With the 2016 Presidential election cycle now in full swing, we thought it would be interesting to present the net worth of each candidate striving to carry the mantra of Commander in Chief. While this blog remains independent of political partisanship, a candidate’s net worth may provide you some value (pun intended) and give you a snapshot of our current political class.
The candidates are ranked in order of net worth in descending order below (all values are approximate).
Donald Trump. ~$4.5 billion
Trump’s valuation seems to fluctuate wildly between various sources, with the most constant number coming in between $4 and $5 billion dollars. However, Trump himself often states that his net worth is much greater than that, while others have claimed that it is much lower when all debts and liabilities factored in. Regardless of the conflicting reports, all sources list Trump as the clear front-runner with regards to net worth.
Hillary Clinton. ~$31.3 million
Hillary has stated that her net worth was near $0 upon moving out of the White House as First Lady. Since that time she has amassed just over $30 million dollars thanks in large part to lucrative speaking engagements. When her net worth is combined with Bill Clinton’s estimated $80 million, their couple net worth reaches over $111 million.
John Kasich. ~$15 million
Based off his financial disclosure forms, John Kasich’s net worth falls somewhere in the range of $9 – $22 million which puts him somewhat in the middle of this non-Normal Curve.
Ted Cruz. ~$3.5 million
Being the youngest Presidential candidate still in the race, it’s understandable that Ted Cruz would have the second to lowest net worth. Estimates put this value between $2.4 and $4.7 million.
Bernie Sanders. ~$700,000
Rounding out the pack is Bernie Sanders, with the lowest net worth among all candidates which may be good or bad, depending on your political and financial leanings.
To put these numbers in perspective, check out the percentage of each candidates net worth, compared to the entire field’s pooled wealth:
Does net worth matter to your vote?
I’m not making a political statement here, and maybe there are some facts that I’m unaware of, but Bernie Sanders is 74 years old, has been a US Senator for 9 years and for the prior 17 years before that, he was a member of Congress.
Not sure what those positions paid during all that time, but his net worth of $700,000 is well below what it should be for someone who has earned what he has earned.
Assuming Bernie started his retirement savings at the age of 44 (making $100K/yr and saving 10% in S&P500 Funds) until now (30 years), he would be worth over $2.5 million- WOW!
Doesn’t Bernie also own a lot more rental property than what is reported here?