Meghan Markle: How Wealthy?

I've previously made calculations on where the actress Meghan Markle was at financially when she married Prince Harry. I notice recent claims saying she has no money now and was practically penniless when she met Harry. I believe this is nonsense and below I explain my calculations. Some of the information is found in the Tom Bower book, Revenge while the rest is taken from other sources that appear at least somewhat reliable and which are not setting out to be negative for the sake of criticism alone.

To get an idea of the money she had, we need to do the classic accounting exercise, income, less expenses, then tax off that to find the Net sum which should remain in her various accounts. We use US dollars and I'm calculating this over the seven years leading up to Harry.

Income:

1. She appeared in 108 episodes of the cable TV legal drama Suits, while earning the estimated per episode fee of $45k, then for her final season she was on $175k for 16 episodes.

45k x 92 = 4,140,000

175k x 16 = 2,800,000

Total from Suits (TV Show): $6,940,000

2. Her deal with Canadian women's apparel store Reitmans, over two seasons, she was retained for $162k followed by $202,628 in the second year, together with 7% of the sale price of all items carrying her brand. 

162k + 202k = 364,000

7% of sales. Estimate one package/batch sold in each of the 270 stores every week for two years, average value $200 per sale.

200 x 270 x 104 x 7% = 393,120

Total from Reitmans: $757,120

3. The Tig website is reported to have earned Ms Markle $80k a year. For seven years, that comes to $560,000

4. UN and other gigs such as magazine cover photo shoots and inside spreads. The going rate for a cover is $50k plus she had expenses covered when doing UN work. I read in Revenge that when she left Cory Vitiello, the celebrity chef she lived with in Toronto, that she received one week for free in a 5 star hotel in return for her image on the cover of a magazine (I don't remember if that was a hotel gig itself or if the cover was for another project and the client paid for the hotel). This itself is a form of income of course, and I hope she declared its value. That said, for seven years active before shacking up with Harry, I'm estimating she received one paid cover a year (say), plus a few other complimentary deals. That means $50k x 7 = $350,000

No doubt there are other sources of income, but let's not get too technical, it'd be beer money and no more than that. Her total income for the seven years before meeting Harry comes to...

Total Income: $8,607,120

Expenses:

Ms Markle was always in a relationship and so shared expenses with her partner. Bear in mind she is very skinny and so can't be consuming monstrous calories, and there are only so many places you can be that cost a lot 365 days a year. Add to that, many of the deals she received likely came with free clothing and cosmetics. I'm figuring her personal out of pocket expenses are minimal, something like $50k a year.

1. Personal living costs of the deductible kind such as home office: $350,000

2. She needs a manager and the industry rate in the North American market is 16%. On top of that she must pay Sunshine Sachs and others to promote her, plus any agent fees and general staff, accountant, and so on. I'm estimating she ends up paying about 30% of her total income in these fees:

$2,582,136

Total Expenses: $2,932,136

Tax

I'm assuming there is a tax treaty between Canada and the US preventing the double payment of tax. That said, I'm rounding her tax burden to 40% of the net proceeds, income less expenses:

8,607,120 - 2,932,136 = $5,674,984 x 40% - = $3,404,990

The answer to the question then, is that Meghan Markle when she met Prince Harry would have had between 3 to 3.5 million US dollars in cash and securities or assets of equivalent value held in entities which she controlled.

After meeting Harry and becoming engaged, then married, she has gone on to make even more money. These earnings become more speculative so I won't try to add them up, but highlights include the gift from a Saudi prince of a valuable chandelier diamond earring set worth a reported $600k. 

I hope that helps and please, will people stop saying she's got no money. She hadn't yet reached 40 and was worth several million when she met Harry.