About May Chiu | Financial Coach for High Earners & First-Gen Women

My story

Hi, I'm May Chiu

Former Director, Fortune 500
Financially Independent at 34

Part 1

Money was a secret

In my family, money was hush-hush. I'm the daughter of immigrant parents, and money was something that was only discussed behind closed doors in hushed voices. But I still heard things. During the 2008 financial crisis, I heard them worrying about getting laid off and not being able to pay the mortgage on the house or keep up with the bills. Later, I heard them stressing over how they'd afford my college, and how to get me a good education without burying me in debt. No one ever sat me down to explain any of it. I learned not to ask.

I carried that silence straight into my career. I kept my money close to the chest. I didn't ask questions, didn't compare notes, and didn't talk about pay, not even at work. For years. I figured if I just worked hard enough, the money would take care of itself.

So I worked. I started at $62K and gave it everything: long hours, early mornings, late nights. When friends came over, I'd excuse myself to go do work. And it looked like it paid off. I was promoted to Director.

Then a mentor, a VP at the same company, told me I was underpaid. Someone on her team had just taken a Director role on another team and their offer was $130K, the starting salary at that band. I was making $120K, $10K LESS than the starting salary at that level. All those hours, all those nights I excused myself from my own life, and my pay didn't even reach the starting line for my role. The title changed. The respect didn't. The company didn't value me, and I felt it.

That's when I made myself a promise: I'm never going to feel like this again.

Part 2

Never again

I realized I'd let one company decide what I was worth, and what my time was worth. As long as I needed that paycheck, they'd keep deciding. I needed FU money: enough that no job could ever make me feel that small again.

Getting there meant breaking the silence I grew up with, starting with myself:

I stopped hiding from my own numbers. I looked at my money honestly for the first time. Talking about money still doesn't come naturally to me, but I learned the silence was costing me more than any conversation could.
I stopped waiting to be paid what I was worth. My mentor showed me what one honest conversation about pay could do. I learned to negotiate for a higher salary internally and searched the market for a higher-paying salary. I tripled my $62K starting salary to $200K in 12 years.
I tracked what I kept, not what I earned. My net worth became the number I watched, not my title or my salary.
I found my freedom number. I put a real number on the life I wanted, the one where my time was mine, and built a plan to reach it. It started as an emergency fund and eventually grew to a brokerage account and rental properties.

And it worked. I became a millionaire.

But I didn't stop. Instead of celebrating, I did what overachievers do: I moved the goalpost. What was next? Financial independence. So I kept grinding in roles that were even more stressful, just to hit the next milestone.

Part 3

My time is mine now

I finally reached financial independence at 34 and left corporate on my own terms. No title, no manager, and no company decides what my time is worth anymore. I do.

It wasn't until I hit FI that I finally took a step back. For the first time, I gave myself room to breathe and really evaluate what I wanted. I took some time to travel, engage in different hobbies, and reflect on what I wanted to do next. By the end of it, I knew: financial coaching. I want to see women who were in my position succeed. There isn't nearly enough conversation or support out there to help women become the owners of their financial destiny, and I want to be that person for them.

Now I help women get there too. If you grew up in a family that didn't talk about money, or you're working harder than ever and still feel undervalued, I've been there. I help first-gen women and high earners untangle the money beliefs they inherited, find their freedom number, and build the plan to reach it, so they can stop selling their time and start owning it.

If part one sounded like you, let's talk.

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About May Chiu, Financial Coach for First-Gen Women and High Earners

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Money was a secret

Never again

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