Kevin O’Leary’s mother independently built her fortune. Here are the 4 investment rules she used — and Canadians can, too

What moved him wasn’t the size of her portfolio. It was the discipline she used to build it — and the fact that she’d kept it entirely to herself.

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A factory worker who built a secret fortune

Georgette Bookalam wasn’t a banker or a broker. She worked at Kiddies Togs, a clothing manufacturer in Montréal, while raising her two sons (2). She had no investment training. But over the course of 55 years, she built a portfolio significant enough to put both her boys through university, and support her family through hard financial times.

O’Leary says he had no idea how much she’d saved until after she passed.

“She’d take 20% of that cash each week and she would put it into two asset classes: stocks that paid dividends — large cap stocks — and telco bonds,” he told podcast host Steven Bartlett.

Her 4 rules — and why they worked

According to O’Leary, his mother’s strategy came down to four principles she never broke:

• Invest what you can — ideally 20% to 30% of your income
• Focus on dividend-paying stocks and bonds
• Never spend the principal — only spend the income it generates
• No more than 5% in any single investment and no more than 20% in any one sector

He was blunt about the simplicity: “No more than 5% in any one stock or bond… and no more than 20% in any one sector. Ever. When a stock ran up past 5, she’d sell it down. This is not genius — it’s just diversification.”

These aren’t complicated rules. But the combination of consistency, income focus, principal protection and forced diversification is exactly what most investors fail to maintain over time — especially during market downturns.

First, investing a fixed percentage of income creates momentum. Even if 20% feels ambitious, a consistent smaller amount still allows compounding to build wealth over years and decades (3).

By focusing on dividend-paying investments, Bookalam created a reliable income stream. Rather than selling assets when she needed money, her portfolio paid her regularly. Her rule about never touching the principal kept that stream flowing indefinitely.

And by capping exposure to any single stock or sector, she protected herself from catastrophic losses. One bad investment — even a spectacular one — could never derail her entire portfolio.

“I designed the whole platform around Georgette’s philosophy,” O’Leary said.

How Canadians can apply this strategy

You don’t need 55 years or a background in finance to make this work. The strategy translates well for an investor navigating the current market — and Canada’s tax-advantaged accounts make it even more powerful.

Start with consistency in a TFSA. The most impactful step is also the simplest: set a regular contribution amount and stick to it. A Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is a natural home for this strategy — investment growth and withdrawals are tax-free, meaning interest earned stays in your pocket (4). As of 2026, the total TFSA contribution room for someone who has been eligible since 2009 is $109,000.

For retirement-focused saving, use an RRSP. A Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) lets you deduct contributions from your taxable income and grow investments tax-sheltered until you withdraw (5). Contributions are limited to 18% of your previous year’s earned income, up to a maximum of $33,810 for 2026 — a limit that closely aligns with Bookalam’s 20% rule.

Find Canadian dividend payers. Canada’s stock market has a deep bench of dividend-paying blue-chip companies — particularly in banking and energy (6). Canadian investors also benefit from the federal dividend tax credit, which reduces the effective tax rate on dividends received from Canadian corporations (7). This credit doesn’t apply inside a TFSA or RRSP where income is sheltered, but is relevant to taxable investment accounts.

Use ETFs to automatically diversify. Rather than picking individual stocks, using a broad-based Canadian dividend-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF) to maintain high diversification with automatic rebalancing replicates Bookalam’s diversification rules. Many Canadian dividend ETFs hold 50 or more companies and cap exposure to any single holding — mirroring her 5% rule without constant monitoring (8).

Protect your principal. Bookalam’s rule about never spending the principal requires a mindset that many Canadians struggle with. Treat your invested capital as permanently off-limits. When you need income, rely on dividends or interest — not on selling holdings, especially during market dips.