**by Caitlyn Driehorst**

Caitlyn Driehorst is a financial advisor at RightWise Wealth, as well as the firm's founder and CEO. Caitlyn began her career at the Boston Consulting Group and held strategy roles at MGM Resorts, Capital Group American Funds and two venture-backed wealth startups. She holds a B.A. from the University of Chicago and an M.B.A. from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.
Published: November 12, 2025

At RightWise, we’ve advised clients with stock from tech stalwarts such as Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and more. Any stock can and will go up and down, and we always take that into account in our advice.

However, rare in our experience is a stock that moves like Rocket Lab:

Suppose you own 1,000 shares of RKLB. What’s that worth?

Before summer 2024: probably ~$5,000
January 23, 2025: ~$31,500
March 10, 2025 (2.5 weeks later): ~$17,100
September 26, 2025: ~$46,260
October 16, 2025 (three weeks later!): ~$67,000
November 6, 2025 (three weeks after that!): ~$49,600

If you are an employee at RKLB who receives stock compensation, what can this mean for you?

Potential for incredible gains across earlier-vested stock
Potential for big losses if prices fall after new vests
Greater risk in your household financial picture if a large percent of your net worth is concentrated in this stock
Complexity for both your income taxes and investing taxes

As a firm, it is a privilege to work with Rocket Lab households to help them understand this amazing opportunity for wealth while minimizing complexity. And speaking personally, I also enjoy the challenge of understanding such a dynamic stock — and working with employees of such a cool company. My father was a U.S. Air Force pilot for more than thirty years, and I’ve seen “The Right Stuff” at least ten times: “Don’t vorry, our Germans are smarter than zheir Germans.”)

In this case study, we’ll zoom in on two conversations we have had with households who need to make decisions about employer stock from Rocket Lab:

Should you participate in ESPP? Given the volatility, how should you think about taxes and your holding period?
How can you stay on top of your tax bill when the value of your RSU bonuses can vary so widely, and where you may be making big sales to diversify?

ESPP Participation and Holding Period: It’s Complicated

First, should you participate in the ESPP?

Do you need this money for other goals? If you need cash for bills, or for other goals such as retirement or your child’s education, you should opt out rather than strain your budget.

Is your financial picture already heavily concentrated in RKLB? If more than 10% of your total financial picture is in a single stock, you risk your net worth being exposed to RKLB’s big swings: as of mid November, the stock has a 52-week high of $73.97 and a 52-week low of $12.07.

Remember, your income and career are also related to this stock, since if the company does well you may receive a raise, and if it does poorly, your employment could be at risk.

If your financial picture is heavily concentrated in this stock, we usually recommend selling to diversify (with an eye towards taxes!) before you increase your exposure to the stock via ESPP.

Are you willing to take on the tax admin, or to pay for an advisor for help? You’ll need to track the stock’s cost basis, its holding periods, your selling dates and other future tax reporting. Some people truly enjoy tending to this detail, the way some find it meditative to weed their garden and trim back bushes. But if you don’t enjoy paperwork and spreadsheets, consider working with a professional so you don’t miss important dates or forms.

If you do participate, how should you think about the holding period, taxes, and investment risk?

RKLB’s big changes in stock price make this decision more complicated than if you worked for a more typical firm with a steadier stock price.

If you sell your purchased shares immediately (“disqualifying disposition”) your tax treatment won’t be as favorable. However, this could be the right move for you if:

You need the money to fund another financial goal, e.g., cash savings or a major purchase
You are concerned the stock could lose value over the next 18 months, such that you’d owe taxes on gains that you didn’t end up actually receiving — especially salient in as we look at recent movements

If you wait eighteen months to sell your purchased stock (“qualifying disposition”) you’ll receive more favorable tax treatment. This is usually our firm’s starting-place advice for ESPP participation for most ESPPs at most employers. However, because RKLB’s volatility introduces more risk into the equation, there’s more investing risk than usual in making this call. We talk about this with clients on a one-on-one basis depending on their overall financial picture.

**Make Life Decisions with Numbers, Not Vibes**

RKLB is only part of your financial life; we’re here for all of it. We use professional software to rigorously test how life decisions would affect your finances.
*“What if we bought a second home for $500,000? $350,000? $650,000?”*
*“So, third kid, would that actually make it impossible to stop working at 55?”*

Ask an advisor your what ifs

You may want to consider paying taxes quarterly, rather than just in April

Here’s a recipe for tax-time trouble, if you have stock compensation from a firm like Rocket Lab:

Your RSU vests are taxed as income, same as if they were cash bonuses
RKLB’s stock price swings big, and so the tax value of your bonuses swings big
RSUs are typically withheld at 22%, regardless of your larger financial circumstance

So where does that leave you?

Withhold too little for the year, and you risk IRS penalties and unexpected big bills
Withhold too much, and you miss out on that money working harder for you in an interest-bearing or investing account (remember, a tax return is not a bonus!)
Changing your paycheck withholding once a year – or multiple times a year – is a lot of math, and a lot of emails with your HR team

Paying your taxes quarterly rather than annually can have big advantages:

Avoids over- and under-withholding, keeping you on-target through the year
Accounts for the price variability of your bonuses
Incorporates stock sales you have made through the year where you could otherwise owe penalties
Keeps you and your spouse’s total tax picture aligned, especially where you have disparate income

Some downsides? It’s more fussy, and it can be frustrating to need to pay extra fees for professional calculations and submissions just to pay taxes. However, if your financial life is more complex than it was in your 20s, your solutions may need to also be more complex — and if you have stock compensation from Rocket Lab, then your financial life is complex.

One way to make it easier? We provide optional tax filing, including quarterly estimates, for our clients via our partnership with the tax firm Uprise. Let us advise not only on your tax strategy but also concierge the accompanying admin.

It can be stressful to watch a large proportion of your compensation swing widely in value — not to mention the accompanying complexity of investments and taxes. As an independent firm, we’d love to help you feel confident in your path forward, across your full financial picture. Reach out if you’d like to chat about how we could help!