The first African American to become the President of the United States, Barack Obama is an author and politician with a net worth of $40 million.
Personal Life – Family, Mother, Education
The 44th president of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama II was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii after his father Barack Obama, Sr., a foreign student to the United States married Stanley Ann Dunham on February 2, 1961. Obama’s parents divorced in 1964 after which his father returned back to Kenya and remarried while his mother also got into a matrimonial relationship with Lolo Soetoro, a graduate from Indonesia at the Seattle University.
Read This: Top 10 Richest People In The World
Obama went back to Honolulu in 1971 to stay with his maternal grandparents and started attending a private college preparatory school, Punahou School and graduated from high school in 1979. Obama moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College in 1979 after his high school and transferred to Columbia University in 1981 where he completed his majors in political science and international relations.
Barack Obama worked at the Business International Corporation after graduating in Bachelor of Arts in 1983 before taking lead of the May Day effort in improving the New York Subway system which got him national attention in the state. He then worked as a director of Developing Communities Project in Chicago from 1985 to 1988 and entered to the Harvard Law School where he was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law review in his first year after which he was elected the president that helped him grab much media attention.
He also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School and worked as a civil rights attorney. Barack Obama was elected to the 13th District Illinois State from 1996 to 2004 while his run for the United States House of Representatives became unsuccessful in 2000 losing out to Bobby Rush. Obama’s net worth came from his salary as a senator which was billed to $162,000 per year.
See Also: Chris Gardner Net Worth
Barack Obama started his run for the presidential campaign in 2007 emphasizing on issues of reforming the health care system in the country, ending the Iraq War and increasing energy dependence which as named “hope and change” as his theme. He defeated Republican nominee John McCain in the general election and was named the president on January 20, 2009.
Barack Obama Net Worth
Barack Obama’s net worth then saw $400,000 rise per year that comes from his salary while he also grabbed $1.4 million as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2009, nine months after he became the president of United States.
His run for the United States presidency is considered to be one of the most historic part of elections in the United States which also helped him sell many copies of his books “Dream of My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope” that made $273,000 in total from 2006-2008.
Obama’s family net worth was first estimated to be around $1.3 million in December 2007 by Money while in 2009 the family was said to make over $6 million from sales of his books.
Barack Obama’s fortunes have been rising with his speeches which also saw him get re-elected as president on November 6, 2012, to make himself as the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win the elections with a majority of popular votes twice.
Obama is a Christian by religion and follows Chicago White Sox from close while he also follows NFL supporting Chicago Bears despite being a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers during his childhood.
Read Also: Wimbledon Prize Money 2015: How Much will the Winners Make?
Barack Obama is said to have dated Genevieve Cook during his career as a student at the Colombia University in 1983. However, Obama’s relationship with her did not last long after which he met Michelle Robinson in 1989 and they started dating later that year. Obama and Michelle got engaged in 1991 and got married on October 3, 1992.
With a salary of $400,000 a year as a president, Obama also has access to $150,000 expense account and a $100,000 tax-free travel account together with $20,000 as his recreational budget. Barack Obama’s net worth is estimated to be $40 million as of today.
From having a net worth of a little above $12 million in 2015 to $40 million in 2017, how did Barack Obama grow his fortune? Here’s a peek into the timeline of the ex-president’s earnings as found on GoBankingRates.com:
2004: He earned a salary of $80,287 from the Illinois State Senate and $32,144 from the University of Chicago Law School where he taught. The former president also had assets in four financial funds worth between $50,000 and $100,000 each.
2005: Obama signed a multi-book deal with Random House and received a $1.9 million advance for “The Audacity of Hope,” plus royalties, following his appearance at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Also that year he earned just over $847,000 off another book advance, plus $378,000 off additional book royalties. Meanwhile, his investments grew with the addition of a Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund valued between $50,000 and $100,000. He also reported deposit accounts valued between $150,000 and $350,000.
2006: Obama reported book royalties of just under $150,000, plus $425,000 off an additional book advance. He also acquired publicly-traded assets worth tens of thousands, including funds with Goldman Sachs and Vanguard.
2007: Obama earned $3.3 million off book royalties from Random House and $816,000 from Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. He acquired a Northern Municipal Money Market Fund valued between $1 million and $5 million, in addition to U.S. Treasury notes valued between $500,000 and $1 million. For his daughters, he invested in two 529 college savings plans valued around $200,000 each.
2008: When Obama was elected president, he owned somewhere between $1 million and $5.1 million in U.S. Treasury bills.
2009: Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, which came with a $1.4 million award. He donated it to an assortment of charities.
2009-2015: Obama earned $400,000 a year as president and continued to earn book royalties, as well as interest on his investments.
2016-2017: Obama receives an annual pension of more than $200,000 after leaving the White House, according to Newsweek. He also receives fees as large as $400,000 for public speaking events.
Quick Facts about Barack Obama – Bio, Height, Age
Full Name: Barack Hussein Obama II
Profession: Politician, author
Height: 6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
Weight: 176 lbs (80 kg)
Ethnicity: African-American
Nationality: American
Date of Birth: August 4, 1961
Place of Birth: Honolulu, Hawaii
Education: J.D./Harvard Law School, B.A./Columbia University
Marital status: Married (Michelle Obama)
Children: 2 (Malia, Sasha)
