Listen and subscribe to Living Not So Fabulously on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

American journalist Don Lemon is best recognized for his prior role as a host for CNN, holding an on-air position from 2014 until his departure in 2023. Since then, he’s been producing his own news segments independently through his business, the Lemon Media Network.

On Yahoo Finance’s Living Not So Fabulously podcast, Lemon detailed how he managed to forge a successful career in media and offered four clear pillars for those looking to build wealth.

“Invest in your home,” Lemon advised. “Invest in your business. Invest in yourself. Don’t invest in things.”

Though he’s a well-recognized name in the world of broadcast journalism, Lemon’s career was not always so financially lucrative. Lemon’s first journalism gig only paid him $5 an hour in New York City.

“This was back in the early ’90s. And I started as a trainee in the newsroom basically answering phones, opening mail, and going to get dry cleaning or lunch from the loading dock for the higher ups,” Lemon explained, revealing that he was making so little for the six months he worked there that his parents needed to help him pay for his sublet. “You don’t make a lot of money when you’re starting out. The first full-time on-camera job I got was — I did OK, but it was meager.”

Don Lemon attends the world premiere of “Heads of State” at Alice Tully Hall on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) · Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

As he slowly worked his way up the ladder, Lemon said he was able to make enough money to support himself — but at first it was far from substantial wealth.

“There’s a difference between being rich and being wealthy, right?” he said. “Being able to afford to pay your bills and having a little bit extra, you know, some people would call that upper middle class or some folks would call that rich. Until you get to a certain level where the air is really rarefied, you don’t really make that much money in media on television.”

Read more: A 6-step guide to start investing

Lemon noted that one way he accumulated wealth was by buying properties that suited his income and trading them up over time, though he acknowledged that fortunate timing allowed him to make these savvy real estate investments.

He explained that when he made his first real estate purchase, the average cost of a home was three times the median salary; today, a home in America is usually six times the median salary — something that “concerns” him.

Regardless of wealth-building strategy, Lemon emphasized that his early, leaner salaries taught him a key lesson he still carries with him: “learning to live within your means.”