A Wall Street Journal investigation into “mega IRAs” put a number on what insider access to pre-IPO shares can do inside a Roth. Gregory Baszucki, the younger brother of Roblox (NYSE:RBLX | RBLX Price Prediction) co-founder and CEO David Baszucki, holds a self-directed Roth IRA the paper estimates is worth at least $68 million. Because the money is inside a Roth, qualified withdrawals will owe zero federal tax on every dollar of that growth.
How a Board Member’s Brother Ended Up With $68 Million in a Roth
Greg Baszucki is an Eden Prairie, Minnesota native who graduated from Eden Prairie High School in 1983, two years behind David. He lives in Portola Valley, California, near Roblox’s San Mateo headquarters. The two co-founded Knowledge Revolution around 1989, an educational physics-simulation software company whose flagship product Interactive Physics let students build 2D physics models. MSC Software bought the business in 1998 for $20 million.
Greg has served on Roblox’s board since February 2008, classified as a non-independent director because of the family tie. He also co-founded FounderPartners, sits on the board of Mixbook, and chairs YourICP. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and is 61.
Why This Is Legal: Cheap Shares, Not Big Contributions
The mechanic comes down to what you buy, not how much you contribute. Annual IRA contribution limits stay small, a few thousand dollars, and apply to insiders the same way they apply to everyone else. What separates a $68 million Roth from a $68,000 one is what you buy inside it. Roblox’s 2021 S-1 disclosed 2,030,000 shares held by PENSCO Trust Company as custodian for “the Greg Baszucki IRA”, pre-IPO shares acquired while the company was still private and cheap. By Roblox’s 2026 proxy, the Roth IRA held roughly 1.32 million shares, consistent with reporting that he sold about a third of the original stake after the 2021 debut. Because the sale happened inside the Roth, no capital-gains tax applied to the gain, sparing him up to 20% federal capital-gains tax on those proceeds. Roblox’s market cap sits near $23.8 billion today.
The Tax Outcome, Precisely
Qualified Roth withdrawals, meaning after age 59 1/2 with the account open at least five years, are 100% free of federal income and capital-gains tax on both contributions and all growth. Baszucki is 61 and has held Roblox-linked IRA assets since at least 2008, so he clearly qualifies. Zero federal tax on the Roth portion is literally accurate. The WSJ separately estimates about $158 million across his tax-advantaged retirement accounts in total, but it is not confirmed how much of that broader figure is Roth versus traditional tax-deferred money, which would owe ordinary income tax on withdrawal.
Mega-Roths Have Precedent: Thiel and Romney
ProPublica’s 2021 “Lord of the Roths” investigation showed PayPal and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel turned a $2,000 Roth IRA into $5 billion over about 20 years using the same basic recipe: cheap founder shares dropped into a self-directed Roth, held through the company’s rise. Mitt Romney disclosed an IRA worth up to $101 million during his 2012 presidential campaign.
How Common Mega-IRAs Have Become
Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation data for 2024, the most recent available, illustrate how concentrated tax-sheltered retirement wealth has become at the top:
- More than 11,000 Americans held IRAs worth $10 million or more, up from about 3,600 in 2019.
- More than 1,000 people had IRA balances of $25 million or more, more than double the 2019 figure.
- Roughly 200 people had IRAs or 401(k)s worth at least $100 million.
- Data released with a new Senate bill shows 208 Americans held a combined $85.1 billion in tax-sheltered retirement accounts at the end of 2024, an average balance of about $409 million.
For context, the average American family’s IRA balance is roughly $268,300. The JCT estimates IRA and 401(k)-style tax breaks cost the federal government about $249.6 billion in forgone revenue in 2025.
As tax policy analyst Steven Rosenthal, formerly of the Tax Policy Center, told the WSJ: “We aren’t talking about saving enough for your needs in retirement. This isn’t keeping you off the dole in old age. This is yacht financing or dynasty building.”
The Proposed Crackdown, and What “Same Rules” Actually Means
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) introduced a bill on July 22, 2026 that would require annual withdrawals from retirement accounts worth more than $10 million and bar further contributions once an individual’s combined retirement balance crosses that threshold. Wyden framed it plainly: “This is an egregious loophole we’ve got to close. Congress created tax-advantaged retirement accounts to help more Americans save for a dignified retirement, not to help the ultrawealthy dodge taxes on insider deals and build titanic fortunes.” The bill has no Republican co-sponsors and is unlikely to move quickly under divided government.
The tax rules Greg Baszucki used are the same rules that apply to your Roth: identical contribution limits, identical withdrawal treatment, identical five-year clock. The underlying asset is what the average reader cannot access. You cannot buy 2 million shares of a private, nearly-worthless startup that later becomes Roblox. Same rules, different door. Open a Roth today at any major brokerage, fund it up to the annual limit, and the tax treatment on qualified withdrawals will be exactly as generous. The multiplier comes from what you own inside the account.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks