It’s not much cash, and she doesn’t need it, but it’s enough to buy herself 210 MAGA hats a year.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kylemullins/2025/11/25/how-marjorie-taylor-greene-locked-in-her-taxpayer-funded-pension-for-life/
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00:00Today on Forbes, How Marjorie Taylor Greene Locked in Her Taxpayer-Funded Pension for Life
00:06Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has rarely shied away from speaking her mind.
00:13First rising onto the political scene as MAGA's QAnon conspiracy-spouting congressional candidate,
00:18she quickly established herself as a Donald Trump loyalist and right-wing bomb thrower once in office.
00:25Even after breaking with Trump, most prominently regarding the release of the Epstein files,
00:30Greene, who was 51 years old, was one of four Republican representatives who bucked their party to get a bill to do so to a vote.
00:39She announced her resignation from Congress with a hand-grenade of a statement, saying,
00:44It's all so absurd and completely unserious. I refuse to be a battered wife hoping it all goes away and gets better.
00:50The fiery rhetoric might lead one to assume that her resignation is effective immediately.
00:57In fact, her last day in office will be January 5, 2026, over a month away.
01:03One potential reason she is hanging on for a bit longer, enduring the president's ire and the possible threats to personal safety that sometimes follow,
01:11it ensures that she will be in office for more than five years, locking in a bare minimum congressional pension.
01:18Taxpayers will pay Greene $725 per month, or about $8,700 annually, starting in 2036, Forbes estimates,
01:28which translates to a present value of a bit over $40,000.
01:33Not that she needs the money, which we'll get to in a minute.
01:37Her payout will be adjusted each year for inflation.
01:39The National Taxpayers Union, which published numbers similar to Forbes's, estimates that her lifetime payout from the pension will likely be upwards of $260,000.
01:50But if she decides to leave office just three days earlier, on January 2, 2026, she'll get zero, zilch, nada.
01:59Here's how the calculation works.
02:01In addition to having access to a 401k-style savings account, members of Congress earn defined benefit pensions,
02:09a retirement perk unavailable to most private sector employees.
02:13After paying into the federal employee's retirement system, during their time in office,
02:18a congressperson's monthly benefit, which begins paying out at age 62,
02:22is determined by multiplying together their length of service, their highest paid years while serving,
02:28and an accrual rate that differs depending on when they join the system.
02:32When she officially resigns, Greene will have been in office for almost exactly five years,
02:38the minimum to qualify for the pension,
02:40and will have been paid $174,000 all five of those years,
02:45as congressional salaries haven't increased since 2009.
02:48Her accrual rate is 1%.
02:50Multiply it out to get $725 per month.
02:55Even without a pension, Greene is perfectly financially comfortable.
02:59She and her now ex-husband purchased a construction business,
03:02Taylor Commercial, from her father in 2002.
03:06Since then, it has grown enormously.
03:09On her most recent financial disclosure,
03:11which only requires a politician to declare values for their assets in ranges,
03:15Greene said her 51% stake was worth between $5 million and $25 million,
03:20and that she received between $1 million and $5 million in ownership distributions in 2024.
03:27Another business that appears to rent out office space,
03:30PMLTD Inc., is worth between $1 million and $5 million,
03:34and generates income of between $50,000 and $100,000 annually.
03:41Greene has a condo in Washington, D.C. in addition to her home in Georgia,
03:44though ownership of the latter is murky,
03:47and at any rate, members of Congress don't have to declare personal residences on disclosures.
03:52And she's liquid, holding between $3.1 million and $8.3 million in cash and investments.
03:59Most of that is in a credit union account, worth between $1 million and $5 million,
04:03but she also owns a portfolio of blue-chip stocks like Berkshire Hathaway,
04:08Caterpillar, J.P. Morgan, and Hershey.
04:11And she's an active trader, filing 22, quote,
04:15periodic transaction reports,
04:17indicating that she'd bought or sold securities in 2025 alone.
04:22For full coverage, check out Kyle Kahn Mullins' piece on Forbes.com.
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