How Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Really Made Her Money

Nikki Haley has become a widely known political figure since throwing her name into the ring for the 2024 presidential election. Although it seems like no one can compete with former President Donald Trump, Haley is making waves. With her garnering more attention, many are curious about the former governor of South Carolina and how she has made her money throughout the years.

Haley has amassed an $8 million net worth, but it has been an uphill battle. Her parents immigrated from India and created their own small business that eventually became extremely successful. As a teen, Haley helped work at the family business. Her parents seemed to be doing well as she graduated from college, and they purchased more properties for themselves and other business investments. Although Haley could have easily joined the family business following college, she went a different direction.

In 2004, she won a seat on the South Carolina House of Representatives and even landed a position in fundraising at a medical center, which paid around $110,000 a year, per Forbes. Haley took a bigger position in politics when she won the 2010 election for South Carolina governor. She even went on to publish a book in 2012, which earned her $475,000 in advances. But how did Haley turn those thousands into millions? Well, we're here to fill you in on what the potential Republican presidential candidate did to earn her money.

Although she was elected UN Ambassador by former President Donald Trump in 2016, it wasn't until after she left The White House that Nikki Haley began raking in the big bucks. Don't get us wrong, Haley still made some dough as ambassador, bringing in a yearly salary of $185,000, but it had nothing on what she would make after leaving The White House. No one had any idea as to what Haley had planned, but it turns out she had some big business ventures on the other side of her resignation.

One way Haley increased her fortune was by speaking at events. According to Forbes, Haley amassed $2.3 million from events she attended and spoke at in 2022 alone. In addition to public speaking, she also went on to publish two more books, one of which gave her $350,000 in advances.

Haley was unstoppable in her business ventures. In 2019, she became the director of Boeing, although she only lasted a year. Still, she earned $300,000 in that year alone with cash and stock in the company. And if things don't work out with her presidential run, Haley still has a backup plan. She is currently on the board of the United Homes Group, where she has earned $250,000 and can increase that value as the years go on.

It may seem like Nikki Haley has never faced financial issues, but that's not the truth. In fact, when she left her position as UN Ambassador, Haley was probably in one of the worst financial situations she ever had to deal with, and she had no other option but to get out of it.

The former governor's 2018 financial disclosure was released and revealed that she was facing a significant amount of debt. According to Money, Haley's debt ranged anywhere from $525,000 to $1.1 million due to things like credit card charges and mortgages. But to be fair, it wasn't entirely Haley's fault.

Forbes revealed that her parents started struggling financially around 2014. So much so that Haley and her husband had to loan $400,000 to her parents because of the money they owed from purchasing a lake house and a strip mall years prior. Despite securing the loan, Haley's parents still struggled to make the payments they owed, and in 2017, they couldn't do it anymore. They eventually sold the strip mall to Haley's husband's company for 5 dollars, taking on the $1.1 million debt Haley's parents owed. They sold the strip mall for 1.3 million, and Haley removed herself and her husband as junior leaders on the lake house property. Still, the political figure had to watch her parents lose pretty much everything they owned and had to take on some of their debt in the process.