While wages provide income, ownership gives workers a chance to participate in the long-term growth of a business. Over ten years, Hernandez rose from welder to supervisor at SpaceX while continuing to accumulate company stock.

Hernandez’s story highlights one of the most effective and often overlooked ways ordinary workers build wealth: ownership.

Moneywise reached out to Hernandez for further comment, but did not receive a response before publication.

While Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar milestone might have grabbed the headlines, many of the IPO’s biggest personal success stories belonged to workers who spent years helping build the company from the ground up.

According to reporting from The Wall Street Journal (5), former employees have used gains from their SpaceX shares to pay off student loans, purchase homes, fund fertility treatments and launch businesses. One former engineer’s remaining stake is reportedly worth more than $28 million, while Hernandez used proceeds from earlier share sales to help build a small real estate business with his wife.

And Hernandez isn’t the only SpaceX employee whose life has been transformed by company stock.

Following SpaceX’s $75 billion IPO (2), Hernandez now owns roughly 6,500 shares. With the stock closing at $160.95 on Friday (3), his stake was worth more than $1 million — and it could be set to climb higher. SpaceX’s stock hit a high of $225.64 on June 16 before backsliding the following day (4).

“It wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t know anything about it then,” he said. “I didn’t know it was gonna be this big, at this point.”

Hernandez, who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico, first joined SpaceX as a contractor earning $28 an hour. After being hired full time, he received an equity grant valued at $10,000.

Now, the former SpaceX welder is sitting on more than $1 million worth of shares after the rocket maker’s long-awaited public debut.

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“I thought in my head, I don’t know what SpaceX is, but let’s go,” Hernandez said.

Juan Hernandez, who spent a decade at Elon Musk’s aerospace company before moving to Blue Origin, told CBS News (1) that he had never even heard of SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) when a friend suggested he apply for a welding job there in 2015.

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He believes employee ownership creates stronger businesses because workers have a direct stake in the outcome.

“They will perform a lot better because, I mean, it is, it’s their company as well,” he said.

Not everyone will receive stock grants from a fast-growing private company, but investors can still build ownership through the public markets.

Read More: Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can become a landlord for $100 — without the headache of actually being one

Finding growth opportunities

While Hernandez cites his ownership of the company as a reason to continue investing in it, identifying the ‘next big thing’ isn’t easy. Many of the market’s biggest winners spent years growing before they became household names.

However, finding these companies yourself can be tricky. That’s why leaning on professional research can come into play.

For example, Moby provides stock and crypto research from former hedge fund analysts designed to help investors identify promising opportunities before they become widely recognized.

Over the past four years, Moby says its recommendations have outperformed the S&P 500 by nearly 12% on average across almost 400 stock picks. The platform’s team translates financial news, market trends and company data into easy-to-understand reports delivered straight to you.

With Moby, you can become a smarter investor in just five minutes. You also have final say on whether to invest or not based on Moby’s reports.

While no investment is guaranteed to deliver SpaceX-like returns, consistently researching promising businesses can help investors build a portfolio positioned for long-term growth. It can also help you build expertise today that could help you find winning opportunities tomorrow.

Building ownership one step at a time

Of course, most people don’t receive stock worth thousands of dollars regularly — and even if your company does offer options, that in itself is no guarantee of success.

For many Americans, wealth building starts with small, consistent contributions made over long periods of time.

If you’re looking for an easy way to begin investing, Acorns can help build investing habits into everyday spending. The platform automatically rounds up purchases to the nearest dollar and invests the spare change into a diversified portfolio of ETFs managed by firms such as Vanguard and BlackRock.

For example, a $3.25 coffee purchase could be rounded up to $4, with the remaining 75 cents automatically invested. Over time, those small contributions can add up and help investors build ownership in a diversified portfolio without needing a large amount of money upfront.

When you sign up, you can also get a $20 bonus investment when you set up a small monthly investment.

Hernandez is now teaching those same lessons to his children. His 16-year-old daughter already owns shares of Meta and other companies.

“She’s a little entrepreneur herself,” he said.

Add real estate to the mix

Hernandez’s seven-figure windfall came from a single company, but many investors prefer to spread their money across multiple asset classes rather than relying on one stock.

Real estate is one option. In addition to providing potential appreciation over time, income-producing properties can generate cash flow through rent, offering a return stream that’s different from what investors may receive from stocks.

Build passive income brick by brick

Hernandez isn’t just investing in stocks. According to The Wall Street Journal, he used proceeds from earlier SpaceX share sales to purchase properties in Texas and build a small real estate business with his wife.

Real estate has long been a popular way to diversify beyond the stock market because it can generate income through rent while also benefiting from potential appreciation over time. However, buying and managing properties directly isn’t practical for every investor.

That’s where mogul comes in. The platform offers fractional ownership in blue-chip rental properties, allowing investors to gain exposure to income-producing real estate without taking on the responsibilities of property management.

Founded by former Goldman Sachs real estate investors, mogul focuses on professionally selected single-family rental homes, giving investors access to opportunities that may otherwise be difficult to find on their own. The platform reports an average annual IRR of 18.8%, and its offerings are often in high demand, with some offerings often sell out in under three hours.

Investors can create an account, review available opportunities and browse available properties before deciding whether a particular investment aligns with their goals.

For those seeking broader exposure to commercial real estate, there are other options to consider as well.

Go big or go home

While residential rental properties are one way to gain real estate exposure, some investors prefer larger commercial assets such as apartment communities, warehouses and industrial facilities.

These types of properties have traditionally been the domain of institutional investors and private equity firms, but some platforms are making them more accessible to qualified individual investors.

Lightstone DIRECT’s direct-to-investor model ensures a high degree of alignment between individual investors and a vertically-integrated, institutional owner-operator — a sophisticated and streamlined option for individual investors looking to diversify into private-market real estate.

With Lightstone DIRECT, accredited individuals can access the same multifamily and industrial assets Lightstone pursues with its own capital, with minimum investments starting at $100,000.

Hedge for smooth sailing

While concentrated stock positions can create extraordinary wealth, they can also expose investors to significant risk if a single company stumbles.

That’s why many financial professionals recommend diversifying across multiple asset classes, including stocks, real estate and, in some cases, precious metals.

Gold has historically been viewed as a portfolio diversifier because it often behaves differently from stocks during periods of market volatility. While it shouldn’t replace a well-diversified portfolio, some investors use it as a complement to their existing holdings to help manage uncertainty.

If you want to get started in gold, Priority Gold is an industry leader in precious metals, offering physical delivery of gold and silver.

If you’d like to convert an existing IRA into a gold IRA — so you get the tax advantages of the IRA account — Priority Gold offers 100% free rollover, as well as free shipping, and free storage for up to five years. Qualifying purchases can also receive up to $10,000 in free silver.

To learn more about how Priority Gold can help you reduce inflation’s impact on your nest egg, download their free 2026 gold investor bundle.

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Article Sources

We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.

CBS News (1); TradingView (2); Financer (3); Yahoo Finance Canada (4); The Wall Street Journal (5)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.