Being born black and raised in small town Central PA in the 70’s and 80’s, the only paths to millionaire I saw were to either be a drug dealer or a professional athlete. However, in ‘89, I joined the Army and left that environment, eventually landing at America Online after getting my Computer Science degree in 1996.
When I received my offer letter, part of the compensation package was 100 stock options. I specifically remember saying to myself, “Why would I want stock options?” I was ignorant, until I started working there. People in my same entry-level job who were hired the previous year were calling their stock brokers, selling their options as they vested 25% a year, buying luxury cars with cash. And, as America Online exploded in popularity the next few years, three people on my team became millionaires from their stock options and retired. I’d left after a year, because I didn’t like the job. No regrets. Because, now I was aware of a couple more paths to millionaire. Either work for a hot tech company or invest in stocks or do both.
Many congratulations to the new SpaceX millionaire employees! And, that’s why Elon deserves to be a trillionaire, because he started SpaceX with $100M of his own money 20 years ago and, in addition to currently employing 22,000 people, he’s making average everyday people millionaires.
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