How rich is Joe Biden? Well, according to Forbes, Joe Biden is a millionaire. In all, reportedly Joe is worth millions presently, significantly which is more than earlier in his career. This figure, from Forbes and calculated in 2019, is based on the total portfolio of millions from real estate (Joe and his wife Jill Biden own two homes in Delaware). Cash and investments worth millions, and his federal pension worth more than $1 million. The Bidens released their tax returns from 2016 to 2018, which showed they paid about a third of their income in taxes.
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Who is this Joe Biden?
How much is Joe Biden worth?
Who is this Joe Biden?
Joe Biden worked as an attorney before he turned to politics. It’s on record that he is the fifth youngest United States senator in history as well as the longest serving senator in Delaware. In 2008 he declared intention to run for the president, which his presidential campaign didn’t gained any momentum. But he ended up being picked by Barack Obama to be his running mate. Joe Biden went on to serve two terms with Barack Obama as the 47th vice president of the United States. In 2017, at the close of his administration, he was given Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.
Early years
Long before he reached one of the highest political offices in United States. Biden was born on November 20, 1942. He grew up in the city of Scranton in northeast Pennsylvania. His father, Joseph Biden Sr., worked as furnaces cleaner and also as a used car salesman. His mother was known with the name Catherine Eugenia “Jean” Finnegan.
Biden is known to credit his parents for instilling in him toughness, perseverance and hard work. There was a time he recalled his father frequently telling him never to give up no matter how many times he will fail. Joe do remember those days he would come back home sullen. Why? He must have been bullied by one of the bigger kids in his neighborhood. His mother would just tell him, “Biden next time bloody their nose so you can walk down the street the next day!”
1955 – down
Biden attended St. Paul’s School in Scranton. In 1955, when he was just 13 years old, his family moved to Mayfield, Delaware. A growing middle class community majorly sustained by the nearby DuPont chemical company. As a child, Joe Biden struggled a lot with a stutter, and other kids called him “Dash” and “Joe Impedimenta” just to mock him. Eventually Joe Biden overcame his speech impediment, by frequently memorizing long passages of poetry. And then reciting them out loud in front of the mirror.
Biden attended the St. Helena School before gaining acceptance into the well known prestigious Archmere Academy. Though he worked by washing the school windows and also weeding the gardens to help his family afford his tuition fees. Joe Biden had long dreamt of attending the school, which he called “the object of his deepest desire, his Oz.” At Archmere, Joe Biden was a very solid student and, despite his small size, a good standout receiver in the football team. According to his coach he was a skinny kid, but he was one of the best pass receivers I had in my 16 years as a coach. In 1961, Joe Biden finished from Archmere Academy.
College, marriage and law school
Joe Biden studied history and political science in University of Delaware and also was the part of the football team. He later admitted that he spent his first two years of college more interested in football, parties and girls than his academics. But within this period he developed a sharp interest in politics, spurred by the inspiring inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.
In his junior year during his spring break trip to the Bahamas. Joe Biden met a young Syracuse University female student by name Neilia Hunter. Joe Biden’s own words, “fell ass over tin cup in love at first sight.” Encouraged by his new found love, he became more interested in his studies. He was later accepted into the Syracuse University Law School. In 1965, he graduated from Delaware. And in 1966, Joe Biden and Hunter got married. Joe Biden was known to be a mediocre law student. During his first year at Syracuse, he flunked a class by not been able to properly cite a reference to a law review article. Though he claimed it was an accidental oversight, the same incident haunted him later in his career.
Early political career
In 1968, Joe Biden graduated from law school, he moved back to Wilmington, Delaware, to practice in a law firm. There he became an active member of the Democratic Party. Later he was elected into the New Castle County Council in 1970. While still serving as councilman, he started his own law firm in 1971. With his increasingly busy professional life, he had three lovely children:
- Joseph “Beau”, who was born in 1969
- Robert “Hunter” born in 1970
- Naomi “Amy” who was born in 1971
Joe Biden once said about his life during that period, that everything was happening faster than he expected. The following year after the birth of “Amy”. He was encouraged by the Delaware Democratic Party. To run against the Republican incumbent J. Caleb Boggs for U.S. Senate. Though few thought he stood any chance, Joe Biden was known to run a tireless campaign organized mainly by his own family members. His sister, Valerie Biden Owens, doubled as his campaign manager. While his parents campaigned day by day for him. That November, in a very tight race with a huge turnout, Biden won to become the fifth youngest United States senator elected in history.
Family tragedy
Just when his wildest dreams were coming true. He was heavily struck by a devastating tragedy. Just a week before Christmas in 1972, his lovely wife and three children were involved in a terrible car accident. The same accident killed his lovely wife and daughter and severely injured his sons, Beau and Hunter. Joe Biden was inconsolable and even known to have considered suicide. Not withstanding, at the encouragement of his family. He honored his commitment to represent the people of Delaware in the Senate. But he skipped the swearing in ceremony in Washington and rather took his oath of office from his sons’ hospital room. In a bid to spend more time with his sons, Biden continued to live in Wilmington.
Senate years
Joe Biden served his senate career from 1973 to 2009. In the Senate, Biden won respect as one of the leading foreign policy specialist. He served as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations for different years. His various foreign policy positions included:
- Advocated for arms limitation with the Soviet Union
- Promoting peace and stability in the Balkans
- Expanding NATO to include former Soviet bloc nations and even opposing the First Gulf War.
Together with foreign policy, Joe Biden was a strong outspoken proponent of tougher crime laws. Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork’s failure to receive confirmation was majorly attributed to harsh questioning by Joe Biden. Then, he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1987. In 1994, Biden single handedly sponsored the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act to add 100,000 police officers. As well as to increase sentences for a host of crimes in United States.
