Not a bad gig of you can get it.
Time.com’s Alicia Adamczyk runs through the government pensions the former president and vice-president—Barack Obama and Joe Biden—will receive. If every person in America could just serve as president, this pesky retirement crisis would be solved.
“The Former Presidents Act lays out the benefits past presidents receive after they leave office, including a pension and additional funds for travel, office space, staff, and other requirements needed to ‘maintain the dignity’ of the presidency,” Adamczyk wirtes.
Per the statute, Obama’s annual presidential pension is $205,700, which is the same amount received by the four other living ex-presidents.
However, the Huffington Post reports that Obama will also receive “$383,535 from the Illinois state pension he earned in eight years as a state lawmaker.”
“While the presidential pensions are all fixed at the same rate, the current president requests funding from Congress for additional expenses related to former presidents,” she notes. “Those expenses vary widely, mainly because of differences in office space rental costs, per a report from the Congressional Research Service. For example, Jimmy Carter was appropriated $430,000 in fiscal year 2015, while George W. Bush received $1,098,000. Bush received $434,000 for office space that year, while Carter received $112,000.”
It should also be noted that Obama is set to receive less money in FPA funds than any other living president.
“While he did request an increase of $588,000 in FPA funding for 2017, only $359,000 of it was earmarked for himself—which includes his $205,700 pension, staff salaries, office space, etc.—and the other $229,000 will be distributed between the other four presidents.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden will receives his retirement income based on his role as President of the Senate, which could be around $248,670 per year.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
