His brief, illustrious career as our nation’s highest-ranking general notwithstanding, Grant never earned a great deal of money and often lived well beyond his means. This was especially the case after his presidency, when he and his wife traveled the wo

One of the saddest cases of presidential hardship, Truman, was relatively poor throughout his life. He borrowed against his meager future inheritance and invested in a zinc mining operation, which failed and lost him most of his investment. Truman later

While McKinley spent most of his life in relative financial stability, the depression of 1893 bankrupted an investment he had made with a friend in a tin plate company. His final debts reached an estimated $130,000 and McKinley was forced to file for ban

An ambitious but poor young man, Lincoln’s early life left him in financial ruin. When he was in his 20′s he bought a general store with a friend and business associate – an investment he would later regret. Before the store went bankrupt Lincoln sold hi