How a 28-year-old negotiated her pay to $500,000 — and found work-life balance

Amy wanted a work life balance that would allow her to spend more time with her family after she grew her salary from $100,000 to $500,000 over the course of five years. She wanted more time to engage in interests like real-estate investing and her leadership role with the Asian Investors Network.

Amy is a daughter of Chinese immigrants who work blue-collar jobs and speak limited English and lives in the Bay Area. Her parents raised her in Los Angeles with strong family values and she wants to secure financial freedom for them and herself.

Amy graduated from UC Berkeley. She felt lucky to land a job in product management at a global software company, but when it came time for her first salary negotiation, her expectations fell short.

She realized that she would have to do some homework in order to get more.

She thought that no one would vouch for you unless you knew what you were worth.

She suggests that people find out when their company gives annual raises so they know their worth in the marketplace and at the company.

If someone says no, where else can they go?

You have already set that bar when you talk to your manager.

Amy was offered $200,000 by a tech company, but she wouldn't get a significant pay boost until next year. It was taken by her.

She got an offer from another tech company that was double that. She was able to negotiate her way to half a million dollars the next year. She says she quit at the end of the year 2020. She wanted to shift her priorities because of her family's health issues.

She said that a W2 job wouldn't allow her to spend time with her loved ones. The point at which everything accelerated for me was that one.

She had just bought her first rental property. She bought a home in Memphis that she didn't know anything about.

She was interested in the FIRE movement, which advocates saving and investing to achieve financial independence and have the option to retire early.

The investment gave her a chance to earn rental income and build more equity in her home, which she already owned. She hired a property manager to take care of it.

She got a new offer from the tech company that was less than what she was making but more than what she had made before. She spoke to them about taking on a lower-level role that would allow them to work from home. She said yes.

She can now eat lunch with her fiancée in the middle of the day, take a walk or play basketball at the local community center, or meet online with the Asian Investors Network or her real estate friends.

Amy added a short-term rental in Arizona to her portfolio in the year 2022. She invested in a commercial retail property and is currently looking for another short-term rental or multi- family property. Her real-estate assets bring in five figures a year, and she also invests in retirement accounts, stock outside of those accounts, and cryptocurrencies.

After achieving her impressive upward trajectory in terms of compensation, she mastered getting more than just a number, but also benefits like a great company culture and better work life balance.

She said that having the time to do things that are not just work are just as important.

Brian was a contributor.