Kevin O’Leary swears by one money habit. It could grow your wealth to 10 times your salary — without working extra

“I can’t stand it when I see kids that are making $70,000 a year spending $28 for lunch!” O’Leary said. “Think about that in the context of that [$28] 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.

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% over every paycheque 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.

According to a Statistics Canada survey, the average worker earned about $1,312 weekly as of October 2025 — roughly $68,200 a year (2). Meanwhile, most of us are saving a fraction of what we could. Additional StatCan data show households set aside only 4.7% of their income in 2025 — better than nothing, but far short of what’s possible (3).

Bump that 4.7% savings up to 15% and you’re saving around $190 a week, or nearly $9,800 annually. Invest those savings in a fund tracking the S&P/TSX Composite — Canada's main stock market index — and history suggests you could see average annual returns of around 9% over the long haul (4).

Here’s where it gets interesting: At that 9% rate, $10,200 a year grows to roughly $709,000 in only 23 years. That’s more than 10 times the average Canadian salary — built through patience and repetition rather than luck or brilliance.

There’s no workplace promotion with a bump in income, or even a financial windfall involved. It’s purely built though the same habit repeated month after month.

What gets in the way — and how to protect yourself

Understanding the strategy is the easy part. Sticking to it, on the other hand, is where people struggle the most. And 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 preauthorized 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, build a separate emergency fund — ideally three to six months of living expenses — held in a high-interest savings account completely apart from your investments. It may not be the most exciting part of your financial plan, but it’s what keeps everything else intact when life goes sideways.

Keep some savings in their own lane

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.

Thankfully, the fix is 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 a high-interest savings account (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.

Emergency fund. Three to six months of living expenses deserves to be set aside. Keep it separate from the HISA that you use for your discretionary spending, and treat it as completely off-limits unless something goes seriously awry.

Investments. The 15% you’re putting to work in an index fund — ideally in a TFSA — should be the last account you ever think about touching. Out of sight, out of mind, and compounding on its own in the background.