Have you ever wondered how wealthy American presidents have been through our nation’s history?

And can you name the last U.S. president with a net worth of less than $1 million?

It certainly wasn’t any recent former presidents:

• Barack Obama? No, his net worth is an estimated $12 million.
• Bill Clinton? No, his net worth was even higher at $38 million.
• George W. Bush? His net worth is estimated at $20 million.

In fact, according to “The Net Worth of Every U.S. President,” a fascinating post by Jeff Desjardins of VisualCapitalist, every modern era president since 1953 was a millionaire.

John F. Kennedy’s net worth was estimated to be $1 billion.

The last non-millionaire? Harry Truman, with a net worth of less than $1 million.

What does this make you think? Perhaps we should consider carefully those who appeal to populist interests?

What Assets Make Up Net Worth?

While on the topic of wealthy American presidents’ net worth, have you ever considered what assets make up your net worth?

I couldn’t resist sharing this colorfully illustrated chart of net worth levels and asset distribution, also from Visualcapitalist.com:

The asset distribution varies widely, depending on the total net worth of the individual.

For people with a net worth below $100,000, their net worth is likely to be comprised largely of a small portion of liquid assets, and a larger concentration in their primary residence and retirement funds.

For those with a net worth of $1 million, there’s a balance between primary residence, retirement assets, other business and real estate interests.

On the other hand, as net worth rises above $10 million, there becomes a greater weighting in real estate and business interests. In fact, the larger the net worth the more likely it will be tied to business interests.

Just as we would expect, those with higher net worth are most likely to be engaged in business ownership.

But I appreciate seeing this fact so well visualized, as it clearly shows that ratio increasing as total net worth increases.

Photo by Stephen Walker on Unsplash

Bill High

Bill is CEO & Founder of Vyne Legacy. He works with families to equip them with tools to build multigenerational legacies, and he teaches givers and financial advisers on transformational biblical generosity. He is the co-author with David Green of Giving It All Away and Getting It All Back Again: The Way of Living Generously.

Published August 16, 2019

Topics: Culture Commentary