The Real Reason Bill Gates’ Children Won’t Inherit Much of His Fortune
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, is one of the richest men in the world. Surely his kids are set for life, all ready to inherit multi-billion-dollar trust funds, right?
Well, not exactly. It turns out that the Gates’ fortune isn’t all being left to their offspring. In fact, they’re only getting a very small portion of it. Here’s how much money they’re going to get and why Bill and Melinda Gates don’t believe in giving them more.
Bill and Melinda Gates try to stay humble
Their relationship dates back to 1987 when Melinda French got asked out by her boss. The rest, as they say, is history. Now Bill and Melinda Gates are worth an estimated $96.5 billion with a philanthropic organization that has a $50 billion endowment. “It’s not fair that we have so much wealth when billions of others have so little,” Melinda explained in one of the couples’ annual letters.
They spend and give millions of dollars
It’s not like Bill and Melinda Gates are living in a shack somewhere – their sprawling estate, which is nicknamed Xanadu 2.0 – is worth about $124 million. That’s where the couple is raising their three kids as humbly as possible. Especially considering they have more money than almost anyone on earth.
Bill and Melinda Gates have two daughters and one son. Famously, they didn’t allow the kids to have cell phones until the age of 14 even though their dad founded one
Each child will get a small inheritance
Bill Gates has gone on record saying that each of his three children will inherit $10 million. That might sound like a lot of money – but in actuality, it’s a small pittance compared to the Gates’ multi billion dollar fortune. The reason for the limited inheritance is simple: Gates doesn’t want them to be lazy.
“We want to strike a balance where they have the freedom to do anything but not a lot of money showered on them so they could go out and do nothing,” Gates explained during a TED talk. The rest of the money will be given to charitable causes.
Right now, the Gates’ children are still fairly young – the oldest daughter graduated from Stanford and the youngest is a teenager. But they’re already learning the value of hard work and perseverance.
What are Bill and Melinda Gates like as parents?
When raising their kids, Bill and Melinda tried their best to control their tempers and emotions and focused on asking questions instead. They tried to inspire logic, patience, and learning in the household instead of just reacting to situations.
In other words, they’ve tried to be good parents because they don’t want to raise spoiled brats. Sounds like they did a pretty excellent job.
