Fed Chief Says His Assets Top $1Million

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is officially a millionaire.

Bernanke, 52, said he and his family held assets valued at about $1.2 million to $2.5 million in 2005, according to an annual financial disclosure released Tuesday by the Fed in Washington. That’s up from the previously reported range of $953,000 to $2.1 million. The form requires officeholders to give only value ranges for their individual holdings.

The chairman, a former economics professor who succeeded Alan Greenspan on Feb. 1, made few changes to his bond, stock and money market accounts and funds to join the 5.4 million other U.S. households with at least $1 million in investable assets. One large-capitalization stock fund in a retirement account appreciated to at least $500,001 from a prior range of $250,001 to $500,000, the filing said.

Bernanke’s other largest holding was a retirement annuity, ranging from $500,001 to $1 million. His other assets included Canadian Treasury bonds, money market accounts and stock and bond mutual funds.

On the form, Bernanke reported income ranging from about $140,000 to $324,000, mostly from textbook royalties of about $100,000 to $200,000. He also sold part of his retirement funds in January 2005 for about $116,000 to $315,000; the form doesn’t show how he used the proceeds.

The disclosure doesn’t include one’s personal residence or salary. Bernanke’s 2006 pay is $183,500. He bought a home in Washington for $839,000 in 2004, according to the city’s website.

Greenspan last year reported assets of $2.5 million to $6.4 million.