Where Does Bill Gates Keep His Money?

What do you do together with your cash once you’re one of many richest individuals on the planet? Invoice Gates is value roughly $121 billion as of June 12, 2022. He earned the majority of his fortune as CEO, chair, and chief software program architect of Microsoft (MSFT). Gates stepped down as chair in 2014, however nonetheless owns about 1.3% of the corporate he co-founded.

Right here is the place this billionaire stashes a few of his cash.

Investments in Companies

In March 2020, Gates waived his wages and inventory compensation when he ended his board service efficient on March 13, 2021. Nearly all of his monetary property are held by Cascade Funding LLC, an entity managed by Gates to handle his investments. Though Cascade will not be a public firm, a few of its funding exercise should be disclosed to the Securities and Change Fee (SEC).

The corporate’s portfolio is well-diversified. Cascade at one time held 9.8% of Strategic Accommodations and Resorts, which was later offered to Blackstone Group, then Anbang Insurance coverage Group, after which Mirae Asset Administration; Cascade additionally has bought 4 Seasons resorts in Mexico, Atlanta, and Houston.

Gates holds fairness in Branded Leisure Community, a model integration and promoting firm. He’s chair of TerraPower, a nuclear reactor design firm. He has backed ResearchGate, a social networking website for researchers and scientists. By way of Gates Ventures, his personal workplace, he funds initiatives in clear power, schooling, healthcare, and poverty alleviation.

Gates additionally owns a considerable amount of Microsoft (MSFT) shares, the software program firm that he co-founded and ran for a few years. When he stepped down as CEO, he held simply round 1.3% of the corporate’s excellent shares, value roughly $20 billion.

Actual Property

His funding portfolio is actually vital, however Invoice Gates additionally places his cash to make use of shopping for actual property, together with a sprawling property and a non-public island.

Gates’ Seattle-area dwelling, Xanadu 2.0, is an ocean-side lodge boasting over 66,000 sq. toes with roughly 500 toes of personal waterfront on Lake Washington. The property options top-of-the-line know-how and devices befitting its six kitchens, 24 bogs, and 6 fireplaces. Practically each amenity is computer-controlled, together with computerized lights and music that observe you from room to room. In 2019, the property was assessed $1.04 million in taxes, implying an assessed worth of $131.14 million at a 0.793% property tax price.

In 2013, Gates started amassing property in Wellington, Florida, thought-about to be the winter equestrian capital of the world. He began by snapping up a four-bedroom mansion and horse ranch for $8.7 million. In 2016, he purchased the adjoining parcels, bringing 5 properties collectively for a complete of $35.87 million. He spent one other $21 million on a horse farm in 2019, bringing his mixed purchases to $59 million for a 30-acre assemblage. His daughter, Jennifer Gates, is an award-winning equestrian.

Gates can also be rumored to personal Grand Bogue Caye, a 314-acre island off the coast of Belize in Central America—the most important island in that nation. Grand Bogue Caye is dwelling to pristine seashores, ample marine life, and glorious diving. It’s reported that Gates bought the island for upwards of $25 million.

Planes and Vehicles

Invoice Gates is a person who likes to get round. As of 2018, he appeared to personal not one, however two Bombardier BD 700 International Specific jets by means of Challenger Administration LLC, together with a Cessna 208. (Michael Larson, who runs Cascade Funding, is listed as an officer at Challenger). Bombardier jets are ultra-long-range company sky horses with a variety of 6,700 nautical miles at 0.8 Mach and certain value $45 million apiece. As well as, by means of his membership in NetJets, Gates has owned a fractional share of a least one NetJets aircraft.

He additionally likes a elaborate set of wheels and has been a long-time fan of Porsche cars. Gates purchased a Porsche 911 in 1979 and later added a Porsche 930 Turbo and a uncommon Porsche 959. His most up-to-date buy is the totally electrical Porsche Taycan, an acquisition that set off a Twitter spat with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

The Porsche 959 could be very uncommon, they usually had been plagued with issues, and solely 337 or so had been ever made. Gates can also be stated to personal a Jaguar XJ6 and a Ferrari 348. His first Porsche was offered at public sale for $80,000. On the time, he advised reporters: “I drive myself round city in a traditional Mercedes.” He additionally tooled round city in a “good” minivan with the household.

Collectibles

Whereas it is actually an achievement to personal one-of-a-kind actual property and uncommon automobiles, it’s one other to personal treasured, irreplaceable collectibles—and Invoice Gates actually has gathered fairly the gathering.

In 1994, he bought a celebrated Leonardo Da Vinci manuscript at public sale for $30.8 million. Often known as the Codex Leicester, this work paperwork a lot of Da Vinci’s scientific discoveries and observations. Gates as soon as remarked in a speech on the British Library on his buy: “Yeah, I really feel very fortunate that I personal a pocket book. Actually, I bear in mind going dwelling one night time and telling Melinda that I used to be going to purchase a pocket book; she did not assume that was a really massive deal. I stated, no, this can be a fairly particular pocket book; that is the Codex Leicester, one of many Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci.”

He additionally acquired Andrew Wyeth’s “Distant Thunder” for $7 million in 1996; William Merritt Chase’s “The Nursery” for $10 million in 1997; Frederick Childe Hassam’s work “Room of Flowers” for $20 million in 1998; Winslow Homer’s “Misplaced on The Grand Banks” for $36 million in 1998; and George Bellow’s “Polo Crowd” for $28 million in 1999.

Philanthropic Endeavors

Funding worthy causes are atop Invoice Gates’ listing of achievements. The Invoice & Melinda Gates Basis is the most important charitable basis within the U.S. The muse held $49.4 billion in property in 2021 (the latest figures) and the whole grant funds for the reason that basis’s inception are $60.1 billion.

Between 1994 and 2018, Invoice Gates gave greater than $36 billion to the muse. In 2019 alone, Gates gave $519 million, and he has additionally inspired fellow billionaires to donate massive sums to charitable causes by means of The Giving Pledge.

The Backside Line

For Invoice Gates, savvy investing in a diversified portfolio of economic property, actual property, and collectibles assist be certain that his wealth will proceed to develop. However past that, his philanthropic mission to donate a lot of his wealth to causes to assist higher the world could also be his most vital funding and definitely an enduring legacy.