- House Speaker Mike Johnson is much less wealthy than other members of Congress.
- He doesn't trade any stocks and has a home mortgage valued between $250,000 and $500,000.
- He's made more than $120,000 since 2018 teaching online classes at Liberty University.
The new speaker of the House is not as wealthy as most of his colleagues.
That's perhaps the biggest insight one can draw from the eight years of financial disclosures Rep. Mike Johnson has filed since 2016, when he first ran to represent Louisiana's fourth congressional district.
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.All members of Congress are required to file yearly financial disclosures in which they detail their assets, any debts they hold, any gifts they've received, and any income they've made in addition to their $174,000 salary.
Here's what we know based on the documents Johnson has filed.
He doesn't own or trade any stocks
From 2016 through 2022, Johnson did not disclose owning or trading any individual stocks or other securities, such as mutual funds.
That's a stark contrast from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose husband Paul's frequent and voluminous trades earned raised eyebrows from reporters and ethics experts.
As Insider's Conflicted Congress investigation found in 2021, lawmakers often encounter a variety of conflicts of interest stemming from their stock holdings, given that they have access to nonpublic information and can influence national policy. Late disclosures and other violations of the STOCK Act are common, and lawmakers often receive a slap on the wrist for doing so.
But Johnson also does not appear to have commented publicly on the ongoing effort to ban members of Congress from trading stocks, leaving the public unsure of where he stands on the issue.
He has a home mortgage worth up to $500,000
Since 2013, Johnson and his wife, Kelly, have had a home mortgage valued between $250,000 and $500,000 from Citizens National Bank.
That's similar to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has disclosed a mortgage for his California home valued at between $100,000 and $250,000.
While mortgages are relatively common for homeowners nationwide, they aren't as common for members of Congress. In 2020, OpenSecrets reported that most lawmakers at the time were millionaires.
In addition to the mortgage, Johnson has other debts, including a personal loan and a home-equity line of credit from Citizens Bank, both of which were valued at between $15,000 and $50,000.
