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9 of Warren Buffett's funniest and most frugal quirks

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Warren Buffett's most eccentric traits
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Warren Buffett's most eccentric traits

Warren Buffett marches to the beat of his own drum.

He's a notoriously unhealthy eater, he's been carrying the same wallet for 20 years and he rocks a flip phone. And despite being the third richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of $73 billion, the 86-year-old is quite frugal.

He's content being cheap, he explained at his annual shareholder's meeting in 2014: "My life couldn't be happier. In fact, it'd be worse if I had six or eight houses. So, I have everything I need to have, and I don't need any more."

Here are nine of our favorite Warren Buffett quirks.

He never spends more than $3.17 on breakfast

On his five-minute drive to the office, which he's been doing for the past 54 years, Buffett stops by McDonald's.

Depending on how prosperous he's feeling, he orders one of three items: two sausage patties for $2.61, a sausage, egg and cheese for $2.95 or a bacon, egg and cheese for $3.17.

On mornings when McDonald's isn't an option, such as when he's visiting his good friend Bill Gates, he prefers Oreos for breakfast.

Warren Buffett keeps his breakfast under $3.17
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Warren Buffett keeps his breakfast under $3.17

He drinks at least five Cokes a day

"I'm one quarter Coca-Cola," Buffett tells Fortune. "If I eat 2700 calories a day, a quarter of that is Coca-Cola. I drink at least five 12-ounce servings."

His explanation for his sugar-centric diet: "I checked the actuarial tables, and the lowest death rate is among six-year-olds. So I decided to eat like a six-year-old. It's the safest course I can take."

Coca-Cola is among the companies in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio
Contributor | Bloomberg | Getty Images

He lives in the same home he bought in 1958

It's a five-bedroom in central Omaha that he bought for $31,500, or about $260,000 in today's dollars.

If you want to be Buffett's neighbor, the house across the street will cost you about $2.15 million.

Warren Buffett's Omaha residence.
Orjan F. Ellingvag | Getty Images

He doesn't keep a computer on his desk

Nor a phone. In fact, Buffett has somehow managed to send only one email his entire life. That was to Jeff Raikes of Microsoft.

He has "instructive art" hanging on his office walls

Buffett has copies of old New York Times front pages depicting economic crises, like the Panic of 1907 and the Great Depression.

"I wanted to put on the walls days of extreme panic in Wall Street just as a reminder that anything can happen in this world," he says in HBO's new documentary, "Becoming Warren Buffett." "It's instructive art, you can call it."

Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Michelle Bishop | Bloomberg | Getty Images

He reads about six hours a day

"I read and think," Buffett tells Time. "So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life."

When he's not reading or thinking, he's playing bridge

He spends about 12 hours a week playing bridge, often with Gates.

Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., laughs while playing cards on the sidelines the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, on Sunday, May 1, 2016.
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

He once had a vanity license plate that read "THRIFTY"

It was on the back of his Lincoln Town Car.

Despite his billions, he's a careful investor

The Oracle of Omaha has two rules of investing, he says in "Becoming Warren Buffett": "Rule number one: Never lose money. Rule number two: Never forget rule number one."

Warren Buffett
Lacy O’ Toole | CNBC