The tax forms of U.S. politicians are a matter of public record. So last month we decided to take a peek at President Obama’s 1040 tax return.
What we unearthed was enlightening and could help you discover the same key to success and road to riches.
We’ll outline how Obama went from a $32,000 dollar per year wage earner …
…to a multi-millionaire within just a few short years.
(it was NOT just from his salary as Senator or President)
The awesome thing for you is that anyone with a desire (and not allergic to a little hard work) can put these same principals into practice and reap a harvest of rewards.
You may not become a millionaire (at least not right away), but you can easily and significantly boost your current income by a magnitude of two or three.
Even more if you want it badly enough.
In the Beginning…
Before you can tell how far someone has come, you need to know where they started.
For Barack Obama, the picture is fuzzy before 1998 when he became a state senator for Illinois.
We do know that he had a $32,144 salary from the University of Chicago Law School, where Obama taught as a lecturer while he was in the statehouse.
Before that he had his law practice.
His wife Michelle also worked as an administrator at University of Chicago Hospitals.
As a two-income “professional” family, they were able to live comfortably.
Barack also wrote a book, published in 1995, called “Dreams From My Father.”
The book didn’t make him rich, but royalties from the sales allowed him to stash away a little over $200,000 in a mutual fund.
That provided a nice little retirement windfall. But…
Looking at how he invested, it was clear (and still is) that…
Obama Is Not Much of an Investor
In fact, all of his investments we could track down are two types:
• Mutual funds or
• US Treasuries
Obama’s first investment was $150,000 into a Vanguard “balanced” mutual fund (60% stocks, 40% bonds).
His second investment was $75,000 in bond-heavy mutual fund.
These are both from early royalties on his first book (before he became famous).
His later investments have almost all been in US Treasuries (more on that later), or in other mutual funds (especially for his daughters).
A few of these investments have done okay, but most have not increased his wealth.
At best, these “safe investments” have preserved Obama’s fortune. At worst, he’s lost 5-10% of the original value (we’ll show you where we get that figure in a minute).
So the question is…
How Did Obama End Up With a $12 Million Dollar Net Worth Today?
That’s right. President Barack Obama is worth an estimated $11.8 million.
Not too shabby for a guy who started in the middle-class. So, how’d he get there?
Was it his salary?
Let’s take a look:
From 2005 – 2008 Obama collected about $180k per year as a U.S. Senator. Total=$720K.
From 2009- 2012 Obama has collected a $400k annual salary as President of the United States. Total=$1.6M
Obama’s grand total from Federal government salary during the last 8 years=$2,320,000.
Now that’s not a bad chunk of change!
But…
It still leaves almost $10 million from other sources.
The answer lies nestled 38 pages deep within his 2010 tax return (the most recent one we analyzed).
The president has two items listed as “Other Income” on “Statement 8” for Schedule C of his tax return (Schedule C is where individuals in the United States report “business income.”).
Most people will recognize “Random House” as a book publisher.
But what about Dystel & Goderich?
A quick internet search revealed that they are a literary agent firm, and on their website they provide a list of their current “clients.”
Each author is listed alphabetically with a brief biography.
Under the O’s, here’s what we found:
BARACK OBAMA is the 44th President of the United States. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller DREAMS FROM MY FATHER: A STORY OF RACE AND INHERITANCE.
So, Dystel & Goderich is Obama’s literary agent.
The $1.1 million Obama received from them in 2010 was from worldwide book royalties.
In total, Obama’s 2010 tax return showed $1.97 million of income ($1.57 royalties + $400k presidential salary).
He only paid taxes on $1.71 million because he wrote off some losses on his investments, including a <$196,000> loss on the sale of some of his US Treasuries (we told you his investment savvy wasn’t so great).
One and a half million dollars in royalties isn’t bad, but the previous year was even better!
His tax return from the previous year revealed that …
Obama Made $5+ Million in Book Royalties in 2009!
This is the real secret to Obama’s wealth.
His historic run for the presidency helped him sell millions of copies of his two books.
And the one event that vaulted Obama into the limelight to be able to do all this?
It was his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (as a candidate for Senate).
The speech was titled, “The Audacity of Hope.” It was a slam-dunk that propelled Obama’s popularity upwards.
Random House quickly seized the opportunity and signed Obama to a number of book deals. One of those deals was for“The Audacity of Hope“ (an expanded version of his 2004 speech).
In January of 2005, Obama inked the deal with Random house for his second book.
Here are the terms of that book deal (The Audacity of Hope) that made Obama phenomenally rich:
- Obama received a $1.9 million advance upon signing, then
- 15 percent of the list price for hardcover copies.
- 7 percent of the list price for the trade paperback version,
- 8 percent of list price for the first 150,000 issues sold of the mass market paperback, then
- 10 percent of the list price thereafter.
He also agreed to a 10 percent cut on all audio book sales (he later won Grammy for his recording)!
To top it off, Random House decided to republish his 1995 book, “Dreams From My Father.”
That first book (that had originally made Obama only a couple hundred thousand dollars) has now stuffed more than a couple million extra dollars in Obama’s pockets.
Financial experts all agree, however, that…
Obama’s Real Fortune Is Yet To Come
At only 51 years old, Barack Obama has a long career ahead of him to capitalize on his fame.
Almost all past presidents have raked in the dough during their post-White House years.
Former president Ronald Reagan called it the “Mashed Potato Circuit.”
It’s when former presidents tour around the world and speak in front of pay-per-plate dinner crowds … and get compensated handsomely for their mealtime talks.
No matter what Obama leaves as his legacy as the 44th US President, he’ll likely be able earn tens of millions of dollars EACH YEAR giving speeches.
Probably for at least another 10 to 20 years.
So…
…even though many characterize Obama’s politics as socialistic…
the fact remains that…
Obama Is an Opportunistic Capitalist
And we mean that as a compliment.
Not that we agree with all his politics (we don’t).
But capitalism means recognizing advantages and opportunities as they arise, and seizing those opportunities before they slip away.
Capitalizing on them.
Which is one of the…
Two Great Lessons YOU Can Learn from Obama
After all, you’re not reading this just to get the dirty, low down secrets on the president, right?
You want to know how it can help YOU.
And that’s what’s great here.
You see, it’s not that you have to become president of the USA, or write a book to become rich and successful.
The real moral of this story is this:
1. Sweat equity can pay big dividends later
2. You need passive income to take you to the next level
Obama’s first book was hardly prolific. At the time, he might have even considered it a failure.
But the “sweat equity” he put into it paid off (big time) a dozen years later when he became famous.
And the passive income from his books? Well, even with the posh salary of a US Senator and president, Obama’s passive royalty income has exceeded his “active” income more than five-fold.
Passive income comes in many forms. It can be dividends…bond interest…rent payments…royalties.
Whatever you’re able to capitalized on, that’s what you want to pursue with all your heart…whenever the opportunity presents itself.
He hasn’t had to lift a finger to make those profits.
And when you add “passive “profits like this to your “active” income, well, the sky’s the limit.
If you’d like to stoke the fires of your wealth-building furnace…
You’ve already seen the webinar. You know what’s coming with our economy (and the massive wealth transfer about to take place).
Now it’s time to prepare yourself. To finally take control. To set yourself up for the easiest passive income you’ll ever find.
Don’t put this off one second longer…