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As President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress for the State of the Union, he will make the case that his agenda is delivering for American families. On that score, he has a story most people have not heard yet.
Since Jan. 1, 2024, every child born in the United States has arrived with $1,000 already invested in the U.S. stock market in their name. This is not a proposal. It is not a pilot program. It is the law of the land and one of the most consequential expansions of wealth-building opportunities this country has ever passed.
Republicans in Congress, through the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, created the historic Trump Accounts, and every child born in the United States during President Trump’s administration has one waiting for them.
The U.S. Treasury makes an initial $1,000 deposit, invested in a diversified portfolio of American companies through low-cost index funds. Parents serve as custodians until the child turns 18. Based on historical market returns, that seed investment could approach half a million dollars by retirement. No additional contributions required.
I voted for this as a congressman and as a father of three daughters. The problem this program solves is not abstract. Thirty-eight percent of American adults own no equities whatsoever. They hold no stake in the companies whose products they buy, whose services they use, or whose growth drives the economy they live in.
The wealth gap in this country is not merely a gap in income. It is a gap in asset ownership, and it compounds across generations. Trump Accounts are designed to interrupt that cycle before it starts.
The argument against programs like this usually runs: the government has no business picking investment winners, and the Treasury should not be in the wealth-management business. It is a reasonable instinct. But it misreads what this program actually does.
The government is not managing these accounts. It is making a one-time deposit and then stepping aside. The investment follows the market. The account belongs to the child. Washington's involvement ends at the wire transfer.
The structure invites private capital as well. Parents, grandparents, employers, and philanthropic organizations can each contribute up to $5,000 annually. Corporations can contribute up to $2,500 per employee's child as a tax-deductible business expense. For families who cannot contribute anything beyond the seed funding, the account still grows. The program meets families where they are.
The program also addresses something most wealth-building policies ignore: timing. The single most powerful variable in compound growth is not the rate of return. It is when the clock starts. Most American families do not establish real financial stability until their 30s or later, by which point their children have already lost a decade of potential market participation.
Trump Accounts start the clock at birth for every eligible child, regardless of their parents' income or investment experience.
Families with children already past the birth window can still take advantage of the account structure and may be eligible for deposits from outside entities like the Dell Corporation. Any child under 18 can participate with the same investment advantages and tax treatment. Time in the market still matters at age 12. It still matters at age 16.
At 18, account holders gain full control. Qualified withdrawals for higher education or a first home purchase are taxed at ordinary income rates with no penalty. The account can keep growing toward retirement. The flexibility is intentional. Good policy does not presume to know which path a young adult will take.
There is an underappreciated educational dimension as well. A generation of American children will grow up watching a brokerage account in their own name fluctuate with the market. They will understand compound growth not from a textbook but from a statement. Financial literacy built through direct experience is a different thing from financial literacy acquired in a classroom, and it tends to last.
Critics will call this a government program. They are not wrong about the mechanism, but they are wrong about the outcome. This is a one-time government investment designed to produce independent, financially literate citizens who own a real stake in America's economic success and our exceptional capitalist system. The goal is not to make families dependent on Washington; it is to ensure that the next generation never has to be.
Our great nation will hear a lot of promises this evening during the president’s address, but Trump Accounts are not one of them. This program is already law, already funded, and already changing the financial trajectory of every child born in America this year. This is not merely a talking point — it is a fact. Republicans are delivering for the next generation so they can afford their American Dream.
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