My Husband & I Make $210,000 A Year — & It's The First Time We've Felt Comfortable

Here we are: The last episode of the first season of Money Diaries: The Podcast! To wrap things up, my co-host, Paco De Leon, and I are talking about high earners and dipping our toes into investing. The big question we're trying to answer is: How do you build wealth?

One of my favorite new(ish) series on Refinery29 is My 6-Figure Paycheck, where we talk to young women who make more than $100,000 a year about how they got there and what they do. Today's caller, who we're calling Marie, was featured in a 6-Figure Paycheck story late last year. Paco and I were excited to chat with her, as she is someone who didn't grow up with money and, as she's come into a bigger paycheck, wants to know how she can continue to grow her wealth.

We cover a lot of ground in this episode. Marie talks about her experiences with money growing up, how working multiple jobs during college influenced her career path, and how she managed to negotiate a huge raise — with some cheerleading from her husband. But now that she and her husband have a combined income of more than $200,000 and are on solid financial footing, they are looking to start investing and aren't sure where to begin.

There's no way to get too deep about investing in a 20-minute episode — and Paco and I aren't legally allowed to provide specific investment advice anyway. (That's a good thing — personal finance is very personal, and you should speak to a professional if you have specific questions.) But we do try to break down some of the basics and talk about things like dollar-cost averaging (it's a simple concept!), long-term goals, and why you must have an emergency fund before anything else.

You can listen to the episode on iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. And while you're at it, please subscribe, give us a rating, and leave us a comment if you like the episode! You can also check out the 6-Figure Paycheck from today's caller. And last but not least, I have a whole chapter on wealth in my book, Refinery29 Money Diaries: Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Your Finances...and Everyone Else's. You can pick up a copy here!

And thanks again for joining us for the first season of Money Diaries: The Podcast. It's been a blast working with Paco, talking to so many different women about their money dilemmas, and hearing from our audience about all the things you did — and didn't — like about this season. Hopefully, we'll be back soon with a second season! Until then, see you in the comments section!