Trump Accounts Launch Friday With Five Low-Cost ETFs, Goldman and Morgan Stanley Join Growing Employer Match List

Since Trump Accounts cleared Congress and crossed 6 million signups, the policy details have been filling in fast. On July 1, the U.S. Department of the Treasury locked in the investment menu that will carry the first contributions when the accounts officially open Saturday, July 4.

The Fund Lineup

All initial contributions will default into the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPLG), which tracks the S&P 500. Treasury said it selected the fund for broad market exposure and an expense ratio well below the 0.1% statutory fee cap Congress set for the program. According to ETFGI, the full approved lineup carries expense ratios between 0.02% and 0.03%.

Four additional options are approved but NOT yet selectable. Per Treasury's July 1 announcement, account-allocation tools are still being built out. Until that functionality is live, every dollar contributed, regardless of a family's preferences, will land in the default State Street fund. Treasury said it will announce when allocation switching becomes available.

The four additional options, according to Treasury:

• iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), BlackRock
• Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), Vanguard
• SPDR Portfolio S&P 1500 Composite Stock Market ETF (SPTM), State Street
• iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT), BlackRock

Bank of New York Mellon will manage the initial accounts, according to Treasury.

Who Gets What

The accounts are open to any U.S. child under 18 with a Social Security number. Children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, qualify for a one-time $1,000 federal contribution from the Treasury. After July 4, parents, guardians, grandparents, and others may contribute up to $5,000 per year, indexed for inflation after 2027. Employer contributions are capped at $2,500 annually and count toward that $5,000 limit, according to ETFGI.

Children born between 2016 and 2024 miss the $1,000 federal deposit but may qualify for a $250 contribution if they live in a ZIP code where median income is $150,000 or less, funded by a $6.25 billion pledge from Michael Dell and his wife Susan, according to CNBC.

Brad Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter Capital and an architect of the accounts, committed $250 per qualifying child in Indiana. Billionaire Ray Dalio has pledged funds for children in Connecticut. Micron Technology announced a one-time $250 seed deposit for children with Trump Accounts in specific counties in Idaho, New York, Virginia, California, Colorado, Minnesota, and Texas where Micron operates.

The Employer Match Wave

On Thursday, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley announced they will match contributions to Trump Accounts for eligible employees' children. Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO David Solomon said in a statement: "Starting early and staying invested for the long term is one of the most reliable ways American families build lasting financial security."

They join a list that already includes Bank of New York Mellon, BlackRock, Charles Schwab, Charter Communications, Chime Financial, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Comcast, Intel, JPMorgan Chase, Micron Technology, Robinhood, and SoFi, according to CNBC. "The momentum we have around this is totally extraordinary," Gerstner said Thursday on CNBC's Halftime Report.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink framed the program in broad terms: "By giving younger Americans the opportunity to start investing earlier, Trump Accounts can help millions build long-term financial security, develop a greater stake in the future of the country, and share more directly in the growth and prosperity of the United States."

The Legitimate Criticism Worth Hearing

The strongest concern critics raise is structural. A prior InvestmentNews report flagged that the accounts have already crossed 6 million signups "but signs of a wealth gap stoke concerns." The private matching pledges, while generous in absolute terms, benefit primarily children of employees at large corporations, not gig workers, small-business employees, or families without formal employer relationships. Children locked out of both the federal $1,000 deposit (born before 2025) and employer matches may get nothing beyond whatever a parent can contribute.

Vanguard's own research note, cited by CNBC, added a technical caution: Trump Accounts hold 100% equities with no glide path. Unlike 529 college savings plans, which gradually shift toward bonds as a child approaches college age, these accounts stay fully invested in stocks regardless of when the money will be needed. That means a family planning to use funds at a child's 18th birthday gets no automatic de-risking. Families would need to manage that themselves, an expectation that may be unrealistic for the lower-income households the program is ostensibly trying to reach.

The counter-argument: a decades-long time horizon for a young child historically favors equities over bonds, and the low expense ratios (as low as 0.02%) preserve more compounding than most retail alternatives. Gerstner and Fink both pointed to long-term compounding as the core value proposition.

What's Still Unresolved

As of July 2, Treasury has NOT announced when the investment election functionality, which would let families choose among the five approved ETFs, will actually go live. Every contribution made at launch will default to the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF until that system is built. Families who would prefer, say, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF for its broader coverage have no mechanism to select it yet, and Treasury has given no specific timeline for when they will.