Recently, as the semiconductor market pulled back, $AAPL Apple’s stock hit a new high again, and its market cap has returned to the world No. 1 spot.

Chasing hot trends might not know when to get off, but working for one company all the way through can also bring pretty good returns.
The chart below is a 1977 employee badge:
Chris Espinosa, Apple’s employee No. 8. In 1976, he was still a high school student, living near Jobs. After school, he would go to Jobs’ garage to help write code and demo Apple I to customers.
50 years later, he’s still working—now on Apple’s tvOS team.
He isn’t a founder, has no shares, and no fame. He’s just an ordinary engineer who’s been collecting a paycheck and receiving employee stock options since the garage days.
When Apple went public in 1980, it was $22 per share. After all the splits and growth over the years, that same $1 share from back then is worth more than $13,000 today.
Just by following the company for 50 years as an employee, his share was enough.
Not everyone has to become a founder or get rich from stock trading. Sometimes, if you find the right thing, grow with it, and get your own portion, that’s enough.