Kevin O’Leary recalls that his mother would march him and his brother Shane to the bank every Thursday afternoon to bear witness as she went about the business of investing 10 percent to 30 percent of each week’s paycheck. He was just a 7-year-old when the ritual started.

“She would say to us, ‘Boys, never spend the principal, only the interest.’”

Mrs. O’Leary was steadfast in the belief that she should have her own money and her own account so she could be independent. What’s more, she only bought dividend-paying large cap-stocks and was especially fond of telephone company bonds, purchasing five- to seven-year telco bonds because she figured that everyone paid their phone bills, lest they be cut off from the outside world.

Kevin O’Leary’s trips to the bank and his mother’s financial admonitions were formative experiences in the life of a young man destined to become one of the nation’s most famous investors. But there were more of those