Financial Blog

Net Worth: $40.4 million

Where he got it:

McCain wouldn’t exactly be poor were he on his own. As a senator he earns $165,200 a year, and he has a $54,000 Navy pension. And then there’s publishing.

“Faith of My Fathers,” his autobiography, was on bestseller lists for 24 weeks in 1999.

Since then he has produced about a book a year, recently “Hard Call,” about good decisions and how historic figures made them.

In 2006 he took in about $225,000 in royalties, but over the years, income from books has totaled about $1.7 million, all of which he has donated to charity.

He can afford to be generous. His wife Cindy is the chairman of Hensley & Co., the Anheuser-Busch beer distribution business she inherited from her father. As an only child, Cindy is in charge of the family trusts.

Although she only has to report that she has a salary of $1,000 or more, her income from investments in 2006 came to about $3.7 million.

Where it goes:

Except for checking accounts, all the McCain assets are in Cindy’s name or those of their dependent children. Nearly $5 million sits in two generation-skipping trusts.

She receives the income, but the principal passes to her heirs. One holds mostly J.P. Morgan mutual funds and Anheuser-Busch stock, while a second trust has only Arizona municipal bonds.

Other trusts that benefit Cindy contain a variety of stocks, bonds and mutual funds. She also owns shares in two large medical buildings in Phoenix, a guesthouse near the couple’s home in Sedona and an investment property in Coronado Beach, Calif.

Another $6 million in J.P. Morgan funds is held in the name of their four children.

How he could do better:

In the Navy, McCain no doubt learned to keep things tidy, and the couple’s finances are shipshape. They - and Cindy’s father - “have clearly given a great deal of thought to their estate,” says Christopher Cordaro, wealth manager at RegentAtlantic Capital.

Cordaro has just one worry: “Everything except $50,000 is in her name or in trust for her and the children,” he says. “I’d advise the senator to keep Cindy very happy - or have a good prenuptial agreement.”

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