Treasury Auto-Enrolls Roughly 70 Million Children in Trump Accounts and Opens Them to Stock Donations

Since the Trump Accounts program launched on July 4, the White House says more than $2.2 billion has been deposited into the children's investment accounts. This week the administration changed how the program works, and the changes are bigger than the headline number.

Auto-enrollment

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Oct. 1 that "over 60 million more eligible children now have an account ready to be claimed." About 10 million children already had accounts, which puts the total near 70 million, according to the White House. Families no longer have to sign up through the IRS. Any child under 18 with a valid Social Security number is in.

President Trump marked the milestone at an Oval Office event on Oct. 7. "This money is your child's future," he said. "When you were a child in the old days, your child would hit 18 and there's nothing."

There is a catch. Being enrolled is not the same as being funded. Parents or guardians must download the official Trump Accounts app, verify their identity and confirm their relationship to the child. Only claimed accounts receive the $1,000 federal seed deposit, Treasury has confirmed.

That seed is also narrow. It applies only to children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028. Most enrolled children are older and get no federal money.

The numbers so far

The White House says nearly half of the $2.2 billion deposited so far is the federal seed money. Another $638 million came from friends and family, and $291 million came from philanthropic gifts. A White House official said 80% of accounts are linked to families earning under $200,000 a year.

Accounts can take up to $5,000 in contributions a year. They are held in the child's name and managed by a parent or guardian until the child turns 18, when the child takes control. Contributions go into low-cost exchange-traded funds.

The White House projects that, using average long-run stock market returns, an account could top $1 million by age 28 if parents contribute the maximum. That is a projection built on historical averages, not a guarantee.

Dell gift and the Social Security push

Michael and Susan Dell attended the Oval Office event. Trump thanked them for a donation of roughly $6.25 billion, enough to put $250 into 25 million accounts. Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies, said the money would be deposited by the end of this week.

"Parents and grandparents, please claim your child's account," Susan Dell said. "These accounts are ready. They're waiting for you, and they have money in them."

Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano said in a Newsmax interview that 25 million kids can expect money in their accounts by the end of the week. He called the product an "IRA for children."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, has backed the accounts. The idea has a bipartisan pedigree. Hillary Clinton floated a $5,000 "baby bond" in 2008, and Sen. Cory Booker later proposed his own version. Connecticut and California run their own child savings programs.

Stock donations with strings

The second change is where critics are focused. Treasury will now let wealthy individuals and large companies donate shares of stock directly into children's accounts.

The rules are restrictive. Account holders cannot pick the donated shares and cannot reject them. They cannot sell them for five years.

That is a departure from the program's original design, which leaned on cash donations flowing into low-cost index funds. Douglas Farrar, a communications adviser at the American Economic Liberties Project, laid out his objection in a Substack post. "When today's newborns reach voting age, a huge share of their savings could rise and fall with a handful of companies, several of which are in antitrust litigation right now," he wrote. "Every effort to regulate or break them up will be attacked as a raid on your child's college fund."

The administration's side is simpler. Trump and the Dells describe donations as a way to jump-start savings for children whose families might not otherwise have any. The White House says auto-enrollment itself broadens access to philanthropic giving by giving donors an easy path to eligible kids.

Taxpayers have a stake too. Every claimed seed deposit is $1,000 of federal money, and the program is built to grow through more spending and incentives. A mandatory five-year lockup on shares nobody chose is a design choice that deserves scrutiny, not just applause for the headline enrollment figure.

What comes next

The next test is claiming. With roughly 70 million accounts open and only claimed ones eligible for the $1,000 seed, the share of parents who complete the app's identity verification will determine how much federal money actually moves. The deposits Michael Dell and Bisignano said would land by the end of this week are the first check on whether the rollout delivers what the White House has promised.