Resurfaced Kevin O'Leary clip about Gen Z spending stirs heated debate

A resurfaced clip from an interview with businessman and "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary from last year prompted fierce debate this week about generational spending habits and the state of the economy for young people.

During the brief clip from a two-hour interview he gave on "The Diary of a CEO" podcast last June, O'Leary warned against the waste of unnecessary small purchases while talking about the power of compounding interest. He also told the story of how his mother was able to leave him a hefty inheritance after secretly investing money every week for decades.

O'Leary suggested younger Americans are missing out on such a possibility by neglecting to rein in their frivolous spending.

"I can't stand when I see kids making $70,000 a year spending $28 for lunch. I mean, that's just stupid. Think about that in the context of that being put into an index [fund] and that making 8% to 10% a year for the next 50 years," O'Leary told host Steven Bartlett in the short clip, which has racked up over 62 million views on X as of Friday morning.

Kevin O’Leary says Gen Z is financially cooked when people making K a year are spending on lunch pic.twitter.com/7s820Xnhg9

— Mikli (@CryptoMikli) May 18, 2026

O'Leary explained during the interview that investing $28 per week in a low-cost index fund earning an average annual return of 8% would yield close to $800,000 in half a century.

Since the clip first went viral on Monday, O'Leary's remark has stirred days of intense and sometimes angry debate on X, with some agreeing with his overall point about the principle of compound interest and the importance of being disciplined and frugal.

"Sorry. He's right. No amount of whining will make him wrong. Pack a lunch. Eat a little bit lighter midday. Put that money to work in other places, you'll be amazed," said Stephen Kent, who works for the nonprofit Consumer Choice Center in Washington, D.C.

"In the Navy, I ate chicken thighs and rice (when I wasn't in the galley). Now I too watch people making $70K spend $28 on lunch every day and call it a cost of living problem. It's not. It's a discipline problem," said Paul Swaney, founder of Swaney Group Capital, a private equity firm.

"Gen Z is drowning in $500 car payments, student loans, $20 avocado toast, luxury apartment rent, and unnecessary travel expenses. Yet, they whine about how hard life is. They have a spending problem. They just don’t want to admit it. Normalize eating rice and beans," said Jon Elder, a Christian entrepreneur who founded Black Label Advisor.

Others suggested O'Leary, who is 71 and worth approximately $400 million, is out of touch with the economic situation the average young person faces, which they claimed is not salvageable simply by cutting back on expensive lunches. Some pointed to the devastating financial effects of mass immigration, rampant fraud, skyrocketing inflation, crushing college debt and the exponentially rising cost of housing.

"Every time these conversations start we go in circles, but two things can be true: 1) It is harder financially to get ahead than it was for previous generations, [and] 2) Many young people have insane issues with overconsumption and it's become so normalized they don't even realize," said Allie Voss, a visiting energy fellow at ConservAmerica and Independent Women's Forum.

Nalin Haley, the 24-year-old son of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, responded to O'Leary by sarcastically pitching "a reality show but it's successful boomers living on $70k a year in 2026."

Nalin Haley, who is the grandson of immigrants and has been outspoken against the neoconservative positions often associated with his mother, addressed the widening generational gulf among conservatives over key policy issues, during an interview with Tucker Carlson last fall. He claimed the economic effects of both illegal and legal mass immigration to the U.S. are hurting the prospects of young American citizens.

"How ironic is it? Someone leaves their country in search of the American dream, to give their kids a better life, only for their kids to grow up and have the job that they want being sent back to the country that they came from? It's ridiculous," he said.

Haley also suggested establishment conservative politicians have ultimately failed millennials and Gen Z with decades of "half-measures on immigration ('legal good, illegal bad')" and unwinnable, endless foreign wars that have drained resources needed at home.