How much is David Allen Worth? David Allen Net Worth in 2026

By the Alux Research Team. How we estimate net worth

David Allen’s net worth is estimated at $12 million as of November 2026. The man who taught millions of people to write everything down has never published the number that matters here: his book money. On our assumed royalty, a copy of Getting Things Done pays him about $1.50, so a single $30,000 speech is worth 20,000 books.

Net worth	$12 million (rough estimate, range $6 million to $25 million)
Estimated annual income	About $1 million before tax (our assumption, shown in the ledger)
Born	December 28, 1945 (age 80)
Country	United States
Known for	Getting Things Done (GTD), David Allen Company
Main income sources	Company and partner fees, speaking, book royalties

How much is David Allen worth in 2026?

We say $12 million, for him and his wife together, since they run the company as a couple. This one is a rough estimate: little of the money is documented. There is a copy count from 2014, a list price and a speaking fee range. Everything else is labelled as an assumption below. Public estimates disagree because they treat a famous book as if it were a big payday, and few take out tax or 30 years of living costs.

How we got to $12 million

Source	Our estimate	What it rests on
Getting Things Done royalties	$5.8 million	About 3.85 million copies at $1.50. The 2 million to 2014 is reported, the other 1.85 million is our assumption that sales held their pace. The $1.50 is an assumed 7.5 percent of the $20 list price.
Other books	$0.5 million	Our assumption for his other titles, including those published in 2003, 2008 and 2024. No sales figures found.
Speaking	$9 million	Our assumption: 12 talks a year for 25 years at $30,000, the bottom of today’s listed range, because older fees were probably lower.
David Allen Company	$12 million	Our assumption: $400,000 a year to the couple for 30 years, since the company was set up in 1996. The accounts are private.
Income tax	minus $9.6 million	Our assumption: 35 percent of the $27.3 million above.
Spending	minus $5.9 million	Our assumption: a third of the $17.7 million left, for a couple who lived in Ojai, California, and moved to Amsterdam in 2014.
Total	$12 million	The rows add up to $11.8 million, rounded to $12 million.

The book is the advertisement

The National reported in October 2014 that Getting Things Done had sold more than 2 million copies in 30 languages since 2001. That is about 154,000 a year. At $1.50 a copy, by our calculation, a typical year of royalties comes to roughly $231,000, or about what eight speeches would bring. Across the whole ledger, the bestseller supplies only 21 percent of the $27.3 million gross.

Penguin’s page for the 2015 revised edition lists the paperback at $20 and quotes Time calling it the definitive business self-help book of the decade. Prestige like that is very good for booking fees. BigSpeak lists him at $30,001 to $40,000 for a US event.

Thirty-five jobs first

None of this came early. He told The National he had held 35 jobs by the age of 35, among them magician, karate instructor, glass-blowing lathe operator and petrol station manager. The book did not appear until he was 55. The company’s own timeline starts with a consulting practice in 1981, a large US aerospace client in 1985 and a first course abroad, in Prague, in 1990. The David Allen Company followed in 1996, five years before the book that made its name.

Other people teach it now

The structure explains why the ledger’s largest row is the company and not the author. The same timeline names SMCOV as a partner from 2012, sourcing global partners to deliver GTD courses, and its 2012 entry reads “Creating partners in 90 countries.” Two more partners took US and Canadian coaching and courses from 2017. The terms are private, so we cannot say how much of that fee income reaches the couple, and it is the softest assumption on this page.

What would move the figure

Any sale of the company would be the big one, since a licensed method with a global partner network could be worth a good deal more than the income we assume. Nothing we opened suggests one is planned. The other direction is simpler: he turned 80 in December 2025, and speaking is a row that stops when the speaker does. The latest dated activity we could confirm is a Running Remote speaker listing whose links point to its April 2026 event, and Penguin released a new audiobook, read by Allen, in January 2025. Neither has published terms.

David Allen net worth FAQ

How much did David Allen make from Getting Things Done?

We estimate about $5.8 million in royalties before tax, from about 3.85 million copies at $1.50 each. Only the first 2 million copies are reported, and neither the rate nor the later sales are published.

How much does David Allen charge for a speech?

BigSpeak lists $30,001 to $40,000 for a US event. That is a bureau’s published range, not a fee he has confirmed.

Who runs the David Allen Company?

David Allen and his wife, Kathryn Allen. It was set up in 1996, and partners deliver GTD courses and coaching in many countries.

How many jobs did David Allen have before GTD?

He says 35 by the age of 35, including magician and karate instructor. He began consulting at Lockheed’s human resources department in the 1980s.

How old is David Allen?

He is 80, born December 28, 1945. He grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and studied at New College in Sarasota, Florida.

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• Tony Robbins
• Tim Ferriss
• Mel Robbins
• Robert Kiyosaki
• Dave Ramsey

How we estimate net worth

Our estimates are based on public reporting, company valuations, and deal and earnings figures all compiled in an internal valuation model. They are approximate, and figures change over time as new information emerges.

Last updated: November 2026.

Photo: Vera de Kok / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped