For SpaceX & Starlink employees in Central Texas
Your equity became real.
Now the decisions get harder.
SpaceX went public on June 12, 2026. Between the staggered lock-up releases, a settlement that landed on your W-2 at 22% withholding, and a share price that has moved from $225 to $105 and back, the next six months carry more financial consequence than the last six years did.
- Fee-only compensation
- Fiduciary at all times
- No commissions, ever
Independent, Austin-based, and in our 23rd year advising families here.
Figures reflect the June 12, 2026 final prospectus and public reporting through August 2026. Share prices move; nothing here is a forecast.
The calendar that matters
A staggered lock-up, not a single cliff
SpaceX's underwriters spread the release of insider shares across earnings-linked tranches, fixed-day milestones and a final expiration, rather than one 180-day unlock. For employees that means more windows — and more decisions — instead of one date to plan around.
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June 11–12, 2026IPO priced at $135; first trade June 12
Shares closed their first session at $161 and touched the low $220s before retracing. Settled RSUs were valued for tax purposes at the price on the settlement date, not at the peak.
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August 4–6, 2026First earnings report, then tranche oneComplete
Roughly 20% of restricted shares — about 911.5 million — became eligible to trade on August 6, more than doubling the public float. The stock rose that day rather than falling. A separate early-release provision tied to the stock trading 30% above the IPO price was not triggered.
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TodayBetween tranches
This is the useful planning window: your first tranche is sellable, the next is not yet, and there is still time to size sales, set aside tax and decide on a schedule before the year-end releases arrive.
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Late Aug – late Oct 2026Five time-based tranches
Up to 7% more of the restricted block at each of roughly 70, 90, 105, 120 and 135 days after the IPO — approximately August 21, September 10, September 25, October 10 and October 25.
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Q3 earningsUp to 28% more released
The largest single tranche before expiration, tied to the third-quarter earnings release expected between mid-October and December.
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December 8, 2026180-day lock-up fully expires
Everything remaining in the 180-day block releases. A separate extended schedule runs into 2027 for certain investors, and the founder's block is locked until June 12, 2027.
withheld — but your real rate may be 35–37%
Federal withholding on supplemental wages is a flat 22% below $1 million. If your settlement pushed you into the top brackets, the shortfall is not forgiven — it is an April liability accruing right now, and possibly an underpayment penalty on top of it.
Eligible to sell is not the same as free to sell
Current employees remain subject to the company's insider trading policy and blackout windows after each lock-up release. Officers and other affiliates have additional constraints, including Rule 144 volume limits and the waiting periods that apply to a newly adopted 10b5-1 plan. Confirm your window with the equity team before you place an order.
Where Central Texas fits
Between the Bastrop Starlink complex — over a million square feet and more than a thousand workers, with further expansion underway — and the engineering and support roles across the metro, a large share of the people holding this equity live within an hour of downtown Austin. We are here too.
Equity compensation
What you actually hold, and what it costs you
RSUs, incentive stock options and non-qualified options are taxed under three different sets of rules. Employees frequently hold a mix, and the right sequence of decisions depends on which is which. Start with your grant documents, not with what a colleague did.
RSUs and the withholding gap
Settled units are ordinary W-2 income at the share price on the settlement date, whether or not you sell. Reporting on whether SpaceX RSUs carried a second liquidity-event trigger has been mixed — at least one company-wide grant originally had one that was later removed — so read your own agreement. Either way, the planning work is the same: size the true tax, fund it with a defined number of shares rather than a guess, and use quarterly estimates to avoid a penalty.
ISOs and the AMT question
Exercising an incentive stock option creates no ordinary income, but the spread between strike and fair market value is an alternative minimum tax preference item. Hold the shares more than one year past exercise and two years past grant and the gain is long-term capital gain; sell earlier and it is a disqualifying disposition taxed as ordinary income. Exercising in sized annual batches rather than all at once is usually the difference between a manageable AMT bill and a large one.
NSOs and expiration risk
Non-qualified options generate ordinary income on the spread at exercise regardless of holding period, so the timing question is about bracket management and cash. Post-termination exercise windows and grant expiration dates are the quiet risk here: options that lapse unexercised are worth nothing, no matter what the share price did.
Concentration
It is common for employees at a company like this to reach 50–80% of net worth in a single stock without ever deciding to. The stock has traded from above $225 to near $105 in its first two months public. Choosing a target concentration, then selling toward it on a written schedule, replaces a series of emotional decisions with one deliberate one.
Lot selection and giving
Which shares you sell matters. Specific-lot identification lets you harvest higher-basis shares first and control the ordinary-versus-capital mix. Appreciated shares held more than a year are also the most efficient asset to give — a donor-advised fund contribution in a high-income year can offset a large settlement while funding several years of giving.
Structured selling
A 10b5-1 plan adopted during an open window lets sales execute on a pre-set schedule even when you later hold material information, subject to a mandatory cooling-off period. For larger positions, exchange funds and other diversification structures may be available, though they carry eligibility thresholds, lock-ups and costs of their own that need to be weighed honestly.
The rest of the package
Benefits, and the Texas advantages worth using
Equity gets the attention, but the compensation decisions around it compound quietly. A liquidity event is also the moment several of these stop being optional.
How we get paid
Two ways to work with us
Both are fee-only. You pay us directly, and we are paid nothing by anyone else.
Financial Plan
A complete financial plan, delivered once as a project. We build the plan, walk you through it, and hand it to you. No ongoing investment management.
Wealth Management
Ongoing investment management and planning together, with your plan kept current as life changes — including the equity decisions that recur every vest and every release.
Every new relationship begins with a minimum engagement of $5,000. The upfront planning fee is waived for relationships over $1 million. Complete fee schedules are set out in our Form ADV Part 2A.
Common questions
SpaceX equity, answered plainly
When can I sell my shares?
In stages. About 20% of restricted shares released on August 6, 2026. Time-based tranches of up to 7% each follow at roughly 70, 90, 105, 120 and 135 days post-IPO, a release of up to 28% is tied to the Q3 earnings report, and the remainder of the 180-day block frees on December 8, 2026. Company blackout rules apply independently of the lock-up.
Why do I owe so much more tax than was withheld?
Supplemental wages are withheld at a flat 22% federally below $1 million. If your settlement landed you in the 35% or 37% bracket, you are short by roughly 13 to 15 points of the settlement value. That becomes a balance due at filing, plus a possible underpayment penalty unless estimated payments cover it.
Are my RSUs single-trigger or double-trigger?
Public reporting has gone both ways, and at least one company-wide grant originally carried a liquidity-event trigger that was later removed. Terms vary by grant, so your agreement and equity portal are the only reliable answer — this is one of the first things we look at with a new client.
Should I sell everything at the next release?
Usually not, and usually not nothing either. The useful framing is not a prediction about the share price but a question about your balance sheet: how much of your future are you willing to have depend on one company, and what does the plan need from this position? We work backward from that.
Does living in Texas actually change anything?
Materially, yes. With no state personal income tax, a Texas-resident employee generally keeps more of the same settlement than a colleague in California does. Community property rules and the state's property tax picture also shape titling, estate documents and how a home purchase should be sequenced.
Do you have to manage my money to help me?
No. The planning engagement is a standalone project — plan built, delivered, and yours to implement. Many people start there.
The next step
A 30-minute introductory call
No cost, no obligation — and we will tell you honestly if we are not the right fit.
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