What Can Kamala Harris Do To Cash In On Her Fame After The Vice Presidency?
Forbes money in politics reporter Kyle Mullins joins "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss how Kamala Harris' and her husband, Doug Emhoff's, earnings have changed since becoming Vice President.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 So since she's taken office in 2021, Forbes estimates that her net worth grew a million dollars, which is pretty good.
00:07 But you're reporting it could have been even bigger if she invested her money differently. How so?
00:13 Yeah, I mean, like I said earlier, that increase is mostly due to an increase in the value of their Los Angeles home.
00:19 And that's not really something that they had any sort of say in.
00:24 A lot of that cash, you know, if they had they hold a lot of their of their overall portfolio in cash, which doesn't grow with the market.
00:32 Even though the market is up almost 40 percent since she took office.
00:35 So maybe if she had put some of that cash that she currently has in checking and savings accounts, if she instead put that into funds to track the market, she might have seen a larger increase in her net worth.
00:45 That said, it's also worth noting that they were making a lot more money, Harris and Emhoff, before she became vice president.
00:52 Emhoff was still working at a law firm.
00:55 He was raking in upwards of a million dollars a year.
00:58 Harris, of course, was writing books. She had lots and lots of book income.
01:02 But then after she became vice president, she wasn't writing books anymore.
01:06 Emhoff stopped working as a lawyer. He became the second gentleman.
01:09 And he has a number of official duties that come with that.
01:11 He also became a law professor at Georgetown Law, but that doesn't pay quite as much as a as a private sector legal position.
01:19 So overall, they may have just gotten used to having more income.
01:23 And, you know, when that income stream was largely cut off, you know, maybe they're not they're spending more or they're saving less.
01:31 You know, that could have changed.
01:34 But no fear, because you're reporting that there's some optimism in her financial future.
01:39 What could potentially make her fortune grow in the future?
01:43 Yeah, I wouldn't say Harris and Emhoff are risking homelessness or anything like that.
01:48 You know, they're going to be just fine even if they never make another dollar.
01:51 And that seems pretty unlikely. So first off, Harris is going to be eligible for payouts from those pensions pretty soon.
01:58 So she's going to have a steady source of regular income from those.
02:02 And then additionally, you know, she and Joe Biden, if they win the election in 2024, she's going to keep working as vice president.
02:09 If you know, maybe she goes on to become president one day, that tends to the vice presidency tends to be a potential springboard for the presidency.
02:16 If she loses, that could actually be pretty good financially.
02:19 She can do what her predecessor, Mike Pence, did and what plenty of other politicians do.
02:23 She can go write books, go on speaking tours, sell consulting services, generally cash in on her fame.
02:29 And, you know, she could potentially make a lot of money doing that.