How Ivanka Trump And Jared Kushner Really Make Their Money

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Manhattan power couple-turned-White House advisors-turned-Florida residents, are known for being extremely, extremely wealthy (via The Washington Post). They're also known for their lavish spending, which reportedly includes a $30 million plot of land in the famed "Billionaire's Bunker," aka Indian Creek Island in Florida's Miami County, as noted by Vanity Fair. That's in addition to their high-end real estate portfolio and $25 million collection of impressive art. Oh, and then there's Ivanka's many expensive outfits, some of which have a price tag that will take your breath away. Indeed, Ivanka and Jared live a lavish life, with a reported combined net worth of $800 million.

Of course, if you're able to spend that kind of money without batting an eyelash, chances are you have some pretty solid income streams — and Ivanka and Jared definitely do. With stakes in a variety of industries, including real estate, the fashion world, the stock market, the publishing industry, and show business, Ivanka and Jared have built themselves an empire. Curious to know more about how this duo can basically buy whatever they want? Here's how Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner really make their money.

If there's one thing that Jared Kushner is known for, it's that he's really good at making money. Like, really good. And one prime example of how he does that is his online property broker company, Cadre; Jared co-founded this business venture with his brother, Joshua Kushner, back in 2014. "Cadre is going to make us billionaires," he announced at the time (via The Guardian).

And make money Cadre did, and lots of it. According to The Guardian, the company raked in a whopping $90 million in funds from foreign sources — although it's hard to pinpoint exactly who wrote Jared those checks. The reason? The money was funneled through an offshore bank in the Cayman Islands that's operated by Goldman Sachs, which provides "a tax haven that guarantees corporate secrecy" (though some suspect Saudi Arabian money is flowing into their coffers).

While Jared stepped down from the board of Cadre while working in the White House, he still held onto a stake in Cadre during his tenure. Perhaps he'll work with them in a larger capacity now that he's no longer in D.C.

In May of 2017, Ivanka Trump became a published author for the second time; the Portfolio imprint of publishing juggernaut Penguin Random House published her book Women Who Work: Rewriting the Tools for Success. The book promises to "equip you with the best skills I've learned from some of the amazing people I've met, on subjects such as identifying opportunities, shifting careers smoothly, negotiating, leading teams, starting companies, managing work and family, and helping change the system to make it better for women — now and in the future," as Ivanka explained in its description.

Those of you who are familiar with the world of book publishing will be shocked to learn the size of the advance Portfolio offered Ivanka: $787,500, as noted by Forbes. However, Ivanka only pocketed about $425,000 of that, as she donated the rest to charity after her father won the 2016 election (via The Washington Post).

As to whether or not Women Who Work was a wise investment for Portfolio, it's not likely: Forbes reported that the imprint lost out to the tune of $220,000 due to less-than-dazzling reviews and sales.

In addition to Cadre, Jared Kushner also rakes in clams from other real estate companies. For example, in 2019, Jared pocketed between $1 million and $5 million from Bergel 715 Associates, as noted by The Guardian. At the time, Jared was a partial owner of the company.

However, that money was not without their controversy, and we're not talking about the fact that there's a huge gap in the range of estimated earnings. Rather, according to The New York Times, banking giant Deutsche Bank decided to do an internal investigation of Bergel 715 Associates. The reason? In 2013, the company allegedly sold a $1.5 million Park Avenue apartment to Rosemary Vrablic, an employee at Deutsche Bank, and two of her colleagues. Why is this worthy of a probe? Reportedly, Vrablic has worked as a banker with Donald Trump, Jared's father-in-law, for years. And apparently, selling high-end properties to people you bank with isn't something that's encouraged due to the potential for conflict of interest.

Shady business dealings or not, Jared certainly enjoyed a significant boost to his bank account, thanks to Bergel 715 Associates.

