Can Bush Cash In Once He's Out?

In January, President George W. Bush will join the growing ranks of the nation's unemployed. And though he's guaranteed a presidential pension that will approach $200,000 next year--and has his family's oil fortune to fall back on--being an ex-president can often be a boon.

In Pictures: Out Of Office, In The Money

Between speeches, book deals, consulting arrangements and sitting on myriad corporate boards, ex-presidents stand to make far more than the $400,000 annual salary they earned while in office.

How much will Bush make in the coming years? It's difficult to say. He'll surely be able to earn a few million dollars giving speeches at an estimated $100,000 a pop to right-leaning think tanks and advocacy groups.

But Bush likely won't come close to the megabucks President Clinton has banked since leaving office. The reason: With his approval ratings below 25%, Bush is being advised to hold off on signing a multimillion-dollar book deal--the linchpin of any former president's money machine.

"There's just a little bit too much animosity [toward Bush] right now," says literary agent Harvey Klinger, adding that, with time, more people will be interested in the president's introspection.

Klinger says it's likely that first lady Laura Bush will write her memoirs first. She reportedly has been entertaining publishers at the White House to discuss a possible book deal, which will likely fetch at least $5 million. Hillary Rodham Clinton received an $8 million advance for her 2003 memoir, Living History, which focused largely on her years in the White House.

Kim Witherspoon, founder of literary agency InkWell Management, who has represented Anthony Bourdain, Cindy Crawford and Lionel Shriver, says there is no doubt that Bush will get a book deal if he wants one.