Nearly 70 Million Kids Have a Trump Account - Economist

The Treasury Department says it has finished automatically enrolling eligible children, creating accounts for more than 60 million kids who didn't have one. 

Add the families who signed up on their own, and the White House puts the total at nearly 70 million. Before the switch, uptake was slow: 

Treasury had processed about 5.6 million sign-up forms out of roughly 73.4 million eligible children, according to InvestmentNews, as reported by Fortune.

Every child under 18 with a valid Social Security number now has an account. The government's one-time $1,000 deposit is narrower. 

It goes to US citizen children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, and only after the account is claimed. Both Fortune and the Associated Press report the same eligibility window. 

Some older children may qualify for $250 from private donations, such as the Dell family pledge, which targets kids age 10 and under in lower-income ZIP codes.

A parent or guardian claims the account through the official Trump Accounts app or at TrumpAccounts.gov. Until that happens, the account can't take contributions from family and friends, and the $1,000 can't be collected. 

Researcher Jin Huang told the AP that each extra step "will lower the participation," especially for low-income families.

Private contributions are capped at $5,000 a year. Government and charity money doesn't count toward that cap. The child can't touch the money until 18, apart from rare exceptions. 

After that, it works much like a traditional IRA, so withdrawals are taxed and early withdrawals can carry penalties.

The White House says more than $4.5 billion has gone into the accounts since the July 4 launch, which works out to about $64 per child. Critics, including Stanford economists writing in Time, argue the biggest gains will go to families that can afford to contribute thousands a year. 

The White House answers that about 80% of accounts are tied to families earning under $200,000.