By Max Ehrenfreund May 7 at 8:00 AM
President Clinton listens to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speak at a student conference at Arizona State University on March 22, 2014. (AP/Matt York)
Bill Clinton received some criticism this week for his defense of the paid speeches he gave after leaving the White House. "I got to pay our bills," the former president told NBC's Cynthia McFadden, adding that he had taken "almost no capital gains" in the past 15 years.
That statement was not entirely accurate. Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, did enjoy returns on their investments at first, according to tax returns she released during her first campaign for the office her husband held.
Since 2007, however, their wealth has earned them almost nothing, and they probably have not taken significant capital gains, according to a review of Hillary Clinton's financial disclosures from her time as secretary of state.
The Clintons' portfolio has performed poorly because it is almost entirely in cash. As of 2012, when Hillary Clinton left the State Department, the couple's wealth was in an account at JPMorgan likely worth between $10 million and $25 million.
Just like everyday Americans, the Clintons keep their money in a regular old savings account. The former president pays the bills with money he earns by working, not from dividends and interest.
It's just that for most American dads nearing retirement, their jobs haven't paid quite as well as Bill Clinton's most recent speechmaking gig.
In a global economy with an increasingly unequal distribution of wealth, the Clintons' massive savings account is unusual. People as rich as they are typically put their money to work in hedge funds, bonds, real estate or just about anything else that's profitable, rather than keeping it in cash.
Not all the wealthy are politicians, though. The Clintons' financial strategy is a response to the intense scrutiny placed on them throughout their career in American public life --and a reminder, in dollars, of how much they've been willing to give up to achieve their ambitions.
Read more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/07/the-odd-history-of-why-the-clintons-keep-all-their-money-in-cash/
