Kevin O’Leary has a message for anyone who wants to build wealth early in life: stop buying useless stuff and start investing now.
“You want to be rich by 40? Cut your spending by 25% and invest it instead,” O’Leary recently posted on X. “Most of the crap you buy, you don’t need.”
The “Shark Tank” star and longtime investor recently posted a short video laying out what he says is the simplest way to become rich by age 40.
“Cutting their spending by 25% and investing that in the market instead,” O’Leary said. “You think it sounds impossible? It isn’t. It really isn’t.”
According to him, the biggest obstacle to financial freedom isn’t income, it’s behavior.
“The truth is, most of the stuff you buy, you don’t need,” he said. “There’s all kinds of frivolous crap that could have been put into you investing in yourself.”
O’Leary recommends downloading a basic investing app, buying index funds or ETFs, and simply letting time do the work. “Watch what happens over time,” he said.
“The key to success is don’t kill money. It’s a form of murder. You shouldn’t do it. Let money live and work for you.”
The First Million Is the Hardest
O’Leary knows a thing or two about making money. He co-founded the educational software company Softkey in 1986 and eventually sold it to Mattel for $4.2 billion in 1999.
That deal made him a millionaire, but the moment itself didn’t feel like a big turning point.
“I get asked all the time, do you remember the moment that you became a millionaire? I do,” he said in a video posted to LinkedIn. “But I have to admit, it was very anticlimactic. Boom, you wake up one day and you say, ‘Wow, this is interesting, but it doesn’t change anything.'”
O’Leary explained that for many wealthy people, hitting that milestone feels less dramatic than people expect.
“Every millionaire [or] billionaire I talk to says, ‘Yeah, it’s not that big a deal,'” he said.
Still, getting there takes effort and restraint. In a 2023 YouTube video, he stressed how difficult it can feel to earn that first million.
“You work your ass off. It’s so hard. What it really takes to do is have the discipline of not buying s*** you don’t need,” he said.
Once you’ve hit that milestone, though, momentum builds. “To make that first mil is you’ve got to invest it. Market’s going to make you 8%. And then I thought, well my sights are on five [million]. It’s going to be impossible. It wasn’t as hard to get to five [million] as it was to one [million],” he said.
Passion Over Greed
Despite his estimated $400 million net worth and dozens of investments across startups and ETF companies, O’Leary says money isn’t what truly motivates him.
“If you’re very passionate about what you’re doing [you’ll] wake up one morning successful,” he said in his LinkedIn video.
“[The] key is the passion. It’s not the pursuit of greed or money. That doesn’t work. You’re so in love with what you’re doing in business, and you get rewarded for it, particularly if you’re solving a big problem.”
That message ties directly into his advice for young people: focus on long-term thinking. Saving, investing, and avoiding unnecessary purchases now can set you up for serious wealth later.
And you don’t need to be a finance expert to get started.
“You just get an app, download it on your phone, and start investing in ETFs or any of these index products,” he said.
O’Leary’s no-nonsense tone and direct approach may rub some the wrong way, but his core message is clear: build discipline, think long term, and let your money work instead of wasting it.
“Killing money is a form of murder. Don’t kill it. Let it live and work for you,” he said.
If you want to be rich by 40, that’s the mindset shift he believes you need to make right now.