If there's one thing that the Trump family is known for other than real estate, it's the hotel industry. According to a report from Bustle, Donald Trump owns and operates 11 luxury hotels in the United States, in locations such as New York City, Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami, and Washington, D.C., to name just a few. And internationally, there's also a smattering of Trump-owned hotels in Vancouver, Ireland, and Scotland. (If you're confused and thought there were way more than that, it's likely because Trump has licensed his name for plenty of others to smack on their building, as noted by The Washington Post.)

While The Donald has made his fair share of profits from his hotels, so too has his daughter Ivanka Trump. According to The New York Times, she earned $3.95 million from the D.C. hotel in 2017, 2018, and 2019. And yes, that was when Ivanka was a senior adviser in the White House; although she stepped down from her role at the Trump Organization during that time, she didn't completely divest herself of the family business. And she's at least about $12 million richer for it.

If you thought we were done talking about Jared Kushner's real estate earnings, you're very mistaken, as we're just getting started. Homeboy clearly has his fingers in a lot of pies when it comes to the buying and selling of property, something he's gotten very good at! 

In fact, according to The New York Times, he and his wife, Ivanka Trump, had real estate investments worth a minimum of $204 million and a maximum of $783 million in 2019, the latter just $3 million less than the max value it had the year prior. Why the huge range? We're not sure, but either way, don't mind us as we recover ourselves from reeling at those numbers.

Additionally, much of that income finds its way to Jared's wallet via his family real estate business, Kushner Companies. And while Jared was busy during those years working in the White House and had stepped back from his position at his business, Kushner Companies was super active buying and selling property, all the while making Jared a richer man. We're... starting to sense a theme.

Long before Ivanka Trump was working on policy in the White House, and even before she was a businesswoman married to a millionaire mogul, Ivanka walked the runway as a model for Elite Model Management Corp., as noted by Vanity Fair. According to the magazine, Ivanka's father, Donald Trump, had "a longstanding informal relationship" with the agency, so they signed her to their "celebrity division." So for a few years in the late '90s, Ivanka was given an inside look at the fashion and modeling world.

It's not surprising, then, that Ivanka later went on to launch a career in fashion, as it's an area she knows well. Starting in 2007, Ivanka debuted a jewelry collection, according to The New York Times. Then in 2011, she debuted her clothing line, as reported by InStyle. And in 2016, The New York Times revealed that her line of shoes, handbags, and accessories brought in $75 million, of which she pocketed between $4 and $6 million, in 2013. Furthermore, Ivanka reportedly received $5 million in 2017 from her fashion ventures.

Ivanka shuttered her brand in 2018, but she could likely resurrect it at any time.

If you've ever lived in New York City, or known someone who has, you know full well how difficult it can be to find a place to live (via Curbed). Rent is notoriously high, demand can be extremely insane, and landlords aren't always the best people in the world. And while the coronavirus pandemic has leveled the playing field somewhat, as noted by U.S. News & World Report, it's not as if affordable housing has fallen from the sky in buckets. In a nutshell, being a denizen of New York City is not without its challenges.

However, that's not an experience shared by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, as they don't have to worry about rent in the Big Apple. In fact, Jared and his family businesses are lucky enough to own several buildings throughout New York City that bring in tons of revenue. One especially notable building is the Puck building in the SoHo district of Manhattan; according to The Guardian, that dwelling alone brought in about $6 million richer in 2018, thanks to all of the renters who live there.

While Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are associated more with Manhattan than any other borough in New York City, that doesn't mean that they refuse to look outside to the other four boroughs (Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Bronx) for business opportunities. And as it turns out, when they have, they made more money in a year than most of us ever will in several.

Specifically, let's head to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a neighborhood famous for its gentrification and the associated fallout it's created. That's where Jared and the family business purchased a warehouse and turned it into luxury condos, as noted by The Guardian. In 2018, that converted building generated over $350,000 for Jared, which is paltry compared to other Kushner Companies ventures, but significant money nonetheless.

Dig a little deeper, and you'll learn that tenants who live or have lived in that building filed a lawsuit against Kushner Companies, alleging that they made construction as loud and dusty as possible in order to push them out. They reportedly responded by saying their case was "without merit."

When Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton to win the presidential election in 2016, and subsequently moved into the White House in 2017, he brought his daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, onto his staff. Of course, neither of The Donald's kids received a salary for their work, but that doesn't mean they didn't make money in other ways that first year in D.C. Quite the opposite, in fact.

For example, the eldest Trump daughter made quite a bit of money for pretty much doing nothing, per se, as noted by The Washington Post. Specifically, Ivanka made a pretty profit from stepping back from one of her work obligations; Ivanka was given a severance payment of over $2 million from the Trump Organization, the job she left to work full-time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Excuse us while we go collect ourselves for a minute.

You have to spend money to make money, or so goes the old adage; that definitely seems to be the case for Jared Kushner, who's been known to make big investments in order to turn around and reap the rewards that they bring. After all, how can you sell condo units if you don't buy the building that they're housed in first?

To that end, Jared has relationships with several different banks that lend him money for his various business ventures. According to The Guardian, Jared's main financial lending partners are Citigroup, Bank of America, and Deutsche Bank, the latter of which is also a big backer of Donald Trump.

Insofar as Jared's various lines of credit, the investor had decreased his debts significantly between 2017 and 2018; he went from $40 million in debt to a mere $27 million. And while that might sound like a lot of money to owe, juxtaposed with Jared's net worth, it's essentially chump change.

Even though Jared Kushner was busy with his White House duties during Donald Trump's administration, most notably with trying to broker peace in the Middle East (via The New York Times), his family business kept making money for Jared while he was trying to improve things in Jerusalem and beyond.

One of the acquisitions Kushner Companies made in 2017 was the apartment complex known as Quail Ridge, as noted by The Washington Post. According to their website, Quail Ridge is over 1,000 homes "nestled in lush, green surroundings in the heart of Plainsboro, New Jersey." Additionally, the apartments there "offer generous layouts and renovated interiors with updated and well-maintained finishes," and are within a train ride of New York City. Sounds pretty idyllic, especially for the working commuter, no?

Not surprisingly, that investment paid off, to the tune of more than $5 million for Jared that year. That's just one more revenue stream for the millionaire and his family business to enjoy.

We get it. The ins and outs of big business, especially of one the size that Jared Kushner and his family operate, can be pretty difficult to comprehend. For example, Kushner Companies isn't just a singular entity; rather, it has a separate business named Westminster Management, which has the task of managing Kushner properties and ensuring that everything runs smoothly. The company operates in several different states, including New Jersey, Tennessee, Virginia, New York, and Maryland. That's right, the Kushner empire isn't just a tri-state area exclusive, as they have a reach that extends all the way down the east coast.

Additionally, as Fortune tells it, having an expansive property empire in the eastern United States has paid off nicely for Jared and his family. Indeed, Westminster Management brought in $1.8 million for Jared in 2020, thanks to their handling of all of the multi-family homes that lie within these locales.

This profit may sound pretty significant, but Ivanka and Jared actually lost money in 2020; they lost a sizable percent of their income, bringing them down from up to $156 million in 2019 to up to $120 million in 2020.

Before Donald Trump was in the White House, he was famous for appearing on his reality television show, The Apprentice. The program, which had an impressive run with Donald as host from 2004 to 2015, featured The Donald as he oversaw competitors who fought to secure a job at the real estate tycoon's table. For a long time, it was a fairly popular show, at least enough to run for as long as it did.

Viewers of The Apprentice know that Ivanka Trump also had a role in the series; starting in 2006, she appeared in 86 episodes as a boardroom advisor to her father. To that end, Ivanka became a member of the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) like her dad, and she started receiving a pension for her work on television, as did her father for his work (via Fortune). Just how much we're not sure.

In an interesting post-script, CBS News reported that Donald resigned from SAG as they were meeting to discuss disciplinary action due to the violent insurrection in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. We'll see if Ivanka follows suit.