How to Save Your First $100K (Best Of)

December 23, 2025·30 min·2 clips

Tori Dunlap saved her first $100,000 at age 25, and now she's sharing the exact steps that helped her and thousands of other women do it.

Saving starts with safety. The host puts the emergency fund first because money has to protect your actual life, not impress someone else's rulebook. Three months is the starter goal. That means three months of living expenses in a high yield savings account, where the money can earn more interest than it would in an everyday savings account. The first move is small and practical. If that account is not open yet, the host says her own high yield savings account took less than ten minutes to set up and started earning more interest right away. Six months can come later. Once the three-month fund is there, working toward six months becomes the stronger cushion, especially with Trump and the unknowns around these next couple years. Then the episode gets more honest about debt. The host is clear about avoiding credit card debt when possible, but she rejects the old-school personal finance script that treats every borrower like they failed at life. Debt is not your identity. It can also be a tool people use to leverage or improve their lives, so the advice does not collapse into blanket shame. That line matters. The goal is to cut expensive, risky debt without turning money mistakes into a personality verdict. Her First 100K keeps the tone blunt. Shame does not belong in the process, because shame keeps people stuck right when they need a next step. The episode is also a rewind: one of the show's most popular and most downloaded 2025 episodes, brought back for listeners trying to save, invest, and earn their first 100K in 2026. The close points listeners to the Financial Feminist book, described as a New York Times bestseller with step-by-step money lessons, homework, and more detail than the podcast can cover.

As heard by us

A clear, shame-free roadmap to a first $100K, with practical steps that make the goal feel reachable.

Financial Feminist lays out a straightforward path to a first $100K in 2026, moving in a clear sequence: build an emergency fund, park cash in a high-yield savings account, tackle credit card debt, then shift toward saving or investing.

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Need a step-by-step plan for your first $100K?

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