Fame & Fortune: NBC's Mike Leonard Book windfall buys freedom, happiness and a new banjo
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Bankrate: A million dollars for this book. Wow. Why do you think this was such a hot property?

Mike Leonard: It just hit at the right time. There are a lot of baby boomers who have aging parents, and what I think they saw in the outline of my book was everybody's parents made large. My parents are real characters, and I think we're an average family. I work in TV but didn't get into TV until I was 30. I had a bunch of jobs, blue-collar and white-collar, so I consider myself and my family just your average middle-class family. I think they saw in our family, in this tale, 100 years in the life of an average American family, as told through a one-month journey, and I think they knew it would resonate with people around the country because we had four generations. They also knew that since I was a "Today" show person that it would get some play on our network. They know I have this job, and the marketing is such an important part of the business these days.

Bankrate: And as a longtime "Today" show reporter, I'm assuming you're pretty well-paid as it is.

Mike Leonard: You'll be shocked to hear this, but I don't really know what I make. I think it's around the three-figure ($300,000) mark. But I have never seen a paycheck. I've never asked about the money before I've done something. When I was hired at NBC back in 1980, I was only a year-and-a-half in the TV business, and I was only making, I think, $25,000 at the time and had a family of three. So when NBC hired me, they hired me for $40,000, which was low compared to the person I was replacing, but I was coming from a low position, and they knew it. I didn't have an agent or anything like that, so they knew I would take what was offered because it was a great opportunity to work for the network. I eventually got an agent after about five or six years in the business. NBC actually suggested I get an agent. I don't think they like dealing with the people on the air because it gets to be a sticky thing in contract negotiations, and they'd rather deal through somebody else. So I made good money, very good money, but I think in my world you can make a lot more if you do a lot more, if you appear on "Dateline" and NBC News and NBC Sports and all that. But I pulled away from all that, because I have four kids and didn't want to be always working. There's a price to pay for being well-known in the TV business, and the price comes out of your personal hide. You can be on the air all the time and be well-known and well-paid, or be on the air some of the time and have a bit of a life left. So I made a decision a while back -- I'm an ambitious person, but I'm ambitious for freedom and happiness. So I was happy being in a highly paid position, relative to most. I also didn't do a lot of speaking engagements -- you can get $15,000 to $20,000 if you do well at it, and I did that a couple of times, but I never liked making these six-months-down-the-line dates, because it always interfered. My kid would have a ballgame, or a play, and I always seemed to regret making the decision to set up this speech. So, we make really good money, but I could have made a lot more money, had I done things differently.

Bankrate: The big money for the advance and the film rights -- how has that money affected your financial situation?

Mike Leonard: We split the first payment up for the kids, then got another payment. I think my wife put it into some retirement or investment thing, but we didn't buy a second home or anything. We needed a car so we bought a car, like anybody would. We put a front porch on our house. That was probably helped by that payment, but I don't know, I think my wife also took out a second mortgage or something. My life really hasn't changed. I'm not that materialistic. I play the banjo, so I bought a new banjo, like, a $2,000 banjo.

Bankrate: You said your wife handles all the investments. Do you know what kind of investments you have, and how you're set for the future?

Mike Leonard: I have no idea. My wife could tell you. She just went out for a walk; I could have her call you, but I have no clue. If she gets hit by a bus on her walk this afternoon, I'm screwed. We have an accountant, and I stopped going. The accountant called, and said, "Mr. Leonard, can we do this?" and I said, you're talking to the wrong person. We had to go at the end of the year and talk to him, and after two or three of those meetings, I'd just be twiddling my thumbs and looking at the sky. My wife said, "You know, you don't need to be here." So I don't even go anymore. My wife likes it, though.