Life after the White House has proven lucrative for former US President Clinton, who made nearly US$7.5 million in speaking fees last year and sometimes earned as much as US$350,000 for a single appearance.

Former President Bill Clinton speaks during a reception of the Florida Democratic Party in Orlando, Fla., Monday, June 12, 2006. [Reuters]

Clinton earned a staggering US$650,000 for just two appearances in two days before major gatherings in Canada by motivational speaker Tony Robbins, according to the financial disclosure report filed Wednesday by his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

As a senator, Mrs. Clinton is required to report her spouse's income as well as her own.

In 2004, Clinton earned just US$875,000 for speeches as he recovered from heart bypass surgery and finished his memoirs. Last year, he made eight times as much on the speech circuit.

Spokesman Jay Carson said the former president had "an exceptionally busy schedule," and paid speeches were sandwiched around charity work on global HIV/ AIDS, childhood obesity and other causes.

"Between the foundation and work on Katrina and the tsunami, paid speeches are actually a very small part of his schedule," Carson said.

Since leaving the White House in 2001, the Clintons have become multimillionaires. The bulk of that new wealth came from his paid appearances and both Clintons' book-writing deals.

In 2005, the couple held one bank account valued between US$5 million and US$25 million and reported the same multimillion-dollar range for a separate blind trust.

The 42nd president made 42 paid appearances around the globe. Gold Service International, a Bogota-based business development group, paid Clinton US$800,000 for four days of appearances in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil last June. In September, he received US$125,000 for appearing via videoconference from New York.

The senator's filing did not show how much Clinton earned last year from his book, "My Life," though published reports said he signed a deal for US$10 million to US$12 million. Last year, Sen. Clinton earned US$872,891 from her best-selling memoir "Living History," which is in addition to about US$8.7 million reported in prior years.