It’s not particularly important, but I’m wondering about the cost of health care for his parents. Biden’s father died six years ago at 86 or 87, and his mother is still alive at 90.
This is refreshing and worrisome.
It’s refreshing to have a candidate for leadership with some perspective on what it actually means to be middle-class.
From the standpoint of someone developing a retirement savings strategy, that sounds like a very small nest-egg for age 65. However, Sen Biden is in a career field that could employ him well into the 80’s.
I’d be curious to know what happens to his $165k salary. Does he need to support the lifestyle of a US Senator? I thought most of the travel / dining / etc. related to their jobs was at tax-payer expense. Do Senators rent houses/apartments in DC? I can see scenarios in which he’s been fiscally prudent and not at fault for a seemingly low net-worth, and those in which he’s a reckless spendthrift. If it’s the latter I guess we’ll hear about it soon enough.
They are indeed defined benefit plans.
Everything you could possibly want to know about Congressional pensions.
So he’s going to be doing quite alright even after retirement.
ETA: Running a Senate campaign isn’t cheap, even if you’re an incumbent. I imagine he’s spent an awful lot of his personal funds on campaigning.
Doesn’t need it - will qualify for a Senate pension.
Maybe he’s big on charity, and he’s given it all away to needy children. Maybe its all in his wife’s closet it the form of Coach purses and dresses for inaguration balls. Maybe he has spent it all on hookers and blow (apparently, he wouldn’t be the first politician in recent memory to have done such things). Maybe he’s funded some of his own elections. Maybe he paid for two law school degrees for his kids. Maybe he has it all hidden in offshore accounts.
I’m thinking he’s probably just spent it on ordinary things - like train tickets and college educations and his parent’s health care. I’m sure that he has some Senate expenses not covered (his wife’s warddrobe requirements, his own - it probably isn’t cheap to hang with a bunch of guys who have a lot more money than you do). Perhaps I’m just giving him the benefit of the doubt, but until the credit card receipts come forward from Hot Florida Redheads, I think he deserves it.
Nobody spends 36 years in DC and is poor! What Biden ISN’T telling-he has probably put ost of his assets into a “blind trust”-so he can be “relatively” truthfull by saying he doesn’t know. Plus, a lot of politicans own assets under front men-this is a commn tactic, to avoid judgements. I’d bet that poor old Joe is probably worth >$10 million. Look at the Clintons-(allegedly) broke leaving the White House, they are both multimillionaires today. Of course, Bill’s wealth came from that idiotic book he “wrote”.
Honestly Oy!, something does ring wrong. Either he has been a poor saver of money or the records are wrong. Now, no small percentage of Americans do fail to put enough money away, but my wife and I are in our early forties and have accumulated far more worth without making more than the Bidens.
This will be a two edged sword for Biden, he is a true American and understands the plight of the everyman or he is might not be the best man to be the understudy of the President as he cannot even keep his own house accounts in good order.
I am not overwhelmed by the choice of Biden, but overall I think it adds far more to Obama’s ticket than Edwards did to Kerry’s or Lieberman to Gore’s.
I think as most Americans don’t do enough planning for retirement, Biden’s worth will act as a positive for their campaign.
Jim
Ralph, please just once, put up or shut up. Your claims are spurious and of no value and do not reflect reality.
Plus, I’ll bet he killed a man. That’s where the money went, to hush up the eyewitnesses, or … OH MY GOD HE HAD THEM KILLED! And hitmen aren’t cheap. And also, I bet he wets his pants. Plus, aliens.
The blind trust system allows a politician to avoid conflicts of interest, not hide his assets.
Clinton earned $9.5 million in speaking fees alone in 2002.
ETA: …and has since earned at least $52 million total for speechifying.
?!?!?!
Are they using some wakado formula to calculate net worth?
I make a helluva lot less than $170,000/year, I’m a 35 year old woman and have a net worth at least 3 times that of a US senator?!?!
Thats…bizarre.
What exactly would be included in that calculation? Does he not own a home? Or do you not count real property in net worth based on some forumlas?
It’s not even a nest egg. Biden should have more than 150k equity in his home alone.
I don’t think you can consider a person to be just a middle-class joe, just because he hasn’t managed to save any money. I don’t really consider $170K a year to be an “average joe” kind of salary. It’s not what I would consider filthy rich, but it’s definitely well-off. A lot of people who make a hell of a lot less than that have a house and a 401k, plus manage to put their kids through college. (In fact, my feeling is that retirement savings & a home should come before paying for college educations…in the long run, your kids will be better off if they pay for school themselves, but don’t have to worry about supporting parents in their old age.)
I’m not saying he’s blown it all foolishly, but it does seem weird to me.
This will shock people in some areas, but there are places in this country where owning a home doesn’t automatically make you a millionaire. I just searched real estate websites in Senator Biden’s town and there are nice houses on the market for under $150,000.
It’s not really that weird. Knowing that he will have a very nice pension, as well as the possibility of well-paying jobs such as lobbying, there isn’t as much incentive to save. Also, senior senators keep their jobs much longer than most people are able or want to.
Those of us without pensions must save for our retirement our own.
It’s not that strange.
I have to agree with ** ralph ** If you are not worth more than 150.000 after serving 30 years in congress perhaps you are not qualified to be the vice president.
Where did Ralph actually say that? 
Right, but if you have a high salary in a low-cost-of living area, then you should have even more ability to sock some cash away. Plus, if he lives in a house that’s only worth 150K, then at his age, you’d think it would be just about paid off, giving him 150K in net worth right there.
Here’s a look at Biden’s financial report as of June of 2008. Make of it what you will.
Still a co-signer of his son’s college loans-- $15-50K. Wow.
Loan against life insurance $15-50K. Wow.
Savings Fund Society loan $100-250K. Wowzer.
Anyone who thinks the salary of a Senator or Representative automatically gives them a lot of excess cash is a dreamer.
You’d be damned lucky to buy a car in Greenville for 150k.
The sod in front of his house is probably worth that.
Just a quick look on the Patterson Schwartz site shows houses at 6, 1.35, 2.8, 2.6 million.
His house is probably worth 1.25 or so.
Cite? Regarding Biden in particular. (begins folding tinfoil)