Behind the Gold Curtain of Donald Trump’s Résumé

[Mechanicos]

How did the article lie about Trump's wealth?  The $165 million figure came from Trump's own filings with the FEC.  The estimate on total wealth came from Mark Cuban, another billionaire, who no doubt based it on his experience with running profitable businesses (none of which have gone bankrupt) and his analysis of Trump's actions.  Where is any of this a lie?

For one, it only includes one geographic area. Trump has properties all over the world. 2. The liquid assets are cash on hand to pay for something. Most wealth is going to be invested in other assets that are working to make more money and are not easily converted back liquid.

The Democrat meme here is to attack the fact Trump is Rich and is not motivated by money or power to seek the office of the Presidency. A side democrat meme is to attack his reputation for honesty. And as always the ones wit a 100% record of being wrong lap it up.

[Oceander]

For one, it only includes one geographic area. Trump has properties all over the world. 2. The liquid assets are cash on hand to pay for something. Most wealth is going to be invested in other assets that are working to make more money and are not easily converted back liquid.

The Democrat meme here is to attack the fact Trump is Rich and is not motivated by money or power to seek the office of the Presidency. A side democrat meme is to attack his reputation for honesty. And as always the ones wit a 100% record of being wrong lap it up.

Trump owns precious few buildings.  The buildings are owned by the LPs into which the investors put their money.  Trump will have a very small slice in the LP and mainly get money as fees for management services and licensing royalties on his name.

[Mechanicos]

What are "barer bonds"?  Is that something you have to put up when you exercise your constitutional right to "bare arms"?

a typo, its http://www.investorwords.com/439/bearer_bond.html

[Mechanicos]

Trump owns precious few buildings.  The buildings are owned by the LPs into which the investors put their money.  Trump will have a very small slice in the LP and mainly get money as fees for management services and licensing royalties on his name.

I see you play in the minor leagues. Hint Look at how many corporations Trump has incorporated in Delaware... IIRC its over 200. he pays very little tax I understand but has great cash flow. When you figure that out you can try playing with the big dogs.

[RedHead]

For one, it only includes one geographic area. Trump has properties all over the world.

The article did mention Trump's hotels, which are international, and his former casino holdings, which were nationwide.  But most of what you see worldwide that has Trump's name on it are not owned by him.  He only licensed his name to the venture, the the article deals with that as well.

2. The liquid assets are cash on hand to pay for something. Most wealth is going to be invested in other assets that are working to make more money and are not easily converted back liquid.

The amount is not a lie because Trump provided it.  Given Trump's numbers of $165 million in liquid assets and his claimed total worth of $10 billion then that results in a liquidity ration of 1.65% and means that his debt to equity ratio by comparison has to be off the charts.  Lack of liquidity is a red flag in business.  It indicates that the company may have problems paying off debt as it comes due and such a company is considered to be much riskier than companies with higher liquidity ratios.  So all that Cuban is saying, and which an rational investor can determine, is that either Trump's assets are mortgaged to the hilt and he could face cash flow problems in the event of a downturn or similar financial crisis, or his total worth is much smaller than what Trump claims.  Either way it isn't a lie.

The Democrat meme here is to attack the fact Trump is Rich and is not motivated by money or power to seek the office of the Presidency. A side democrat meme is to attack his reputation for honesty. And as always the ones wit a 100% record of being wrong lap it up.

The fact of the matter is that Trump is rich, though probably not as rich as he claims, and that his sole motivation throughout his entire life has been money and name recognition, and that he has made numerous very poor business decisions in pursuit of both.  Poor preparation for the presidency

[ABX]

For one, it only includes one geographic area. Trump has properties all over the world. 2. The liquid assets are cash on hand to pay for something. Most wealth is going to be invested in other assets that are working to make more money and are not easily converted back liquid.

The Democrat meme here is to attack the fact Trump is Rich and is not motivated by money or power to seek the office of the Presidency. A side democrat meme is to attack his reputation for honesty. And as always the ones wit a 100% record of being wrong lap it up.

His properties are owned by his corporation, not him directly. He, for all intents and purposes, even as CEO, is just an employee.

[RedHead]

His properties are owned by his corporation, not him directly. He, for all intents and purposes, even as CEO, is just an employee.

