The long-running claim that Trump would be richer if he’d invested his inheritance from his father in the S&P 500 has been false—until now, contends an article in Forbes. Since crashing in the early days of the pandemic, equities have had a dizzying run, in large part because of the growth of big tech companies. But Trump’s fortune—tied up in his real estate empire—hasn’t bounced back as readily.
As of 2018, when an expose about his father’s tax returns appeared in the New York Times, Trump was estimated to have outperformed the market index by about $1 billion, making him worth $3.1 billion. He continued to stay well ahead of the S&P 500 until last year, when the pandemic turned markets upside down. It’s estimated that he lost $1 billion in a span of weeks, the article reports.
With Trump’s hotels, office buildings, and storefronts all languishing, the S&P 500 caught up and overtook him earlier this year. If Trump had simply invested his inheritance into the index, he’d be worth about $3 billion, earning him the 377th spot for The Forbes 400. Instead, he’s been bumped off the list entirely for the first time in 25 years. Between the hundreds of million dollars in debt coming due over the next three years, his preoccupation with politics, and longtime executive of The Trump Organization Allen Weisselberg under indictment, his prospects for getting back onto the list don’t look too bright.
