Donald Trump surprised everyone (including, seemingly, himself!) when he won the 2024 election against Vice President Kamala Harris. Many were happy at the thought that Trump would be president again, but others were concerned about his age. After all, Trump will now be older than Biden was when he ran for president the first time, and the last thing anyone wants from the incoming Republican president is an echo of Biden’s debate performance (the one that caused everyone to speculate whether the leader of the free world was suffering from dementia or not).
Some of those concerns are mollified by Donald Trump having a much younger running mate. Now, Vice President-elect JD Vance is a heartbeat away from the presidency, which is a meteoric political journey for someone who was just elected Senator back in 2022. He first rose to fame writing about his impoverished childhood, making this latest accomplishment feel like the end of the ultimate rags-to-riches story.
Now, the emphasis is on the “riches” part because Vance and his wife, Usha, lead a seriously luxurious life. Keep reading to discover just how luxurious we’re talking!
A rags to riches story?
Even before you knew JD Vance’s name, you probably knew the book he wrote. He is the author of Hillbilly Elegy, an autobiographical text that describes his impoverished early life in the streets of Ohio. The book proved to be so popular that it was adapted into a major motion picture, and Vance eventually parlayed his clout into a Republican senator position and is now about to become the Vice President.
The book and film rights alone have earned Vance some major profits. According to Variety, the 2020-2021 royalties alone earned him a cool $823,132, and he was offered $8 million to write a sequel. Meanwhile, he also got a cut of the cash when Netflix won the film rights bidding war, ultimately paying $45 million.
Now that Vance is about to become one of the most famous figures in the world, we can only guess he’ll be making even more money from the book that put him on the map.
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JD Vance’s wealth comes from many places
As you can tell, JD Vance has made more money from his book Hillbilly Elegy than most of us are likely to make in our entire lives. However, this text is far from the only source of his wealth. According to CBS News, he has up to $500,000 in Bitcoin and a stake in a biotech firm worth up to $5 million.
Those are just a couple of the assets in his Charles Schwab account, which is valued somewhere between $2.3 to $7.7 million. Throw in his venture capital fund and juicy, juicy pension, one thing is for sure: Vance has left “rags” far behind, and his luxurious life is now all about the riches.
Major money from property
JD Vance isn’t exactly hurting for cash…book sales, film rights, and smart investments galore have positioned the incoming Vice President for a lifetime of success. Those investments go far beyond tech firms and cryptocurrency, though. As with most rich people, a good chunk of Vance’s wealth comes from property investments.
As Business Insider reports, Vance and his wife own a Virginia home worth $1.64 million and a Cincinnati mansion worth $1.4 million. As for passive income, the power couple rent out their Washington, DC townhouse (bought for $590,000) for $3,700 a month. Considering how wild the housing market has been, it’s a safe bet all of the Vances’ properties will continue to grow in value.
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Usha Vance: a surprising story
So far, we know much more about JD Vance than we know about his wife, Usha Vance. That’s understandable, of course…after all, he’s the one who wrote the best-selling book, became a Senator, and then got elected as Donald Trump’s Vice President. However, it’s an open secret that her support has helped him to achieve these massive accomplishments. And that support is much more surprising when you know more about her own story, including a very different upbringing and early political outlook than that of her husband.
Previously, Usha Vance was registered as a Democrat. If that’s not surprising enough, the Tatler described her as “of the leftish political persuasion” when she was a student at Yale. On top of that, she is the daughter of two Indian immigrants. While America is a nation founded on immigration, the anti-immigrant rhetoric of both JD Vance and Donald Trump seems that much more confusing when considering Usha’s own background.
At any rate, JD Vance seems to have a plan, and he has successfully parlayed a best-selling book into a position where he could be elected President of the United States in four short years. Not bad for a self-proclaimed hillbilly from Ohio!