‘The gift the market gives you’: Why Kevin O’Leary considers 1 money habit the key to building wealth and ending up a millionaire

“I can’t stand it when I see kids that are making $70,000 a year spending for lunch!” O’Leary said. “Think about that in the context of that being put into an index, and making 8% to 10% for the next 50 years.”

It’s a lesson he traces back to his late mother, Georgette O’Leary, who quietly built a sizeable portfolio over decades by sticking to “boring, large-cap” mutual funds tied to blue chip companies. Nothing flashy, nothing risky: only steady, compounding growth — year over year.

It’s the same lesson he tells his kids: “Don’t spend it. Save it, invest it (2).”

And O’Leary believes anyone can follow the same playbook: Here’s how.

Stop hustling, start saving

The foundation of O’Leary’s approach is surprisingly simple: Save 15% from every paycheque, side hustle or cash you get from family, and invest it in a low-cost index fund. No stock picking or timing the market. Make this a consistent habit, repeated long enough to grow real wealth.

In fact, O’Leary claims that even if you make an average salary, you can “end up a millionaire” by retirement if you follow this advice and let compounding do the work (2).

“That’s the gift the market gives you,” he said.

But does the math add up? According to the most recent data from Statistics Canada, the average worker earned about $1,347.14 weekly in July 2026 — roughly $70,000 a year (3). However, most Canadians are saving a fraction of what they could. Additional data from Statistics Canada shows that households set aside just 3.7% of their income in the second quarter of 2026 — or an average of around $50 a week (4).

That’s better than nothing, but it’s far short of what’s possible. Or getting to millionaire status.

Bump that 4.7% savings up to 15%, though, and you’re saving just above $200 a week, or about $10,400 annually. Invest those savings in a fund tracking the S&P/TSX Composite Index — Canada’s benchmark stock market index — and history suggests you could see average annual returns of around 9% over the long haul (5).

Here’s where it gets interesting: At that 9% rate, $10,400 a year grows to roughly $1 million in 26 years, according to CIBC’s investment growth calculator (6). In theory, then, becoming a millionaire before retirement isn’t such a distant possibility.

What’s more, getting there doesn’t necessarily require a workplace promotion with a higher salary, or even a financial windfall. It’s built purely through the same habit repeated month after month.

Cutting fixed costs

Saving $200 a week might seem like a lofty goal to some Canadians, but with some adjustments to your spending habits, it doesn’t have to seem so farfetched. You can also take a second look at your fixed costs to see how they could be streamlined.

After all, every dollar spent overpaying on a monthly bill is a dollar not compounding in your investment portfolio.

For instance, auto insurance premiums climbed 18.9% in the five years between October 2020 and October 2025, according to Statistics Canada (7). That means if you’ve simply just auto-renewed your policy at the end of every term, it’s possible you’ve been overpaying every month.

By using a comparison platform like Rates.ca, you could potentially save $500 or more by comparing 20+ quotes from top-rated auto insurance providers — helping you avoid paying a hidden “loyalty tax” to your current insurer.

Just answer a few basic questions, and Rates.ca will show you the most affordable deals in your area in as little as three minutes. Not only is the process 100% free, but you could also potentially save 20% by bundling your auto and home insurance together.

Reduce banking fees

Another possible way of cutting down everyday costs is by taking a look at yourself — specifically, what you do for a living. Some Canadians may qualify for profession-specific banking perks that can help reduce everyday banking costs.

National Bank offers specialized banking packages for professionals in fields like healthcare, engineering, IT, finance, law, teaching, public service, administration, architecture, agriculture and more. Depending on eligibility, the offer can include the following:

• Up to three bank accounts with no fixed monthly fees, with an eligible Mastercard rewards credit card (certain fees apply)
• Personal and home equity lines of credit with preferred terms and conditions
• Preferred value-added services like legal assistance and identity theft protection
• Access to a financial advisor
• An eligible Mastercard rewards credit card (certain fees apply)

According to National Bank, eligible professionals can unlock up to approximately $1,313 in annual savings with higher savings available for select professions such as healthcare and IT.

The special offer covers more than 150 professions, including a wide range of professionals and specialists — and eligible individuals can enjoy even more savings when you combine specific banking products and services. Find out if you work in an eligible profession and explore your options.

What gets in the way — and how to protect yourself

Understanding the strategy and cutting fixed costs is the easy part. Sticking to the plan, on the other hand, is where people can struggle the most. In particular, two things tend to derail even the best intentions: drifting and crisis.

Drifting is subtle. Life gets busy, priorities shift and saving 15% slowly becomes 10%, then 8%. Even a few years of undercontributing creates a gap that’s surprisingly hard to close later on — not because the math is challenging, but because time is the immutable catalyst for growth, and once it’s gone, it’s never coming back.

Crisis, however, is more distinct: A job loss, a health emergency, an unexpected expense that suddenly pops up — and suddenly your investment account looks like the only cushion you have. Tapping into it can easily become a habit on its own.

Both risks have possible solutions. For the drifting problem, automation is your best friend. Set up a pre-authorized transfer that moves money into your Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) or investment account the same day your paycheque comes in. When savings happen before you can spend, there’s no feeling of sacrifice.

For the crisis problem, you can build a separate emergency fund — ideally three to six months of living expenses — and hold it in a high-interest savings account (HISA) completely apart from your investments. While it may not be the most exciting part of your financial plan, it’s what keeps everything else intact when life goes sideways.

Shop around for HISAs

When considering where to park your emergency fund, it’s worth remembering that not all savings accounts are built equally. Shopping around can help you find the one that works best for both growing those savings and keeping them safe.

With an EQ Bank high-interest savings account, for instance, not only can you build your emergency fund with interest rates as high as 2.75% — up to 6x higher than the rates offered by big-name banks in Canada — but also you are charged no monthly fees, so you can cut down on fixed costs.

What’s more, deposits with EQ Bank are backed with CDIC deposit insurance of up to $100,000, meaning you don’t have to worry about the security of your funds. And when the time comes to put your emergency fund to use, you can make unlimited transactions without requiring a minimum balance.

Keep some savings in their own lane

Finally, one of the simplest things you can do to protect your investment portfolio is to stop asking it to cover too many responsibilities all at once.

When your emergency fund, your everyday savings and your long-term investments are in the same place, the boundaries become blurred. A car repair becomes a reason to pause contributions. A slow month at work becomes a reason to make a withdrawal. Before long, the account you built for the future is slowly funding the present.

The fix is relatively straightforward: Give each dollar a designated home, and keep those homes separate.

Everyday savings: Use this for money you’re setting aside for any near-term goals, like a vacation, a new appliance or a car, and keep it in an HISA. This makes it accessible when you need it, earns a little interest while you wait and is distinctly separate from anything you’re supposed to leave alone.