By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-10-02 13:41:30 | Updated at 2026-10-02 17:09:28
3 hours ago
More than 60 million children have been automatically enrolled in Trump Accounts, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, with the Treasury announcing the completion of automatic enrollment on Oct. 1.
With the automatic enrollment process now complete, every eligible child in the United States under 18 with a valid Social Security number now has a Trump Account, according to the Treasury.
The more than 60 million accounts are now “ready to be claimed,” Bessent said in an Oct. 1 post on X. A child’s parents or guardians must claim these accounts in order to manage them and allow family members, employers, and friends to contribute, the Department of the Treasury said.
The enrollment of 60 million children comes almost three months after the Trump Accounts were officially launched in July.
Trump Accounts can accept contributions of up to $5,000 per annum. The accounts are held in the child’s name, with parents as custodians, until the child turns 18, when they get full access to the accounts.
To claim the account, parents need to download the official Trump Accounts app, available on Android and iOS, and verify their identities and their relationship to the child. The information is then reviewed, and account terms are accepted.
Only accounts that are claimed will receive the $1,000 seed deposit from the Treasury, the department clarified. The $1,000 is
availablefor children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028.
“This is a transformative milestone in the Trump Administration’s effort to give every American child the opportunity to build generational wealth and jump-start their financial future,” Bessent said in the X post.
Trump account balances must generally be invested in funds that track the returns of an index of primarily U.S. equities. The funds must not have annual fees and expenses above 0.1 percent.
In an Aug. 20 statement, the Treasury
saidthat regulations governing the Trump Accounts seek to keep investment costs low and ensure children’s savings grow over the long term. Investment fees and other expenses tend to reduce account balances over time.
“Every dollar in a child’s Trump Account should be working toward that child’s financial future, not diminished by unnecessary fees,” Bessent said in the statement. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury is putting simple, commonsense protections in place to help families keep more of their investment returns.”
According to temporary regulations regarding Trump Accounts published by the IRS on Sept. 30, donors can transfer certain stocks into beneficiaries’ Trump Accounts. The stock must meet certain requirements, such as being publicly traded and issued by a domestic corporation.
The Treasury and IRS have determined that allowing stock contributions “will facilitate more donations from eligible donors, and will help create a practical pathway for large-scale private giving to support the Trump account program and the account beneficiaries with Trump accounts,” according to the regulations.
A July 2 report from the Urban Institute had raised concerns about low awareness of Trump Accounts among many families.
An analysis of survey data found that people with higher incomes are more likely to be aware of these accounts. Respondents earning $150,000 or more had the highest awareness, while those earning less than $45,000 had the lowest, according to the report.
The Trump Account website
estimatesthat account holders stand to benefit massively over time. For instance, just $1,000 deposited at the birth of a child would grow to an estimated $6,000 by the time the child turns 18, even without any additional contributions to the account.
Just $250 in yearly contributions could take this final number to $19,000. And if the $ 5,000-per-year limit is maxed out each year, the final amount at age 18 could reach $271,000, according to the website.
