Katie Couric broke records in 2001 when she and NBC signed one of the largest financial deals ever in television: $60 million for four and a half years, or about $15 million a year. She earned a similar salary as an anchor at CBS from 2006 to 2011, and then up to $10 million a year at Yahoo, where she served as the global news anchor until 2017.
And yet, the journalist is still thrifty.
She could "loosen the wallet a little bit," she tells host Anna Sale on the WNYC podcast "Death, Sex & Money." "I don't really love stuff that much. … I don't like spending a lot of money on things. I think it's really because I like value."
When Couric does spend, she spends on experiences, she tells Sale: "I'm very millennial that way."
It's true that young people tend to prioritize experiences over things. According to a 2014 Eventbrite poll, 78 percent of millennials would choose to spend money on a desirable event over a desirable purchase and 55 percent said that they're spending more on experiences than they ever have.
A 2017 survey by Realty Mogul found that nearly 50 percent of young people would rather spend their money on traveling than on buying a house.
And in that respect, Couric differs: She does spend on real estate.
"It's not like I'm that that frugal," she tells Sale. "You know, I have a really nice apartment. I bought myself a house in East Hampton about 10 years ago. So it's not that I don't spend money. It's just that I want to be smart about it."
Listen to the full "Death, Sex & Money" episode here or by clicking "play" below.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC and CNBC.com.
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