How’s your 2018 going so far?
From a financial standpoint, you’re probably not starting the year as strongly as Jim Bob Duggar, but at the same time you’re not responsible for dozens of increasingly scandal-prone children and in-laws, so you’ve got that going for you … which is nice.
Yes, despite Jim Bob’s “high-class” hoarding and near financial collapse, it seems the Duggar patriarch is once again living high on the hog.
A new report from The Richest has Jim Bob’s net worth at roughly $ 3.6 million.
That’s not as much cash as it may sound like, due to the aforementioned wealth of mouths to feed.
But it’s also much better than Jim Bob’s been doing in recent years.
As recently as early 2017, JB was said to be on the brink of bankruptcy thanks to a string of financial miscalculations and the declining popularity of his family’s once-beloved reality show.
We recently learned exactly how much the Duggars are paid for Counting On, and it’s not quite as much as you might expect.
Sources say the family pulls in $ 25,000 per episode.
It’s a lot of money for just a few days’ work, but it’d also divided roughly 47 bajillion ways.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Jim Bob is struggling. Far from it, in fact.
These days, he’s back to gloating about his wealth (just as Jesus would do) at pricey financial “seminars” hosted by his friend Jim Sammons.
JB spoke of his fondness for the debt-free life in a recent seminar, telling the assembled crowd:
“After just seeing the first session, the truths from God’s Word being taught through Mr. Sammons began to convict me of my need to ‘owe no man anything but love.’”
Obviously, most of Jim Bob’s kids and their spouses are inspired by his ability to earn, but there’s at least one member of the family who thinks the Duggar patriarch has lost his way.
We’re talking, of course, about Jessa Duggar’s husband, Ben Seewald.
Jim Bob and Ben have clashed in the past over differences in their religious views, and it seems they’re once again butting heads.
Ben reportedly doesn’t think his father-in-law’s devotion to amassing a Scrooge McDuck-like swimming pool full of gold coins is particularly godly, and it seems he’s not shy about making his feelings known.
Jim Bob needn’t worry, of course, as he has the full support of the rest of his family, particularly Jill Duggar’s husband, Derick Dillard, who’s currently unemployed, but has taken to asking fans for money online, thus keeping the greed alive for a new generation.
Watch Counting On online for more from reality TV’s most controversial and eternally thirsty family.
