Barack Obama, the President of the United States, and first lady Michelle Obama have reported assets worth about $2 to $7 million for the financial year of 2013, according to figures released from the White House last week.
However, the exact net worth of the Obama family is impossible to calculate because federal employees use a wide range of values on financial disclosure forms. These recent figures show a considerable drop from those reported by the President and his wife in 2010, which were about $2.8 to $11.8 million, but they are in line with reported figures from last year.
Four noticeable things that we may learn from the Obama’s financial disclosure report are as follows:
1. Their largest assets are in the form of Treasury notes.
In the check box under “U.S. Treasury notes,” the president and first lady clicked the box that says they jointly own assets to the tune of between $1 and $5 million.
2. The Obamas have only one liability.
According to their filing, the only liability the Obamas have is on their home in Chicago, for which they pay a mortgage interest rate of 5.6%. In comparison to this is the average mortgage interest rate of 4.2% last week.
3. The Obamas were wise enough to make sure their daughter’s tuition through college was secure.
Malia and Sasha Obama have 529 college savings plans set up by their parents, which amounts to about $200,000 to $400,000 for their future education.
4. President Obama’s books are not selling as fast as they were in years previous.
Although royalties from his books, “Dreams From My Father,” “The Audacity of Hope,” and “Of Thee I Sing,” totaled around $165,000 last year, the figures are well down from 2010, when he earned approximately $1.1 million.
The financial disclosure statement was also filed by Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, last week. They are jointly worth around $276,000 to $940,000, which includes rental property they own.
However, Biden has an advantage over the Obama’s when it comes to paying for his home, because he refinanced his mortgage last year and lowered his interest rate from 4.62% to 3.375%.
(Hattip to CNN Money, Financial Juneteenth)
