WASHINGTON (Web Desk) – President Obama and his wife Michelle have less than $1,001 in savings, according to their annual financial disclosure report released the other day.
According to the Daily Mail, The modest sum is all that’s left in the first family’s JP Morgan account after putting away between $200,004 and $400,000 for daughters Sasha and Malia to go to college.
Their assets are worth at least $1.9 million – and perhaps as much as $6.9 million.
But they’re light years away from the net worth of Hillary and former president Bill Clinton, who have earned more than $30 million in speaking fees and book royalties alone in the past 16 months.
The Obamas also lack the real estate savvy that the Clintons showed in their Arkansas Whitewater Investment days.
Records show the Clintons could have left the White House in 1999/2000 with as much as $15,000 in savings.
But that figure does not include the couple’s personal properties, which were worth around $1.7 million. And in December 2000, the couple managed to front a cash payment of $885,000 and secure a $1.95m mortgage for another home.
The Obamas are throwing away thousands of dollars each year on a high-rate 30 year mortgage loan that hasn’t been refinanced since 2005.
The President and First Lady are paying 5.625 per cent interest on the loan for their Chicago home, and owe between $500,001 and $1,000,000 on the note.
A typical annual interest rate this week for a 30-year ‘jumbo’ loan, of the type that services high-value homes like the Obamas’, is 3.82 per cent, according to BankRate.com.
Assuming only a half-million dollar loan, the Obamas are paying $2,879 per month on their home. They could be paying $2,335.
But overpaying interest payments by more than $6,500 per year won’t hurt the Obamas much. The first family owns somewhere betwen $1 million and $5 million in US Treasury notes.
And the president lists a combined value of two checking accounts as between $51,002 and $115,000 – and retirement accounts worth at least $350,003.
Financial disclosure reports are an annual legal requirement for top-tier government officials in the executive branch.
The annual exercise, carried out by the Obamas and by Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill, showed little change from a year ago, with the exception of a refinance plan the Bidens negotiated for a home equity line of credit.
They’re paying just a 2.75 per cent interest rate after refinancing the loan, worth between a quarter and a half-million dollars, last year.
The Bidens also pay a bargain rate of 3.375 per cent on their principal home mortgage, on a house worth between $500,001 and $1 million.
Instead of declaring exact values of bank accounts, investments and real estate, they are permitted to describe their values in wide ranges. That can make it impossible to exactly pin down a president’s financial worth.
Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, reported 2013 assets between $277,000 and $1.1 million.
Obamas have less than $1,001 in cash savings but have socked away as much as $400,000 in their kids’ college funds, according to their financial disclosures.
