Joseph Robinette Biden Jr, better known as Joe Biden, is an American politician, member of the Democratic Party and the 46th President of the United States. Before being elected President, Biden served as Vice President under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017. In 1973, he became the U.S. Senator for Delaware till 2009. Joe Biden’s net worth become a point of national interest at the beginning of the 2020 presidential campaign when Mr Biden disclosed his and his wife’s financials through his tax returns. Forbes estimates his net worth at $8 million based on the information indicated in his 2016 to 2020 tax returns.

President Biden’s 2020 tax return show him and his wife earned $607,336 in 2020 and paid $157,414 to the IRS.

Significant Sources of Income

Joe and Jill Biden are millionaires, and this wealth was derived over a short period of time. When Joe’s term ended as Vice President, the couple’s net worth skyrocketed, as is indicated in their tax returns analysis.

Employment Income

Before Biden went into the White House as Vice President, he and his wife Jill had three main sources of income. As a Delaware Technical Community College English Professor, Jill earned approximately $60,000 annually. At the time, significantly the ten years prior to occupying the V.P. seat, as an alternative source of income, Biden was a teacher at Widener University, which earned him about $20,000 a year. According to the U.S. Senate historical records, his main income source was the Delaware Senator’s salary, generating roughly $155,000 annually. He started this position earning an annual salary of $42,500.

As a Vice President, Joe got a salary increment from his Senate position, bringing him to earnings of about $225,000 annually for the eight years of his tenure. Jill encountered a similar stroke of luck, landing a new job at the Northern Virginia Community College, increasing her earnings to about $83,000 per year.

Writing Income

The couples’ journey as authors has seen them realise a considerable sum over the years. In 2005 and 2007, respectively, they received $81,250 from Sterling Lord Literistic, a literary agency, and $71,000 in royalties. The following year, in audiobook rights, they acquired an additional $9,560.

USA TODAY reported that an excess of $10 million was realised as profits from Joe’s chronicle Promise Me, Dad. He wrote this memoir about losing his son Beau to brain cancer. It is a New York Times bestseller. Consequently, the Biden’s generated in excess of $3 million from Jill Biden’s book Where the Light Enters. Similar reports from the same source state that a good chunk of these figures was derived from speaking fees, with Joe and Jill earning $4.29 million and over $700,000, respectively in recent years.

Public Speaking Income

He and his wife, Jill Tracy, had many book-related speaking engagements that brought substantial earnings to their collective income. His financial disclosure form confirms that Joe’s stipend was dependent on his speaking location and exhibited dramatic variations. For instance, Drew University paid him $190,000 for giving a speech in Madison, New Jersey. In contrast, a speech in Ann Arbor, Michigan, earned him a polite $8,000 only.

He and Jill garnered about $1 million in 2019, the year in which Biden started a bid for the presidency. Half a million dollars was added to his income from speaking and writing. On 28th January, three months before his campaign launch, Biden gave his final paid talk at Fort Lauderdale. By the end of 2019, he had earned 16.7 million U.S. dollars over three years and built up a net worth of approximately 9 million U.S. dollars.

Teaching Income

In recent years since his time as Barack Obama’s Vice President, Joe Biden has had a teaching role at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2017, Joe Biden had a position at the University of Pennsylvania that got him an income of $372,000 for the year-having been named the Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor. For 2018, Joe’s salary was increased to $405,000 at the University. At the beginning of his campaign in April 2019, Biden was on unpaid absence from the University of Pennsylvania, so his university salary was reduced to $135,000.

Investment and Other Income

The couple’s tax filings in 2009 indicate the collection of considerable amounts from pensions, annuities, and social security. In the decade between 2009 to 2019, the couple collected $890,000 from annuities and pensions and earned $385,000 in Social Security reimbursements.

Tax Returns

Since 1998, approximately $6.7 million of Biden’s income has been paid to the U.S. government in income taxes. Out of that, a better part of it was paid since 2017, precisely $5.5 million. Comparatively, the former Vice President paid a federal income tax of $3.7 million. At the same time, his counterpart, Donald Trump, only filed $750, the same year, according to New York Times.

According to the couples’ combined tax returns, 2017 was their best year. A great proportion of their net worth was generated between the years 2017-2019. This significant difference is seen in their tax returns of 2016, which stated a combined income of $396,456 to a staggering $16,596,979 in the following three years.

Property Assets

DuPont Mansion

The DuPont mansion in Delaware was Joe Biden’s first venture into luxurious real estate. He purchased it as a recent widower and young senator in 1974. This mansion in Greenville cost him a mere $185,000. He later sold it in 1996 for a good $1.2 million. In 1988, this 10,000 square foot mansion, nicknamed The Station by Biden, was headquarters for his first presidential campaign.

Wilmington Cottage

The Biden’s own a cottage in Wilmington, Delaware, from which they earn a net income of $17,000 annually. Reports indicate that the Secret Service were lessees of this property for $2,200 monthly during Joe’s time in office as Vice President. This cottage sits on a larger property. A lakefront, secluded land on four acres in an upscale suburb, Wilmington, which was purchased in 1996. The home covered 6,950 square feet and was purchased for $350,000. Today, the property is estimated to have a worth of over $1 million.

