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What happens when 12,000 tech employees become millionaires overnight

Financial planners who serve newly liquid tech employees describe a predictable sequence of freeze, tax shock, real estate temptation, and slow diversification

Nikolas Kokovlis / NurPhoto via Getty Images

The first thing a newly minted millionaire should do with a windfall is nothing. That's the near-universal advice from financial planners, wealth managers, and tax advisors who serve tech employees after IPOs. The challenge is getting clients to listen.

With SpaceX already public and OpenAI and Anthropic expected to follow, about 12,000 people stand to become multimillionaires, about 800 of whom will hold more than $100 million, according to an analysis from Hill.com. One Anthropic employee, after just three years at the company, has accrued $40 million in vested equity with another $30 million pending, wealth advisor Mark Cecchini told Business Insider. An OpenAI employee is already considering a $6 million home.

Most of that wealth will be locked up for months after the IPOs close. Employees will owe income tax on their vested equity the moment it vests, whether or not they can sell a single share. For many, the tax bill will be the first thing that arrives and the cash to pay it the last.

The 90-day freeze that every wealth advisor prescribes

Every advisor interviewed or cited across wealth-planning literature starts with the same move: park the money in Treasury bills, high-yield savings accounts, or money market funds and make no irreversible decisions. Darrow Wealth Management recommends waiting at least several months, perhaps a year, before making large purchases, gifts, or charitable commitments. The firm puts it bluntly: "You can only spend a dollar once."

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