If you compare the salary of the Presidents with the earnings of the industrialists in America, the former’s financial status may seem paltry. And yet, the Presidents continue making money, sometimes well after their term of office is done. So, how do they do it? Speaking engagements and book deals. And then there are those who don’t choose this way to refinance themselves and instead return to the lucrative careers they enjoyed before getting elected. Should the Presidential office be synonymous with making money? That’s for you to decide. In the meantime let’s take a look at the richest (and poorest) presidents of America and what made each of them special.
Abraham Lincoln, 1861–1865 – $1 Million
At the time of his death, Abraham Lincoln had an estate with a net worth of $110,974.62 (the same as $1 million today). He was successful as an attorney at law before he became president, though at some point he almost went broke. He is famous for the Gettysburg Address where he proclaimed the Civil War as the ultimate test of the preservation of the Union. The dead buried at Gettysburg had done their part, he told the people gathered there, and it was up to the living to carry on this fight. He got assassinated in April 1865.
Are there any Presidents poorer than this? How did the next one make his money?