However, a real estate expert purportedly claims that the property is worth almost two million U.S. dollars. Beau, Joe’s son, battled brain cancer for a while, and his treatment costs had become elusive. So much so that Biden actually considered selling this property to manage his cancer treatment costs better. During this time and struggle, Biden experienced overwhelming support towards his sons’ illness from the then President Barack Obama. When the inevitable happened, and Beau lost the fight of his life to cancer, Joe stated that the eulogy Obama gave Beau was an extremely memorable one that he would never, ever forget.

Rehoboth Beach

In June 2017, a waterfront property in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, became the second home owned by The Bidens worth $2.7 million. The property is a few blocks from the beach, affording magnificent views of the Atlantic Ocean. It overlooks the Cape Henlopen State Park. This six-bedroomed beach house has a backyard built specifically for entertaining, expansive porches, an outdoor kitchen, fireplace, and BBQ. For Joe and Jill, this acquisition was a dream come true as, he stated, they have always wanted to own beachfront property. The Bidens look forward to hosting the whole family at this lovely home.

Before moving into the White House, the Bidens rented a magnificent home in McLean, Virginia, near Washington D.C., where they’ve lived since 2017, post vice presidential residence, located in the Naval Observatory. The Georgian style house is located in an upscale suburb neighbourhood that hosts the who’s who. According to Zillow, the five-bedroomed mansion sprawls out over 12,000 square feet and is estimated to cost a whopping $20,000 monthly. The property consists of a sauna, gym, a driveway vast enough to host twenty cars, and boasts floor to ceiling windows. However, as of February of 2020, the Bidens were no longer tenants of this massive residence.

Contributions to Charity

The Bidens have always been generous, sharing their wealth, even when it was minimal, with several charity organisations. According to their tax filings, between 1998 and 2016, they had donated about $70,000. In 2017 when their earnings increased significantly, they donated over $1 million to charity. They proceeded to dole out another $275,800 and $14,700 in 2018 and 2019, respectively. They support organisations such as the United Jewish Federation of Chicago and the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington.

How the Bidens will Continue to Earn

The majority of their wealth is in the property industry, though they also have an investment portfolio. According to Forbes, the two houses in Delaware are worth a total of $4 million. The platform also states that the couple has an additional $4 million in cash and investments worth combined with a federal pension of one million dollars.

The presidential wage for Biden would amount to $400,000 annually. The U.S. government also gives a $50,000 expenses allowance to its Commander in Chief to support the covering of expenses resulting from or relating to the discharge of his official duties. His wife, Dr. Jill, also recently reported that while her husband is at the White House, she would be continuing to teach at community colleges to enhance the importance and value of teachers, and at the same time, uplift the profession.

Honorary Accolades

On 12th January 2017, in an unexpected ceremony held in the White House, President Obama presented Biden with distinction, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. Obama named Biden as the greatest American vice president imaginable and titled him as “a lion of American History,” telling him that he was honoured for his passion for the nation, his belief in his fellow Americans, and contribution that would continue for decades.

Education

Biden grew up stuttering, and he struggled with it. Fellow children would call him “Joe Impedimenta” and “Dash” to taunt him. Finally, he overcame his speech impairment by memorising and reciting lengthy passages of poetry in front of the mirror.

In Scranton, where he grew up, Joe joined St. Paul’s Primary School. In 1955, the family later moved to Mayfield, Delaware. The local Chemical Firm DuPont provided sustenance for a rapidly expanding middle-class neighbourhood.

Before he became a prestigious Archmere Academy student, Biden attended St. Helena School. While he had to weed the gardens and wash the windows of Archmere for pay to assist his family in tuition payments, he had dreamt of going to the school for a long time. He was an excellent student and a star football team receiver, despite his small stature. In fact, his then football coach spoke very highly of Biden, referring to him as the best pass receiver he had ever coached in all his 16 years of coaching. In 1961, Joe graduated from Archmere.

Biden studied political science, history and played football at the nearby University of Delaware. He would later confess he had a lot more interest in sports, parties, and girls than in academics through his first two years at college. During these years, he also developed a deep political interest, which was partially driven by the inspirational inauguration in 1961 of John F. Kennedy.

In 1965, Joe Biden graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor’s Degree. Later, in 1968, he graduated with a Law Degree from Syracuse University. He practised law for a short period before joining the political arena.

Personal Life

Joe Biden was born on 20^th November 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Joe Biden was previously married to Neilia Hunter from 1966 to 1972. They share three children, daughter Naomi, and sons Hunter and Beau. Unfortunately, in 1972, she was involved in a fatal car accident that took her life and their then one-year-old daughter. Their two sons survived the car crash, despite being critically injured.

Five years later, on 17th June 1977, Joe Biden married Jill Tracy Biden, with whom he shares a daughter, Ashley Blazer, who was born on 8th June 1981. Jill remains his wife to date.