That's going to be pretty exceptional at the scale of most Americans. Even here on HN, I'd wager that's the exception: you need to be working at a ISO-awarding

That's going to be pretty exceptional at the scale of most Americans. Even here on HN, I'd wager that's the exception: you need to be working at a ISO-awarding startup, have your ISOs vest, and have your company be doing well enough that exercising them seems like a sane fiscal decision. (… or, well, I suppose you can #yolo.) I've worked for startups for a decade, and I've yet to run into that. (Particularly since employers hold the view of "getting a raise == changing jobs"; this pretty much fixes options' value at $0.)