It’s no secret that Dr. Jill Biden has been through a lot. She opens her new memoir, View From The East Wing, by telling us about the heartbreak of losing her son Beau to brain cancer at the age of 46. In the wake of that loss, she and her husband almost lost their son Hunter Biden to addiction. And more recently, she has been by former President Joe Biden’s side through his diagnosis of an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones, though she says they are very optimistic about his most recent scans.
Yet in an era where “unprecedented” has been used more times than most of us can stomach, Jill Biden has stayed steady, continuing to teach as a community college English professor even through her husband’s presidency, making her the only First Lady in history to hold an outside job while her husband was in office.
On a recent episode of the HerMoney podcast, Jean Chatzky and Dr. Jill Biden get candid about money, independence, and resilience. Here’s what we learned.
The Money Lesson Her Mother Taught Her
Dr. Biden credits her foundation of financial independence to her mother, who told her: “You always have to have your own money.”
It’s a message that Dr. Biden passes on to every young woman she meets. Growing up, her family didn’t have much. Her father was a bank teller, and the three oldest girls shared a bedroom. But Dr. Biden is quick to say that she never felt deprived.
“We had butter and sugar sandwiches, but we loved butter and sugar sandwiches,” she said. “We were so happy and never thought, ‘Oh, she has this, and we don’t.’ We never, ever felt that way.”
As her father’s career grew, the family’s financial reality shifted, and her younger twin sisters grew up with a very different kind of childhood. But those early lean years left Dr. Biden with a deep appreciation for money, a saver’s instinct, and a Christmas club account she still keeps to this day.
How a Divorce Changed Everything
Dr. Biden married young, and when that marriage ended a few years later, she found herself completely unprepared for what came next. She had no savings and no checking account she’d ever managed on her own.
“I thought, ‘Wow, I really have to get it together, because now I realized I’m truly on my own,'” she said.
That’s why, when Joe Biden became president, Dr. Biden decided to keep her teaching job outside of the White House, the only First Lady to ever do so.
“I couldn’t give up the passion of teaching, something I loved and worked so hard to get all those degrees to do,” she said. “And also, I wasn’t about to start asking Joe for money. I mean — what, after all these years?”
Why Dr. Jill Biden Is Committed To Fighting For Democracy
Dr. Biden closes View From The East Wing by saying that she and Joe Biden continue to rage against the dying light — fighting for democracy, battling cancer, working on women’s health, building a presidential center, and spending time with their grandchildren.
“For as long as we can do this work, we will,” she writes, “and we will do it with the deepest gratitude for our family, for this country, for the opportunities we have been given, and for each other’s love. We are blessed.”
Jean asked her how the rest of us can do the same.
“You really have to find your passion and live it,” Dr. Biden said. “Find something that excites you. After menopause, we’re not finished. You have, hopefully, 30 or 40 years left. So find something that excites you, and keep moving. I mean physically, keep moving. I think that’s a big key to things.”
MORE ON HERMONEY:
- What If Women Are Already Better With Money Than We Think?
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- The Money Reset: Why September Might Be a Better Time for Financial Resolutions Than January