Presidential ambitions
Having established himself as one of Washington’s most prominent Democratic senators. In 1986, Joe Biden took the bold step to run for the U.S. presidency. But he later dropped out of the Democratic primary. However, reports surfaced later that he had plagiarized part of a speech.
Biden was known to be suffering terrible headaches during the campaign, and shortly after he dropped out of the racein 1988. It was discovered by doctors that he had life threatening brain aneurysms. Complications from this ensuing brain surgery led to blood clots in his lungs, this led to another surgery. After seven month recovery period, Biden returned to the Senate after surviving.
United States Vice President
20 years after his first unsuccessful presidential bid. In 2007, Joe Biden once again decided to run for the United States presidency. However, his campaign failed to generate the needed momentum, despite his years of experience in the Senate. A field largely dominated by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Once again ge dropped out after he received less than 1% of the vote in the crucial Iowa caucuses.
Several months later, although, Barack Obama having secured the Democratic nomination after a hard fought campaign against Clinton. Joe Biden was picked by Obama as his running mate. With his working class roots, he helped the Barack Obama campaign fully communicate its message of economic recovery to the blue-collar voters. Barack Obama and Joe Biden on November 2, 2008 convincingly defeated the Republican ticket of Arizona Senator John McCain and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. And then on January 20, 2009, Obama was dully sworn in as the 44th United States president. Alongside with Joe Biden as the 47th vice president in United States.
While he mainly served in the role of behind the scenes adviser to Obama. He took active roles in formulating the federal policies relating to Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2010, he used his well established Senate connections. To help secure passage of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between U.S. and Russian.
How much is Joe Biden worth?
Joe Biden net worth and salary
Joe Biden is a United States senator who has a net worth of over $9 million. Biden served alongside Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017 as 47th vice president of the United States. In 2020, he became the Democratic nominee for the United States presidential election, running against President Donald Trump. In November 2020 he was elected to become America’s 46th President.
Joe Biden wealth details
When Biden term as Vice President ended, his last financial disclosure pegged his net worth to be around $1.5 million. For many years before he became Vice President, he frequently referred to himself as one of the poorest members of congress. Or, simply as middle class Joe, with just a net worth less than $500,000. After he left White House he was able to earn significant income majorly from speeches and also book royalties. Increasing his net worth in 2017 with income of around $11 million. Between 2016 and 2019 alone Joe and Jill have being able to earn a shade under around $17 million.
Income from speeches
After Joe Biden left the White House. Joe Biden and his wife Jill have earned at least $15 million from their speaking engagements as well as book deals. Biden became an in-demand public speaker, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single speech alone. For instance, he was able to earn $190,000 in 2018 for a single speech at Drew University in New Jersey. In total, he was able to give 40 speeches from 2017 to 2018, receiving 5 figure or 6 figure paydays each time.
Income from his book deals
After he left the office of the VP, he and his wife Jill signed a deal worth $10-million for their three books. After writing Promise Me, Dad, a book on his son’s death. Joe Biden promoted this book with a tour. He was able to make over 40 stops. Basic tickets cost around $25, while VIP tickets which included a photo with Joe Biden cost around $450.
Salary
Based on Joe Biden’s tax returns, his earnings have be fluctuating over the years. He has been able to make his tax documents available, and the earliest records date back from 1998. During this year, Joe Biden earned a total of $215,432. His income then stayed within $200,000 until 2009, when it increased by $55,000 yearly due to income from his social security and also pensions.
When Joe Biden was preparing to leave office as the VP in 2016, his earning around $400,000 yearly. By 2017, the number rose dramatically to $11 million. In 2018, things slightly slowed down, and Biden earned around $4.6 million.
Tax returns
Based on Joe’s tax returns, the Bidens earned the following in recent years:
- 2016: $400,000
- 2017: $11 million
- 2018: $4.6 million
- 2019: $944,737
Debt
Financial disclosure forms have been able to reveal Joe Biden’s struggle with debt over the years. During those period, his only financial asset was just his home in Delaware. Joe Biden has taken out several loans against his house. From 1983 to 2015, Joe Biden borrowed even against the cash value of his own life insurance policies. These valued at a maximum of $50,000. Likewise the disclosure forms released in 2015 also revealed that Biden took out a mortgage on his home in 2013. And this made him to owe between $500,000 to $1 million on the same property.
Rental income
The federal financial disclosures also showcased that Joe and Jill earned $2,200 monthly. Renting out their guest house to members of the Secret Service while he was VP. In total, they were able to earn around $170,000 in rental income during this period.
Real estate
Joe Biden’s main residence is a home around the neighborhood of Greenville in Wilmington, Delaware. This home originally built by wealthy members of du Pont family with overlooks a man made lake. In 1997, Joe and Jill bought their home for $350,000. Similar homes in the same area were recently sold for a little more than $2 million. Joe and Jill paid around $2.74 million in 2017 for their six-bedroom vacation home in Delaware.
Read more on things to know before selling your land.
As a president
Biden will earn around $400,000 yearly. United States law states that the U.S. president while in office has to be paid a salary. In the year 2001, Congress raised the presidential salary from $200,000 to $400,000. They went ahead to add an extra expense allowance of $50,000 yearly. The president will also receive a $100,000 nontaxable travel account and $19,000 for their entertainment. You need to understand that presidential salary is taxable, but while the other added expenses are not.
We may also expect to see his wife Jill continue to teach while she serve as the first lady. She told the CBS Sunday Morning around August, If we do get to the White House, I’m gonna continue my teaching job. She continued by saying, It’s very important, and I just want people to value teachers. And understand their contributions, and also lift up the profession.
Trust me this wouldn’t be her first time; when Joe Biden served as vice president. If she end up teaching, it will make her the first lady to hold a paid job and also the first to have a doctorate degree.