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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.