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The president of the United States receives a $400,000 per year salary in office in addition to other benefits
like an annual expense account, a $20,000 entertainment stipend, and a travel account.
With salary and benefits combined, the total pay comes to about $550,000 every year.
But, believe it or not, most former presidents can earn that amount in just a matter of hours giving speeches at corporate events.
But exactly how much do former presidents get paid and which president was the first to capitalize on his presidential status after office?
Today we’re telling the story of how former American presidents get rich from speaking at corporate events.
But first, let’s look at all the benefits a president automatically gets when leaving office.
After a president leaves office, the benefits of having held the office certainly don’t end there.
In fact, it’s safe to say that former presidents are set for life.
They receive a lifetime pension, which is set annually by Congress.
As of 2018, that amount was just over $210,000.
Presidents who resign also get the pension, but presidents who are removed due to impeachment forfeit all benefits.
Former presidents receive seven months of transition payments in addition to the pension to assist with the transition back to private life.
This amount is also determined by Congress.
They are given staff and office allowances of up to $150,000 a year.
They also receive free postage for life.
All travel related to the former president representing the United States government is fully paid for.
Other benefits include secret service protection, covered medical expenses, and state funerals.
Yet, all these benefits add up to just a fraction of what former presidents make by giving speeches.
So, let’s see where this practice began.
The first president to capitalize on his former presidential status through paid speeches was Gerald Ford,
who was president from August 1974 to January 1977.
Ford was a strong believer in free enterprise, so when he found that corporations would be willing to pay to hear him speak, he ran with it.
Ford started out charging $10,000 a speech, which then escalated to $20,000 and then 40,000.
He was highly criticized by many who felt he was exploiting his position as a former president,
but his response was that he was now a private citizen and it wasn’t anyone’s business how he made his money.
Ford’s net worth upon entering office was $1.4 million.
After leaving office his net worth eventually reached 7 million.
In 1979, the Washington Speaker’s Bureau was founded, which led to skyrocketing speaker’s fees.
The agency represents George W. Bush and his wife Laura today.
But, let’s take a look now at the most recent presidents to leave office and how much they earn from paid speeches.
The former president who has earned the most money from the paid speech circuit, along with his wife, is Bill Clinton.
When Clinton entered office in 1993, his net worth totaled $1.2 million.
Since leaving office in 2001, he and his wife have given more than 730 speeches for a combined total of $153 million.
That’s an average of over $210,000 per speech.
He personally gave about 650 speeches for a total of $132 million.
About 40 of these speeches were given to big banks like Goldman Sachs for a total of $7.7 million.
When Clinton was recently asked about his earnings from his speeches, he replied, “I gotta pay the bills.”
Clinton’s net worth is now about $80 million.
When George W. Bush was getting ready to leave office in 2009, he told a reporter that he planned to “replenish the ol’ coffers” by giving paid speeches.
He mentioned that he could make ridiculous money and stated that his father, George H.W. Bush, made 50 to $75,000 per speech.
When George W. Bush entered office, he wasn’t poor by any means.
He entered office with $20 million, primarily earned through his oil business.
Now his net worth is more than 40 million, and a good chunk of his post-presidential earning have come from giving paid speeches.
In the 10 years since he’s left office, Bush has given more than 200 paid speeches at a cost of $100,000 to $175,000 per appearance.
The total he’s earned from this part-time work is likely more than $30 million.
When asked about his high-dollar speeches, Bush replied, “Everybody’s got to make a living."
The corporations Bush has spoken in front of vary greatly and include the National Grocers Association,
the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America, global wealth management funds, and universities.
When Barack Obama entered office in 2008, his net worth totaled $1.3 million.
Obama made about 20 million while he was in office, primarily from book sales.
When he left office, his net worth was about $12.2 million.
Since then, he has been presented with several opportunities that are majorly boosting his bank account.
He signed book deals worth $65 million.
He and Michelle signed a multi-year contract with Netflix for an undisclosed amount, but other similar deals have totaled up to $100 million.
Obama also stands to make an unprecedented amount on the paid speech circuit.
One of his first speeches after leaving office was a $400,000 60-minute speech for the Wall Street investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald.
This was followed by another $400,000 speech for the money management firm Northern Trust Corporation.
In his first 10 months out of office, he gave at least nine paid speeches, likely earning over 3 million dollars for approximately 9 hours of speaking.
In May 2019, it was reported that he earned nearly $600,000 for a speech at a conference in Bogota, Columbia.
His current net worth is estimated to be $40 million, but it is expected to continue increasing significantly year after year,
largely due to the paid speeches.
But why are corporations willing to pay so much for a one-hour speech?
Why are corporations eager to spend so much money to bring in a former president to speak at their events?
Well, in the vast majority of cases it certainly isn’t because the speeches are so compelling or even inspiring.
It’s thought that most of the former presidents recycle the same basic ideas slightly customized according to the target audience.
They can get away with this because most of the time their contracts state that their speech is not to be recorded in any way.
But there are a couple reasons why former presidents are so in demand.
For one, their fees can actually be lower than other celebrities like actors, athletes, and well-known inspirational speakers.
Another reason is that former presidents are universally known, and those familiar names can be a big draw for a wide variety of events.
There is also the chance that the media will report on the speech and give added exposure to whatever corporation is hosting.
Public speaking is an integral part of many professions, particularly if you are running your own business.
Whether you’re in front of a large crowd or pitching an idea one-on-one, you have to be able to communicate your thoughts effectively.
If you want to brush up on your public speaking skills and learn from some of the most successful speakers in TED talk history,
check out the book Talk Like Ted by Carmine Gallo.
Even better, you can hear this insightful book on Audible without paying the $21 cost.
Just go to alux.com/freebook and sign up so that you can get the audiobook version for free thanks to our partnership with Audible!
While researching this story, we’ve come across this incredible quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson we’d like to share with you that goes like this:
So never underestimate the power of your words and the importance of being able to effectively communicate your ideas.
Now that we’re wrapping up this up, we’d like to know:
Considering how wealthy presidents get after leaving office,
Let us know what you think in the comments.
And, of course, for sticking with us until the end here's that bonus we owe you:
Before the presidential pension was established in 1958, a number of former presidents struggled financially.
One example is Thomas Jefferson, who sold over 6,700 books to the government for $23,950, which he used to settle his debts.
And it was these books which helped form today’s Library of Congress.
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