While many financial gurus insist on hustle culture and working long hours, multimillionaire Kevin O’Leary suggests taking the easier path to success: consistent saving and boring investing.
In a recent interview with Steven Bartlett on his podcast The Diary of a CEO, the Shark Tank star said the biggest mistake most people make is to neglect the small but frequent instances of overspending (1).
“I can’t stand it when I see kids that are making $70,000 a year spending $28 for lunch!” O’Leary said. “I mean, that’s just stupid. 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 simple but powerful lesson O’Leary says he picked up from his late mother, Georgette O’Leary, whose portfolio was full of relatively “boring, large-cap” mutual funds that tracked the performance of blue chip companies.
He says that safe and consistent approach helped her build a sizable fortune over time, demonstrating to him how powerful compounding growth can be.
For anyone looking to harness the same power of compounding, O’Leary laid out a simple plan that can grow wealth to 10 times your income, without extra effort.
At its core, O’Leary’s theory is that wealth is not built by big and flashy financial moves, but by boring repetition. Simply saving a fixed percentage of every paycheck (he recommends 15%) and investing it in a plain vanilla index fund could deliver multiple times your annual income within a reasonable time frame.
Let’s say you earn $1,204 a week, which is median individual earnings as of December 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2). That’s roughly $62,500 a year.
On average, American workers saved just 4.5% in 2025, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (3). But if you can save 15%, which is $180 a week or nearly $9,400 a year, your path to financial freedom could be much shorter than your peers.
This annual savings habit is likely to make a big difference, even if you leave the money in a high-interest savings account. But investing it in a low-cost index fund could supercharge your progress. Over the past 10 years, the S&P 500 index has delivered a 14.78% annualized return, according to Vanguard (4). The average return has been closer to 9% over the past 30 years, according to SoFi (5).
With that in mind, saving $9,400 a year and investing it in an index fund that delivers 9% growth annually could get you about $620,000 within 22.5 years. That’s ten-fold your annual salary in just over two decades.
No promotions assumed. No side hustles. No stock-picking genius. Just consistency and time.
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Despite its simplicity, most people fail to execute this strategy because of complacency. Here’s how you can avoid derailing your long-term financial plans.
If you’re on a path to financial freedom with the simple strategy outlined above, there are two key risks that could derail you: complacency and crisis.
If you gradually get out of the habit of saving 15% of every paycheck, the gap between what you have and what you expected widens over time. Even five to 10 years of underinvesting can leave you with much less wealth than you initially planned for.
Meanwhile, a sudden crisis like an unexpected family issue or health emergency can have a similar impact. In a real emergency, your portfolio can start to look like a lifeline that can bail you out quickly.
Fortunately, there are ways to tackle both risks. If you’re worried about getting complacent, consider setting up an automated contribution that allows you to consistently save a portion of every paycheck without any manual effort. With automation, it’s much more difficult to lose your savings habit.
Also consider setting aside an emergency fund that is separate from your investment portfolio. Roughly three to six months of living expenses held in a high-interest savings account can help you tackle unexpected bills and even job losses. A health care savings account can also help you prepare for unexpected medical bills and future health care needs.
These structural solutions can improve your chances of wealth creation over the long term.
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@TheDiaryOfACEO/YouTube (1); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2); Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (3); Vanguard (4); SoFi (5)
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.