Life outside of the White House has been good for Joe Biden, who has earned millions of dollars through speaking fees and book sales since his eight years as vice president ended in early January 2017.
On Tuesday afternoon, the former vice president’s campaign released a summary of Biden and his wife’s joint tax returns, which shows he made $11,031,309 in 2017 and $4,580,437 in 2018. Those numbers are quite the improvement from his income of $394,456 in 2016, during his final year in the Obama administration. And throughout Biden’s 36-year Senate career he routinely ranked as one of the poorest senators in a chamber populated by millionaires.
The records show his latest book, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose, proved among his most lucrative ventures. On a tour promoting that book in 2018, Biden charged upwards of $230,000 for a “VIP Experience.”
Sprinkled throughout his book promotion events, were a number of speaking engagements that regularly paid Biden in the six-figures. One lecture at Drew University in March 2018 earned him $190,000. Another at the Economic Club of Southwest Michigan resulted in a payment of $182,679.
In total, Biden earned $4.29 million in speaking fees from 47 different events over the two years.
Biden’s charitable givings increased significantly from 2016, when he only donated 1.5 percent of his income. In 2017, Biden gave 9.2 percent of his income — $1,013,762 — to charity and six percent —$275,796 —in 2018.
Those donations included a $25,000 contribution to the International Association of Firefighters Foundation in 2018. That group was one of the first organizations to endorse Biden after in April he announced his third presidential run.
The former vice president also earned a $540,484 salary from his teaching position at the University of Pennsylvania, which he has since resigned from.
Biden currently resides in a nearly 12,000-square-foot waterfront estate in McLean, Virginia, which features parking for over 20 cars and a home gym with its own sauna. Rent for that home is estimated at $20,000 per month.
On the campaign trail, Biden often stresses his middle-class roots and refers to the moniker “middle-class Joe.” That nickname goes back at least to a 2009 labor conference.
“When we got sworn in, the president of the United States asked me to chair — you know, old middle-class Joe … If I heard one more thing about the scrappy kid from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and carrying a lunch bucket — I never carried a lunch bucket, but I guess I’m the middle-class guy. By the way, I’m proud of that. I’m proud of that.”
And Biden once chided his future boss Barack Obama during a Democratic presidential primary debate in 2007, when a moderator asked candidates if they would work for a minimum wage salary.
“I don’t have Barack Obama money either. My net worth is $70,000-$150,000 — that’s what happens when you get elected at 29. I couldn’t afford to stay in Congress on the minimum wage, but if I could get a single job I’d do it.”
