The all-American working man demeanor of Tim Walz—Kamala Harris’s new running mate—looks like it’s not just an act.
Financial disclosures show Tim Walz barely has any assets to his name. No stocks, bonds, or even property to call his own. Together with his wife, Gwen, his net worth is $330,000, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal citing financial disclosures from 2019, the year after he became Minnesota governor.
With that kind of meager nest egg, he would be more or less in line with the median figure for Americans his age (he’s 60), and even poorer than the average. One in 15 Americans is a millionaire, a recent UBS wealth report discovered.
Meanwhile, the gross annual income of Walz and his wife, Gwen, amounted to $166,719 before tax in 2022, according to their joint return filed that same year. Walz is even entitled to earn more than the $127,629 salary he receives as state governor, but he has elected not to receive the roughly $22,000 difference.
“Walz represents the stable middle class,” tax lawyer Megan Gorman, who authored a book on the personal finances of U.S. presidents, told the paper.
That isn’t what the parent comment stated. If I had a pension I’d include it in my net worth. It should be included if it wasn’t. Missing something like a retirement account or pension (most people’s highest value asset) will just allow people to dismiss these figures (regardless of how little the impact would be).
Edit: based upon replies it looks like I wasn’t clear in my comment. I’m not saying that including the pension changes the point of the article. But by leaving information out it might give some people an excuse to dismiss the whole thing.
Can you explain?
I realize the point of the article is that he isn’t some wealthy elite like the vast majoring of politicians. I think if one wishes to drive this point to everyone, one should not leave out details that would allow someone to dismiss it entirely no matter how wrong they would be for dismissing it.
I’m not saying it should be dismissed. Perhaps I wasn’t clear about that. I’m looking at it from the perspective of trying to change or win minds. And I think it’s best to include a more complete picture even if the additional details do not change the picture much if at all.
The significance is that he doesn’t control how his pension is funded. It’s not like he has a vested interest in one company succeeding by having a bunch of stock there, and he’s been in politics since the aughts. It’s refreshing when compared to other congressmen
Oh I agree completely. The problem is that when talking about this stuff in the scope of changing minds, if you neglect information people too easily dismiss it.
Would that not depend upon the pension? In my experience (albeit limited) some pensions have a cash value and you may take a lump sum upon retirement.
If he already received the lump sum then it would be part of his current wealth.
But pension typically isn’t included in net worth unless it’s unspent money, and given how small the average public school teacher’s pension is in comparison to their expenses, wouldn’t you agree it makes little sense to say his pension automatically should be added to his net worth?
A couple grand a month is what I expect a retired teacher to get for their pension. And a couple grand a month is what I expect a retired teacher to spend on rent/mortgage + food + other expenses.
My point wasn’t that it makes a big difference (I actually acknowledged that in my comment).
But what was your point, if spent pension money isn’t considered a part of net income? If you’re a retired private sector CEO, you’re probably not spending your entire pension or even most of it. If you’re a retired teacher, you probably are.
