President Joe Biden will turn 80 on November 20. Although he is the oldest user to take office, he is the richest.

He and his wife, Jill, have a net worth of $8 million, according to a Forbes estimate. They came into their wealth recently — Biden has touted himself as “Middle-Class Joe” for decades.

The couple’s fortune is tied mostly to public speaking and e-book royalties, according to tax returns and monetary statements released during Biden’s campaign and posted on the campaign’s website.

A spokesperson for Biden responded to a request for comment from Business Insider about Biden’s net worth or private life.

Continue reading to be informed about Biden’s wealth, assets, real estate, and lifestyle.

Biden surpassed the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the White House by flipping the battleground state of Pennsylvania on the morning of November 9, according to Decision Desk HQ.

Biden has led Trump in national polls for months. His victory came after two full days of counting, thanks in large part to the sharp rise in mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden’s political career took off in 1972, when he was elected to the U. S. Senate. He ousted Republican J. Caleb Boggs and became the fifth-youngest senator in history. He then went on to serve as a senator from Delaware for more than 30 years.

Biden has famously touted himself as the poorest member of the Senate and referred to himself as “Middle-Class Joe.”

In 2008, he was Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s vice presidential candidate. From 2009 to 2017, he served as Vice President of the United States under President Obama.

Prior to the 2020 election cycle, Biden had run for president twice: first in 1988 and then in 2008. The first crusade ended in a plagiarism scandal; The second time, he withdrew from the race after the Iowa caucus.  

After Biden ascended to vice president, he rented a cabin on his estate in Wilmington, in his home state of Delaware, for $26,400 a year, and rented it to the U. S. Secret Service tasked with protecting him, according to Forbes.  

When Biden left the White House, his net worth was estimated at $2. 5 million. Forbes reported that most of his net worth came from his home in Delaware and his federal pension, guaranteeing him an annual source of income of about $160,000 for life.

But the majority of the Bidens’ wealth was built after he left office. 

Joe Biden wrote two books from 2008 to 2017:

And then there’s the money Biden has made off of promoting his 2017 bestseller, “Promise Me, Dad.” According to Biden’s financial disclosures, he was paid anywhere from $8,000 to $90,000 per single book-tour stop.

The e-book excursion grossed millions, according to Forbes. Public talks also contributed $2. 4 million to the couple’s net income, and Jill’s fees added $700,000 to that figure. CNBC reported that Biden earned as much as $190,000 in March 2018 from a convention at Drew University. in New Jersey.

In total, the couple earned more than $15 million, according to tax returns, from e-book royalties, talks and practice professor fees through the University of Pennsylvania starting in 2017.

A month after Biden’s election to the US Senate in 1972, his wife Neilia and 1-year-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car accident. The couple’s two sons, Beau and Robert, were also in the car, but survived.

Biden married Jill Jacobs in 1977 and the couple had a daughter, Ashley, in 1981.

Biden underwent brain surgery for two potentially deadly aneurysms in 1988 but was back to work within seven months. During his second term as vice president, 27 years later, his 46-year-old son Beau died of brain cancer.

The Washington Post reported that the Bidens were between $1. 28 million and $2. 6 million in debt based on their tax returns from 2013, when Beau was first diagnosed.  

Then-Vice President Biden had prepared to sell his home to help Beau’s wife and children make ends meet — Beau was then serving as attorney general of Delaware, and Biden was worried how his son’s family would get by without his salary if his deteriorating health forced him to resign. 

It was then-President Barack Obama who offered to help out his former running mate. When Biden mentioned the situation to him during one of their private lunches, Obama told him: “I’ll give you the money. Whatever you need, I’ll give you the money. Don’t, Joe — promise me. Promise me.” 

Obama’s monetary aid ultimately proved useless, and Biden did not sell his home, The Hill reported.  

Although many thought Biden would have fared better than Hillary Clinton, Biden decided to avoid the 2016 presidential race to grieve. His grief was later covered extensively in the aforementioned memoir, “Promise Me, Dad. ”

Politico’s Michael Kruse described empathy born of private tragedy as the quality that makes Biden electable: “There is no one in American politics today whose life has been so shaped by loss and grief,” he wrote, noting that Biden’s private story gives him the unique opportunity to connect with those who have experienced loss.

The Washington Post reported that the Bidens’ primary residence is a home the family built over 20 years ago in Wilmington, Delaware.

The lakefront assets would be only about 7,000 square feet.   They bought the assets for $350,000 in 1997, but the space is probably worth at least $2 million, said Stephen Mottola of Long

The waterfront assets measure 4,800 feet.

The rental value of this sprawling 12,000-square-foot apartment with marble finishes, a gym, sauna, and enough parking for 20 cars was described as “substantial” during Biden’s June 2019 campaign.

The Washington Post decided the monthly rent for the space was around $20,000, according to Zillow.

Biden held a position at the University of Pennsylvania from 2017 to 2021 that paid him an annual salary of about $400,000 as a professor and namesake of the Biden Center for Global Diplomacy and Engagement.

All in all, the couple reported earning $11 million immediately after leaving the White House in 2017, $4.6 million in 2018, and roughly $1 million in 2019 before Biden officially declared his candidacy, according to Forbes.

Your source of income in 2020 will be more modest; The Bidens raised $630,000 that year.  

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has a similar income strategy to Biden. She, along with her husband, is worth an estimated $12 million. In addition to book royalties, Warren’s wealth is largely tied to retirement accounts and real estate.

The richest former Democratic hopefuls (by far) were former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, whose value Forbes estimates at $1. 4 billion, and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, whose wealth, according to Forbes, he values at $54. 9 billion.

Biden’s salary has seen a steady increase as he has risen through the political ranks. When he was first elected to the Senate in 1972, he earned about $42,500. When he left in 2009 to become vice president, he earned about $169,300.  

As vice president of the United States, Biden earned $230,700. Now president, he earns $400,000 a year.  

The couple released their 2021 tax returns in April, showing an income of just over $600,000 during their first year in the White House. 

President Biden and the First Lady reported a federal adjusted gross income of $610,702 on their joint income tax return. 

The Bidens paid $150,439 in federal income tax source and $30,765 in Delaware income tax source. Jill Biden said she paid $2,721 in income tax source in Virginia for her salary as an instructor at Northern Virginia Community College.

“My calling is Joe Biden and I’m an enthusiast,” Biden said as he opened his speech at the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan.

Thanks to the paintings of his father, the director of a car dealership, the president spent his adolescence surrounded by cars. Although his number one vehicle is the heavily armored Cadillac limousine, Biden has his own small fleet of vintage automobiles: a 1951 Studebaker Champion, a 1952 Plymouth Cranbrook Convertible in “candy apple red,” a Mercedes-Benz 190SL, and his most recent model. Valuable 1967 automobile. Chevrolet Corvette Stingray that his father gave him as a wedding gift.  

Jump to