Nobody asked for one. Your kid has one anyway.
|
|
On October 1, Treasury finished opening a Trump Account for every eligible kid under 18 with a Social Security number. That's 60 million new accounts, on top of the 10 million parents opened themselves after the July 4 launch.
Nobody emailed us about it. The people who did find out early were the scammers, who were sending fake Trump Account texts before the program even launched.
Here's the part the headlines skip. An auto-enrolled account sits there until a parent claims it. Until then nobody can add money to it, and the $1,000 from Treasury doesn't show up.
Between July and October, only about 7 million kids got signed up, mostly 2025 and 2026 babies whose parents knew the $1,000 was on the table (PBS NewsHour, October 13). So who gets what?
|
Who gets seed money · as of Oct 21, 2026 |
| Born 2025 through 2028 |
$1,000 from Treasury, once the account is claimed and the seed is elected. |
| Born 2016 through 2024 |
$250 from Michael and Susan Dell if your ZIP's median family income is $117,300 or less. Already deposited as of October 9. |
| Everyone else under 18 |
$0 in seed money. The account still exists. |
|
|
Claiming happens on a phone, in the official Trump Accounts app or at trumpaccount.com. You verify who you are and that you're the parent, then accept the terms. The app files IRS Form 4547 behind the scenes.
The catch that'll trip people up: claiming the account and electing the $1,000 are 2 separate boxes (Finder, October 14). Auto-enrollment doesn't include the seed. For a kid born 2025 through 2028, the pilot program election has to ride along with the claim.
There's no deadline and no fee. Claiming is also permanent, so once it's done the account can't be closed. If parents are split, whoever finishes first holds the keys.
No deadline sounds relaxed. The math is less relaxed about it, because the $1,000 starts compounding the day it lands, not the day the law passed.
|
|
$1,000 lands at birth
Untouched to 65
$81,300
About $3,380 at 18
Assumed 7% a year
|
Same $1,000 lands at 2
Untouched to 65
$70,900
About $10,400 less
Same 7%, 2 fewer years
|
|
|
Of course 7% is an assumption and markets don't send thank you cards… blah blah. The point is the shape. 2 years of sitting in an app nobody opened costs about $10,400 of growth by 65, on money nobody in the house had to earn.
So the seed is free. Is the account itself a good place to keep adding money? That's where it gets less tidy, and it helps to put it next to the account most families already know.
|
|
Trump Account |
529 plan |
| Money in |
After-tax. Up to $5,000 a year from family, and up to $2,500 of that can come from an employer |
After-tax. No federal yearly cap, and some states give a deduction |
| Invested in |
1 fund for now: State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM). 4 more index funds promised |
Whatever your state's plan offers |
| Coming out |
Growth and the seed taxed as income. Before 59½, a 10% penalty unless an exception applies, like school or up to $10,000 for a first home |
Tax-free for qualified school costs. Otherwise income tax plus 10% on the earnings |
| At 18 |
Becomes a traditional IRA in the kid's name |
Stays in the parent's name |
|
|
2 more things moved this month, and they're getting more airtime than the claiming step.
New Treasury rules let big donors give individual company stock to groups of at least 5,000 kids in an age bracket and region. Families can't pick or decline those shares, and they're held for 5 years (PBS). Supporters say it'll pull in more donations. Critics say a kid's first account shouldn't be stuck holding 1 company.
And on Tuesday, Trump said opening the accounts to adults is being looked at, with an early backer floating anyone under 40 (Yahoo Finance, October 21). Nothing's official. If it becomes a rule, it gets its own issue.
Our read on the whole thing, politics aside: the $1,000 is a seed, not a strategy. The account is 100% stocks, it turns into a traditional IRA at 18, and the growth gets taxed on the way out. Those 3 facts don't change no matter who you voted for.
|
|
What the math says
$1,000 landing at birth and left alone at an assumed 7% is about $3,380 at 18 and $81,300 at 65. The same $1,000 landing at age 2 is about $70,900 at 65, so 2 years of waiting costs roughly $10,400 of growth on money nobody had to earn. Past the seed, the variable is where the money ends up: spent on school, a 529 keeps every dollar of growth tax-free, and in a Trump Account that same growth is taxed as income on the way out.
|
|
|
This week's video
|
The unclaimed $1,000, on video
Tap to watch on X · @dadvesting
|
|
|
The Short List
 |
Real Trump Account messages only come from trumpaccount.com, the official app, or trumpaccounts.treasury.gov. Claiming costs $0 and there's no countdown, so a text with a deadline and a Robinhood logo is the tell. Robinhood runs the back end, but the official app carries none of its branding. |
|
|
Goldman Sachs is matching the $1,000 for employees' eligible kids. Employers can put in up to $2,500 a year per employee, tax-free to you, and open enrollment season is when a perk like that would show up in the packet. |
|
|
The IRS 2027 limits drop any day now. Milliman projects the 401(k) at $25,500, up from $24,500, and the yearly gift exclusion grandma works with is set to go from $19,000 to $20,000 (projections as of October 2026). |
|
|
|
How did you find out your kid had one of these? Group chat, a news alert, a sketchy text, or this email? Hit reply and tell us, plus whether you claimed it. We read every one.
|
|
|
|
We both had accounts open for our kids before we left the hospital. Neither of us expected Treasury to open another one without asking. Whether anything goes in it after the $1,000 is your call.
|
|
Until next week,
Mason & Bryce
|
| |
