earned more than $15 million as a result of a multi-book deal with Flatiron publishers. And during his time as Vice President, Biden and his wife brought in around $3.1 million, per a Forbes analysis of the couple’s tax returns.
Here’s how Joe Biden made his millions over the course of his career.
High School
Joe Biden attended a private high school near Wilmington, DE, and according to Forbes, participated in a work-study program in order to pay for the $300 per year tuition.
College and Law School
Biden attended the University of Delaware, where he double majored in history and political science, and minored in English. He then obtained his law degree from Syracuse University, returning to the Wilmington area upon graduation and working as an attorney at a local firm.
The Senate
At 29, Biden became one of the youngest senators in American history, and for the next 30 years, would serve as a legislator in Washington, D.C. His starting salary was $42,500 per year (equivalent to about $250,000 today), and it is largely his income as a senator that has sustained the Bidens’ finances. In 1977, Biden married his current wife, Jill Biden (his first wife Neilia Hunter died tragically in a car accident with daughter Naomi just weeks after Biden was first elected to the senate), whose salary as an English professor at various community colleges has also been reported in the couple’s tax returns. By the time Biden left Senate in 2009, he was making $169,300 per year.
First Memoir
Biden earned $71,000 in royalties and $9,500 for “audio book rights” from Random House following the publication of his first book, Promises to Keep.
Vice President
As Vice President, Biden made around $230,000, and Jill Biden made $24,400 as an author in 2013, publishing a children’s book called Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops. By the time he ended his tenure in the White House, Biden’s financial disclosure forms listed assets and liabilities between negative $897,000 and positive $489,000.
Post White House
In the two years following Biden’s vice presidency, the couple earned more than $15 million; $1.8 million came from book tour events; another $2.4 million was derived from speaking fees; and the University of Pennsylvania paid Biden $775,000 to lead the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. Jill Biden made $700,00 in speaking fees.
The Bidens also benefit from pensions and social security benefits, as well as rental income from a cottage in Wilmington, DE.
Support from readers like you helps us do our best work. Go here to subscribe to Prevention and get 12 FREE gifts. And sign up for our FREE newsletter here for daily health, nutrition, and fitness advice.
You Might Also Like
