WASHINGTON, D.C. — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday January 28, 2026, laid out a sweeping case for what he called “Trump Accounts,” a new program he said would expand private investment ownership by giving eligible children a federally funded seed deposit and encouraging additional contributions from families, employers, philanthropists, and states.
In remarks introduced by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Bessent framed the accounts as a signature legacy initiative tied to the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary, arguing the policy would fuse “Main Street and Wall Street” and push the U.S. toward what he described as a “shareholder society.”
Under the plan described in the speech, every American child born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, would be eligible for a $1,000 contribution from the Treasury Department that would be “immediately invested in an index fund,” with most families able to claim it by checking a box on Form 4547. Bessent said that three days into the 2026 tax filing season, about 500,000 Americans had already elected to open an account for their children.
Bessent said the $1,000 seed contribution would be limited to newborns, but that any American under 18 would be eligible for a tax-advantaged Trump Account, with “philanthropists, family, friends, employers, and states” able to “backfill” accounts for older children. He described three additional funding channels beyond the Treasury seed: donations from parents/friends/employers, donations from wealthy Americans and philanthropic organizations, and donations from state governments.
He said that starting July 4, 2026, which he described as “our nation’s 250th anniversary”, family, friends, and employers would be able to contribute up to $5,000 per year to each account, and he cited Council of Economic Advisers estimates that with maximum annual contributions, an account could exceed $1 million at age 28 and reach “tens of millions” by retirement.
Bessent also pointed to employer participation, listing companies he said have committed to matching contributions in various forms, including Charles Schwab, Uber, Charter Communications, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street, Mastercard, Visa, Block, Robinhood, SoFi, Chime, Russell Investments, and Dell Technologies, and he said additional matching commitments announced that day included Steak ’n Shake, Broadcom, Intel, IBM, JP Morgan, Chipotle, Coinbase, and Comcast.
On philanthropic funding, Bessent cited large pledges he said are intended to seed accounts for children, including $6.25 billion pledged by Michael and Susan Dell to help fund accounts for 25 million children under 10, and $75 million pledged by Ray and Barbara Dalio to help fund accounts for more than 300,000 children in Connecticut.
He said the Dalios were among the first to join what he described as Treasury’s “50 State Challenge,” an initiative meant to rally philanthropists around expanding participation as the administration prepares to launch Trump Accounts on July 4.
