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.

  • Euphorazine@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    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

    • fadedmaster@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      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.

      • SteveFromMySpace@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        3 months ago

        No you don’t agree completely. Your income =/= your net worth. If you ask me my net worth I don’t include my salary or anything. It’s the total net worth of my assets. That’s literally all it is. There is nothing being neglected here.

        That’s like asking me my take home pay and claiming I was being opaque about it when I didn’t give you my monthly expenses. You asked about my income.

        • fadedmaster@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          I agree to your last comment about it being refreshing that he’s not some elite like so many others. Sorry that wasn’t clear.