Public record · Financial disclosure reports
The richest members of Congress trade the most — but not the best
Wealth buys a seat at the table and a habit of trading. It does not, on this evidence, buy an edge — the rich churn more stocks and still lose to an index fund.
The method
We took each House member’s disclosed net worth from their latest annual financial-disclosure report and joined it to their trading record — every disclosed buy since 2013, scored twelve months out against the S&P, the same way we ranked the best and worst traders in Congress. Two questions: do richer members trade more, and do they trade better?
Question 1 · Do they trade more?
Yes — dramatically
Sort all 287 members into four wealth tiers. The share who trade individual stocks at all climbs straight up the ladder: from almost nobody among the least wealthy to half of the richest tier.
| Wealth tier | Median net worth | Trade stocks |
|---|---|---|
| Poorest 25% | −$0.2M | 4% |
| 2nd quartile | $0.5M | 6% |
| 3rd quartile | $2.7M | 25% |
| Richest 25% | $12.7M | 50% |
The rank correlation between net worth and number of disclosed buys is +0.46 — one of the cleaner relationships in this whole dataset. If a member is in the news for active stock trading, they are almost always already rich.
Question 2 · Do they trade better?
No — both halves lose to the market
Now take only the members who actually trade (15+ disclosed buys) and split them at the median net worth. The wealthier half trails the market by a hair less — but both halves have a negative median. Money doesn’t become alpha.
The correlation between net worth and trading skill is +0.15 — statistically a shrug. And the names make the point louder than any average: the richest active traders scatter from +17.6% to −24.1%.
| Member | Net worth | Buys | Median α | Win |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suzan DelBene | $128M | 59 | +17.6% | 76% |
| Nancy Pelosi | $142M | 87 | +9.1% | 62% |
| Don Beyer | $68M | 308 | +5.8% | 62% |
| Kevin Hern | $112M | 423 | −1.4% | 47% |
| Josh Gottheimer | $32M | 1,097 | −2.0% | 47% |
| Daniel Goldman | $92M | 265 | −24.1% | 23% |
The twist
The two richest don’t trade at all
The wealthiest members in the House — Darrell Issa (~$232M) and Vern Buchanan (~$203M) — have zero disclosed individual-stock trades. Their fortunes sit in operating businesses and funds, not a brokerage account someone could copy. The people most worth watching for a stock tip are, ironically, not the richest at all.
Wealth in Congress predicts how much you trade, not how well. The rich get the access; the index still gets the returns.
What this is and isn’t
- Snapshot net worth. Disclosed as brackets in the latest annual report (2024–25); we use the midpoint, which can swing wide — a caveat, not a precise figure.
- Two different clocks. Net worth is “now”; trading alpha spans 2013–26. We ask whether wealthy members trade well over their record, not attributing today’s wealth to trades.
- Survivorship + selection. Same delisting gap as our other returns work; the 15-buy floor selects active traders. Reproducible from public filings.