The Trump Organization is a privately-held LLC and not a corporation.  There is no stock, no audits, no financial statements, only The Donald as sole owner.  It is held by him directly.

[Neverdul]

How to tell a BS article where the author thinks its readers are stupid: "$165 million in liquid assets." That means ready cash on hand. Its not his wealth, its not what he owns. Its his cash laying around. No Smart businessman keeps the bulk of their wealth liquid. Its out there working for them to make more money.

Liquid assets are not just cash.  Liquid assets are assets that can be readily liquidated to provide cash, like publicly traded stocks and bonds.  Are you pretending to be this stupid, or are you really this stupid?

What items are considered liquid assets?

A: A liquid asset is cash on hand or an asset that can be readily converted to cash. An asset that can readily be converted into cash is similar to cash itself because the asset can be sold with little impact on its value.

For example, cash on hand is considered a liquid asset due to its ability to be readily accessed. Cash is legal tender a company can use to settle its current liabilities. Suppose a person or a company has money in a checking or savings account. The cash in the account is considered liquid because it can be withdrawn easily to settle liabilities.

Investments are considered liquid assets because they can be readily liquidated. For example, shares of stock, bonds, money market funds and mutual funds are considered liquid assets. These assets can be converted to cash in a short period of time in the event a financial emergency arises. Generally, investments are considered liquid assets because they can be easily sold, depending on the investment.

An example of a non-liquid asset is a real estate investment because it can take months for a person or company to receive cash from the sale. For example, suppose a company owns real estate property and wants to liquidate because it has to pay off a debt obligation within a month. The company may take more than one month to sell its property. If the company wants to sell the property quickly, the value of the property can result in a loss.

A liquid asset can be readily converted into cash with little impact on the value. In the case of a company trying to liquidate its real estate investment, liquidating can have a high impact on its value.

http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/032715/what-items-are-considered-liquid-assets.asp

[Neverdul]

His properties are owned by his corporation, not him directly. He, for all intents and purposes, even as CEO, is just an employee.

The Trump Organization is a privately-held LLC and not a corporation.  There is no stock, no audits, no financial statements, only The Donald as sole owner.  It is held by him directly.

You are correct RedHead. In looking at his FEC filing, his companies are for the most part LLC’s or privately/closely held corporations and a very few LLP’s with other owners/investors/partners. Some of his companies list Trump Family members as partners/co-owners. These are not publically traded entities that would be subject to SEC filings and exhaustively audited independent financial statements. He would however have to submit audited financial statements in order to obtain financing and IIRC, in my past corporate experience, in order to obtain liability insurance, but those types of audited financials do not have the same weight nor undergo the type of scrutiny as those of a publically traded company with shareholders.

I would also note that he has multiple business entities set up for individual properties and or companies. For example, for 40 Wall Street there is 40 Wall Development Associates LLC; 40 Wall Street Commercial LLC; 40 Wall Street LLC; and 40 Wall Street Member Corp.

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2175187/trump.pdf

However, on page 13 of the PDF, he claims income from only the company named as 40 Wall Street LLC, with a “value” of “over $50,000,000” and rent income of “over $5,000,000".

Some of his companies report “None (or less than $201)” in income.

That is not really unusual as many companies and business owners will set up multiple shell companies, some as LLC’s and some as closely held private corps in order to shield themselves from lawsuits and with only one entity having income but with the others such as management shell companies having not income but expenses that can be written off as tax losses. This is probably why Trump does not want to release his tax returns IMO. Not that it is illegal but may show how he uses byzantine business structuring to minimize or avoid paying taxes all together.

And some of these companies are set up for purely as licensing/branding deals were he does not actually own the property or where he was the developer but not the owner.  And some of the companies listed on his FEC filing no longer actually exist like Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC (f/n/a Trump University CA LLC) or Trump Ice (the defunked Trump branded bottled spring water company) or Trump Realty Services LLC (i.e. Trump Mortgages)

The FEC filing also leaves a lot of leeway as to the actual valuation of his properties and business assets.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2016/05/17/trump-files-new-financial-disclosure-still-touting-questionable-10-billion-fortune/#76946eb96716