Joe Biden doesn't have a savings account?
Updated at 11:40 a.m.
Vice President Joe Biden, in a moment of attempted folksy connection to his audience at the White House Working Families Summit on Monday, understated his personal financial situation just a tad.
Hoping to establish credibility with the audience, which was gathered to discuss ways to improve working conditions for working families, Biden reminded people that he used to be the poorest member in Congress (in reality, the poorest member of the Senate) even though he now makes "a lot of money" as vice president ($230,700) and had "a mildly expensive suit on" for the event.
"Don't hold it against me that I don't own a single stock or bond," Biden said. "I have no savings account but I got a great pension and I got a good salary. For real."
But Biden's financial disclosure for the year 2013, which was filed last month, shows that he has both a savings account and 11 different investment funds.
The vice president's savings account, with the United States Senate Federal Credit Union, is valued at between $1,001 and $15,000 dollars, according his disclosure form. The 11 investment funds, including mutual funds that have stock holdings, are all valued in the same category.
Biden also has four checking accounts, three of which are valued between $1,001 and $15,000; the fourth is valued at less than $1,001.
An official in Biden's office said, "He actually doesn't have any stocks or bonds. Dr. Biden does. He does have a savings account. I think what he meant when he was talking was that he doesn't have any stocks or bonds as part of a savings account."
He also listed several liabilities including the mortgage on his Delaware house, valued at between $500,001 and $1,000,000 and it seems his liabilities are steeper than his assets, contrary to the financial situations of many of his elected colleagues in Washington.
Still, Biden noted that he has been "really, really fortunate" compared to the people who struggled around him growing up.
He's not the only potential 2016 candidate to publicly bring up their finances in recent days. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in hot water at the start of her book tour for claiming to have been "dead broke" when she and former President Bill Clinton left the White House in 2001. And over the weekend, she said that Americans wouldn't see her as part of the problem of rising income inequality "because we pay ordinary income tax, unlike a lot of people who are truly well off."