Tim Walz’s Finances Stunned Some People. They Shouldn’t Have. (2024)

When presidential candidate Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice president, the internet went wild with clips of him at the state fair with his daughter, throwing out the first pitch at a Minnesota Twins game, and fixing his car.

His policies, personal life, and, of course, his finances also got put under a microscope.

And one of the most surprising things that people discovered? Neither Walz nor his wife, Gwen, own any investments. No stocks, ETFs, or mutual funds. No cryptocurrency, REITs, or even any personal real estate. He sold his house to move into the governor’s mansion—so he technically doesn’t even own a home, just like one-third of Americans. And with home prices and mortgage interest rates remaining high, that American dream may stay unattainable.

And while Walz’s down-home, aw-shucks demeanor has captivated America, it’s also a sharp reminder of how different his finances are from those of the average politician.

With a net worth between $112,003 and $330,000, Walz sits far below his peers. Research shows that the average net worth for congresspeople and senators is around $1 million.

If we’re estimating that Walz’s net worth is on the high end of that—$330,000—he’s still far below where a typical 60-year-old should be if they want to retire.

And while Walz does not have a 401(k), IRA, or taxable brokerage account, he does have a pension, which seems to be his sole source of retirement funds.

Nowadays, the pension is a relic. Only about 15 percent of private-sector workers have access to a pension, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Teachers—like Walz—and other government workers are the most common types of employees to receive pension benefits. Members of the military—also like Walz, a former member of the National Guard—may also qualify for lifetime pensions.

But a pension isn’t a salve for all your financial problems. Even a government pension may not be enough to cover all your expenses in retirement. You typically have to work in a job for a certain number of years to qualify for a pension. This can result in two scenarios: You work a job you hate to qualify for a pension or you leave early and have to start your retirement savings from scratch.

Even if you do qualify for a pension, the amount you receive may not keep up with inflation. Plus, some states don’t enroll teachers in Social Security because they are covered by a government pension, so they won’t receive those benefits when they get older.

A basic rule of thumb is that you should save between 10 and 15 percent of your income for retirement. If your pension doesn’t meet those standards, then you should beef up your savings with an IRA.

Talking to a financial planner can help you understand your pension better. You can find a qualified financial planner through the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, which keeps a list of financial planners who have a fiduciary duty to their clients. You can even look for some who specializes in working with people with pensions.

Walz is definitely an outlier when it comes to politicians, many of whom come from wealthy family backgrounds or made a killing before entering politics. That makes him a perfect analog to the average American.

He’s also aware that members of Congress often have special access to insider information that they can use to make profitable stock trades. When he was a member of the House of Representatives, he was a huge proponent of the STOCK Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2012 and tries to make congressional investment trades more public to improve transparency.

Worries about Congressional insider trading have also sparked the introduction of more potential legislation, like the ETHICS Act, which would ban congresspeople from owning individual stocks and other types of investments.

So even if Walz doesn’t get into stock trading like many of his fellow politicians, at least he has a chance to keep saving for retirement. The current salary for the vice president is $235,100.