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.
I guess I’m just surprised that so many people don’t view a pension as an asset and only view it as income. After the conversations here I did some reading and it looks like there’s not a consensus on whether to include a pension in net worth calculations. That being said there isn’t a consensus about including home value in net worth calculations either.
I suppose my question would be how do you define net worth? Would you agree with the other user who seems to define it as assets that can be left to survivors minus debt?
I have always thought of net worth as total assets minus total obligations/debts and would view a pension as an asset.
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Can you provide a source corroborating “legally it is not an asset?”
Here’s a source with case precedent that contradicts that in Massachusetts (appeals court vacated a decision to consider a pension as income): https://www.fitchlp.com/blog/2021/11/should-a-pension-be-considered-an-asset-or-a-source-of-income/
So this might be a thing that varies from State to State. And it might also depend upon the type of pension. Some pensions you can take a lump sum. It’s not always a fixed income as you stated. It sounds like you might know more than me on this subject, but I’m not finding separate resources that fully agree with you. Most sources seem to indicate it could be considered an asset or it could be considered income.
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So now you’re back to saying that it is a legal definition. You’re confusing me more. You initially said pensions are legally defined as income. Then you said that legal wasn’t the right word and even edited that out of your comment. Now you’re back to saying there’s decades of laws. If you don’t know whether it’s legally defined as income then how am I supposed to know it?
Everything I’m finding online seems to indicate it can be viewed one way or another depending upon opinion and whether a lump sum option is available. You seem to be saying its always income? You haven’t clarified the lump sum option and how a pension with that option should be viewed from your opinion. And from an, albeit quick, look online I can’t find legal resources that indicate it is a hard rule. Even the link I provided and even the details you highlighted from that do not say its always a hard rule that all pensions are always income and never an asset.
I know one case doesn’t change decades of laws, but I can’t easily find these decades of laws and accounting rules. Most of what I’m finding when trying to look talks about the accounting for managing the pension itself and the assets of the pension which obviously doesn’t answer the question at hand.
So all of that said, do you have a resource you can point me to in order to help educate myself in the legal and accounting rules for how to treat pensions for individual finance and not something from the corporate finance side? Not that I don’t trust you, but we are both strangers on the internet after all.
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Yeah…that doesn’t answer my question. That only answers how the IRS treats income from the pension.
You can derive income from assets can you not? Am I misunderstanding assets? I would view rental property as an asset and you can get income from that. I would view a 401k as an asset and you can get income from that.
If I say I’m worth $500k more because of my pension. How does that have anything to do with the IRS?
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Maybe if I put this another way I can get some clarification on your position?
You have two people. Person A and Person B. Both have emergency funds in savings of $20,000. Person A has a 401k currently worth $500,000. Person B has a pension currently with a cash lump sum value of $500,000. Neither has any real estate, nor other investment accounts, but neither has any debt either. I would say they have the same net worth of $520,000. If I’m understanding you correctly, you would say Person A has a net worth of $520,000 but Person B has a net worth of $20,000. And it would be illegal and against accounting rules to include Person B’s pension in net worth calculations.
I’m seeing plenty of resources online that even go so far as to include instructions for finding a value of the pension for calculating net worth.
https://livewell.com/finance/how-to-calculate-value-of-pension-for-net-worth/
https://www.sapling.com/12011834/factor-pension-net-worth
https://networthcalculator.io/calculate-pension-in-net-worth/
https://www.lazymanandmoney.com/pension-net-worth/
And then this article finally showed up on my third page of results when searching for “do you include pension in net worth” and it at least mentions that it’s debatable whether to include it or not. And this article is for Canada. https://www.moneysense.ca/columns/ask-moneysense/should-you-include-your-pension-in-your-net-worth/
This is why I’m so confused. And you’ve been the most adament that it’s a big no-no. I’m not trying to argue with you. I’m seriously confused and trying to understand what I’m missing.
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I missed this commment. Sorry. Also, I have talked to accountants and financial advisors that work with our union. I think because a lump sum is an option they all treat it as an asset when discussing net worth.
And I’ve mentioned several times that I understand income is not an asset. I have also mentioned several times that the pension was treated by other professional financial advisors and accountants as an asset (probably due to the lump sum option). I’m sure its treated differently if they don’t take the lump sum.
I get that if you are drawing on a pension and didn’t take the lump sum that it would be income and thus not an asset. What isn’t so clear to me is whether a pension that you are not drawing on yet but offers an option of a lump sum can be considered an asset for the purposes of calculating net worth.
Edit: I appreciate you taking the time to explain some of this. Might I suggest though that you take a little more care in how you talk to people? You’re coming off very rude. Maybe that’s just me reading into what you’re saying, but if someone spoke to me like this in person or via email, I’d walk away.