A vice president like the rest of us

How they invest

Biden's investments, nearly all of them in retirement plans, are valued somewhere between $65,000 and $366,000. The breadth of that range is due to the fact that the three largest of them are reported to be worth between $15,001 and $50,000, and the smaller ones, also grouped around broad ranges, are more numerous.

They include a few mutual funds, including the target-retirement portfolio Fidelity Freedom 2020 (FFFDX), Janus Aspen Large Cap Growth (JAGRX) and a number of conservative annuity-related portfolios that don't have ticker symbols.

The Palin family's securities reside in two accounts in the name of Todd Palin: a 401(k) from employer BP Prudhoe Bay and a self-employment individual retirement account. Todd Palin's businesses include commercial salmon fishing and sponsored snowmobile racing.

The total value of these accounts at the end of 2007 was $381,405. The investments are much more aggressive than Biden's choices. The Palins' largest single investment was $80,112 in the T. Rowe Price Latin America Fund (PRLAX). Other individual holdings valued at more than $35,000 included Alger Small Cap Growth Fund (ALSAX) and American Funds Fundamental Investors R5 (RFNFX), a conservative large-cap fund.

The Palins report smaller holdings of such ETFs as KBW Capital Markets (KCE, news, msgs) and iShares MSCI Australia (EWA, news, msgs), and such common stocks as Intuit (INTU, news, msgs) and Roper Industries (ROP, news, msgs).

Politics being politics, the Palins' filing attracted considerable attention from liberal blogs. At one of them, the Petris Files, the postings were almost universally positive until a poster calling herself Alison appeared and railed, "They have 1.6 million shares of Alger Hiss Small Cap I, which is trading at $22.30 a share today -- that is in excess of $3.5 million -- and there are many others."

Alger Hiss, of course, is a deceased communist spy (whom many leftists still regard as the victim of a right-wing smear). Fred Alger is founder of the mutual fund. And this holding would be worth $35 million, not $3.5 million, except that it doesn't exist. The filing reports ownership of 1,668 shares of Alger Small Cap Growth.

Most of the postings, however, remarked with favor on the Palins' financial life, including their investment choices. Poster "jpr9954" wrote: "With regard to her and her husband's investments, I was impressed that Todd participated in both the 401(k) with BP and had a SAR-SEP IRA for his fishing work. Todd is showing great responsibility in planning and saving for his retirement.

"He uses a mix of mutual funds, exchange traded funds, and very little stock and holds a diversified portfolio," the blogger continued, identifying himself as a financial planner. "He's doing things right and has shown more financial responsibility than the majority of Americans."

In his BP 401(k), Todd Palin reports owning about 70 shares of BP PLC (BP, news, msgs), which finished 2007 trading at $73.17.

If he still owns stock in his employer, he's taken a hit this year like everybody else: The shares closed Sept. 11 at $53.42, down 27% so far this year. That's what happens when you take investment risks, but the Palins are in their 40s and have plenty of time to recoup their loss. I think energy remains in a long-term bull market, despite its cyclical plunge this year.

The poorest vice president in years

It's hard to tell where these two would rank historically in terms of vice-presidential wealth, but they're certainly in the same rut as Walter Mondale. While running with Jimmy Carter in 1976, he revealed a net worth of $77,000 and joked he wanted the job "because I need the money."

Those who followed Mondale -- George H.W. Bush, Dan Quayle, Al Gore and Dick Cheney -- ranked much higher on the wealth meter.

From a class point of view, virtually all of the families in my neighborhood are very much like the Palins and Bidens, living modestly but well on incomes in the low six figures.

Families like the Obamas and the McCains live on the other side of the tracks -- literally, in my New Jersey town, where the mansions are higher up the Short Hills for which the place is named.

Whether my neighbors tuck in their children at night cooing, "You could grow up to be vice president," I do not know. (More likely they say, "Please don't go into politics." That's what I always cooed.)

But it's refreshing to come across a pair of politicians who truly do understand our situation, because they share it. And it's too bad one of them could be the only such person in Washington come next January.

At the time of publication, Tim Middleton did not own shares of any company or fund mentioned in this column.

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