Bill Gates Is So Frugal He Wears A $10 Watch But Spent $42,000 In Fines For Manure Bins At His Daughter's $8.7 Million Florida Horse Farm

Bill Gates is one of the richest men in the world, but he's not exactly clinging to the title. In fact, the Microsoft cofounder has said he wants to fall off the billionaires' list entirely – thanks to his commitment to giving away the majority of his fortune through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Gates is famous for his philanthropy but also for his down-to-earth quirks. He wears a $10 Casio watch, owns a McDonald's Gold Card that grants him free Big Macs anywhere in the world and has no interest in flaunting his wealth with flashy cars or designer suits.

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But while he's no stranger to frugality, Gates knows when to open his wallet – whether it's for private jets, sprawling real estate or even paying fines for improperly placed manure bins at his daughter Jennifer's $8.7 million horse farm in Florida.

This manure-related mishap cost Gates $42,000 in fines but was all part of supporting Jennifer's equestrian ambitions. According to a 2014 Page Six article, when Jennifer was just 15, Gates purchased the Wellington, Florida, farm in the heart of the equestrian world. The estate featured stables for 20 horses, training facilities and easy access to the Winter Equestrian Festival.

However, even billionaires can't escape local regulations. Gates was fined $250 a day for violating a Wellington code requiring manure bins to be at least 100 feet from bodies of water. The bin was too close to a nearby pond and the necessary permits for the structure were never secured. 

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Page Six also reported that months of warnings to move the "giant manure store" existed before the Gates' property was hit with penalties of $250 per day for two code violations.

While the fines hardly dented Gates' wallet, they highlighted the lengths he was willing to go to nurture his daughter's passion.

And those lengths were extraordinary. Gates reportedly spent $1 million on Jennifer's first rookie competition, leased four top-tier horses and even rented a lavish 8-bedroom mansion in Wellington for $600,000 to ensure she had access to the best training facilities, according to a Forbes 2012 article. When private jet charters were needed to shuttle the family back and forth between Washington and Florida, Gates didn't hesitate.

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Beyond the manure fiasco, Gates has poured significant resources into Wellington real estate, investing upward of $37 million in the equestrian hub over the years. Today, Jennifer owns her own $16 million horse farm, a gift from her parents and continues to compete at an elite level.

Gates' approach to wealth is fascinating because of its contrasts. On the one hand, he plans to leave his kids a modest $10 million inheritance each, ensuring they stay grounded. On the other hand, he's willing to spend millions to fuel their dreams. For Jennifer, that meant creating the ultimate environment to pursue her love of show jumping.

At his core, Gates balances his eccentricities – like that McDonald's Gold Card and his aversion to ostentatious spending – with deep generosity, both as a philanthropist and a dad. Whether eradicating global health crises or dealing with manure-related code violations, Gates is proof that even billionaires juggle the extraordinary and the oddly mundane.

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