# Is Barack Obama rich? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 29, 2008, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628 "2008-02-29T11:47:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/1 "2008-02-29T11:47:12Z")
Question is as asked. I went to Wikipedia. There does not seem to be anything in his past that would indicate he is rich. Could he be the rare poor politician? Factual answers please; we are in General Questions. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/2 "2008-02-29T12:02:01Z")
The term “rich” is a difficult term to define these days, especially for a politician. Probably the best way to make a judgment on you own definition is to look at his 2006 tax return. [Obama 2006 tax return](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/summaryobama.pdf) It looks like his wife is the primary breadwinner aside from book royalties. This is no secret. There isn’t a lot of investment income which would indicate a huge safety net unless he has everything in tax free bonds. While $1 million in income in a year might make some people think he is rich, that isn’t enough at this point to throw him into the realm of the “rich”. That being said, there is no doubt that he will end up rich. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/3 "2008-02-29T12:03:45Z")
In the Wikipedia entry, in the first paragraph under Personal life, it says this: > [@](#): > > In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family’s net worth at $1.3 million. He’s a lawyer, a senator and a successful author. Hes got some dough, but he’s not filthy exploitative capitalist asshole rich. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/4 "2008-02-29T14:18:52Z")
You can see some details about his investments and banking under the [financial disclosure](http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/o000167/) links on the lower right. It’s rather vague information, but helps to paint a picture. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/5 "2008-02-29T14:34:12Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] In the Wikipedia entry, in the first paragraph under Personal life, it says this: He’s a lawyer, a senator and a successful author. Hes got some dough, but he’s not filthy exploitative capitalist asshole rich. [/QUOTE] That wasn’t necessary. He could be filthy rich – WEALTHY EVEN – and still be a great guy. He could be middle class and be a rotten wife-beating son of a bitch. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/6 "2008-02-29T14:39:02Z")
A net worth of $1.3 million doesn’t qualify as rich? I f&ckin’ give up. Knead Hopelessly Poor ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/7 "2008-02-29T14:48:41Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] A net worth of $1.3 million doesn’t qualify as rich? I f&ckin’ give up. Knead Hopelessly Poor [/QUOTE] That’s not rich at all these days. Middle class people need that to retire responsibly. He isn’t that old but it seems pretty low to me. To put it in perspective, little old ladies who paid off their semi-decent house in California years ago and kept it could be worth that much without doing anything else. It is definitely upper middle-class but no responsible person would just cash it all in at once so his spending money isn’t that high. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/8 "2008-02-29T14:48:53Z")
**KneadToKnow** , mo money, mo problems. At least, that’s what I tell myself. - Flander (Charter Member of the Straight Dope’s Hopelessly Poor) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/9 "2008-02-29T14:54:25Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] That’s not rich at all these days. Middle class people need that to retire responsibly. He isn’t that old but it seems pretty low to me. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but dude, assuming I had my house paid off, I could live … and I mean live _easily_ … on the interest that a pitiful 2.5% savings account would pay on $1.3 million. I guess what I’m saying in part is, “Don Coreleone … if one million dollars is just ‘finance’ … _salut_!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/10 "2008-02-29T14:58:34Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] A net worth of $1.3 million doesn’t qualify as rich? I f&ckin’ give up. Knead Hopelessly Poor [/QUOTE] Well, my net worth is the five hundred dollars in my bank account PLUS the equity on my house PLUS what’s in my IRA PLUS you get the picture. It’s not like the 1.3 million is in your money vault you swim around in. It’s still a lot more money than you and I have, but I wouldn’t call it filthy screaming rich. My dad at 76 probably has a net worth of a million bucks, but my parents are well off - I don’t think I’d say “rich” or “wealthy”. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/11 "2008-02-29T14:59:23Z")
I some articles cited in the GD Obama/Rezko thread, they state that in 2005 he bought a $1.65 million home, tho I’m not sure if that was the asking or paid price. States that his and his wife’s combined income - presumably for the same year - was $1.67 million, reflecting his book money. And his wife’s income got bumped to $316K/a year. What does a senator make - $150K or so? He doesn’t come from family money, but I’d say he and his family certainly qualify as wealthy, and are well on their way to being rich. But I think it comes down largely to how one personally defines such terms. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/12 "2008-02-29T16:06:51Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] That’s not rich at all these days. Middle class people need that to retire responsibly. He isn’t that old but it seems pretty low to me. To put it in perspective, little old ladies who paid off their semi-decent house in California years ago and kept it could be worth that much without doing anything else. It is definitely upper middle-class but no responsible person would just cash it all in at once so his spending money isn’t that high. [/QUOTE] Exactly right. All told, my wife and I are probably at the same net worth as Obama, and I certainly don’t feel rich. Better off than most people I know, but not laugh on the way to the bank wealthy. We both still work an 8-5 job. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/13 "2008-02-29T17:37:39Z")
If “rich” is the top 5% of Americans (a fair number, I think), then does he fall in that range? Or, you could ask if he is rich for a Senator, which I doubt he is. If you want to define “rich” as the top 0.1%, then he probably doesn’t qualify. I also think that is not a good definition of rich. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/14 "2008-02-29T17:58:57Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] If “rich” is the top 5% of Americans (a fair number, I think), then does he fall in that range? Or, you could ask if he is rich for a Senator, which I doubt he is. If you want to define “rich” as the top 0.1%, then he probably doesn’t qualify. I also think that is not a good definition of rich. [/QUOTE] Well the median income in the US is around 50k, and his salary alone is over three times that. When you add in his wife’s income and his extra income, I don’t know how they could be considered anything but rich. Yes, it would probably hard to them to both quit their jobs and live the same lifestyle, but that should not be the standard for rich. [This](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400305_2.html) site says he and his wife are worth between 1-2.5 million, but that that has likely increased due to book sales. I think it’s fair to consider a multi-millionaire to be rich. Especially when their net worth could easily increase exponentially in the next few years. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/15 "2008-02-29T18:28:58Z")
They’re rich, but they’re not filthy stinky capitalist pig-dog rich. I mean, a family home in some places (California, I’m looking at you) can easily be worth more than that and while you generally have to be rich to afford such a home, there are millions of (educated, hard-working, healthy) people who do. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/16 "2008-02-29T18:40:11Z")
My personal definition of rich is having enough money to do what you please and not have to work. 1.3 million in the bank is not enough to do that. You cannot get nice cars travel a few times a year eat at nice restaurants frequently with the income from 1.3 million. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/17 "2008-02-29T18:55:04Z")
Being worth $1.3m probably doesn’t make one rich, however having an AGI of over $1.6m probably _should_ qualify someone as rich. That income puts Obama in the top 1% of all U.S. tax payers. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/18 "2008-03-01T02:03:55Z")
Thank you all. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/19 "2008-03-02T16:57:45Z")
The high school he attended is the THE old money high school on Hawaii (Hawaiians feel free to correct me- I’m going off a Punahou alum’s word). He went to school with people who’s last names you recognize because their families own major corporations. According to Wikipedia, tuition is currently over $16,000 a year. My friend tells me stories of how they had high school assemblies along the lines of “how to invest your trust funds in mortgage futures.” Only a handful of people fail to go to top universities. They actually have a school tie. Even if his family income isn’t astronomical, he grew up in a privledged class, not simply among the working wealthy. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628/20 "2008-03-02T18:07:31Z")
I would personally call the Obamas rich, but only barely rich. The income from two lawyers (well, a lawyer and a senator) making pretty good incomes plus the money from book royalties would be just enough to push them from upper-middle class to rich in my opinion. They have enough money saved that they could live well for five years even if neither of them worked during that time. The odd thing is that their net worth is only $1.3 million. That’s oddly low given how much money they’ve made in the past twenty years. My impression was that Obama’s mother’s family was reasonably well off but not rich. I wonder how his mother and stepfather, even with help from her parents, was able to afford to send him to Punahou School. I was under the impression that his mother and stepfather were doing O.K. but were hardly rich, and her parents weren’t rich either. I wonder if Obama was on scholarship at Punahou. I presume Punahou, like a lot of private schools, offers a few scholarships to students whose parents aren’t upper-middle class to rich. Many private schools offer such scholarships to a few middle-class students so they can advertise that they have a diverse student body. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-rich/439628.md?page=2)