Mexican immigrant takes $28/hour welding job at SpaceX — now his stake is worth over $1M. How to build big wealth quick

Mexican immigrant takes $28/hour welding job at SpaceX — now his stake is worth over $1M. How to build big wealth quick Thomas Kent Thu, June 18, 2026 at 8:30 PM GMT+7 8 min read SPCX Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below. 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. “I thought in my head, I don’t know what SpaceX is, but let’s go,” Hernandez said. The ultra-rich use these 5 real estate strategies to build wealth while they sleep — you can start with just $100 The IRS usually taxes gold as a collectible — but this little-known strategy lets you hold physical bullion tax-free. Get your free guide from Priority Gold Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake — here’s how to fix it ASAP Now, the former SpaceX welder is sitting on more than $1 million worth of shares after the rocket maker’s long-awaited public debut. 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. “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.” 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). And Hernandez isn’t the only SpaceX employee whose life has been transformed by company stock. 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. 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. Moneywise reached out to Hernandez for further comment, but did not receive a response before publication. Hernandez’s story highlights one of the most effective and often overlooked ways ordinary workers build wealth: ownership. 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. 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 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. 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

Mexican immigrant takes $28/hour welding job at SpaceX — now his stake is worth over $1M. How to build big wealth quick

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