Nearly 70 million kids, one account each

Susan Dell stood at the White House on October 7 with a short request for America's parents and grandparents: "please claim your child's account."

A jar of sourdough starter explains why. The jar asks for very little: a spoonful of flour, a splash of water and time. Feed it now and then, and it grows into something that can make bread for years. Leave it untouched on the shelf, and it just sits there.

Every eligible child in America now has a jar on the counter. On October 1, 2026, Treasury finished automatically opening accounts for more than 60 million children who did not have one yet. Added to the millions whose parents signed up after the July 4 launch, that makes nearly 70 million accounts, by the White House's count, one for every eligible child under 18 with a Social Security number.

What is in the jar

Each account is legally an IRA for a child, created by the 2025 tax law. The money is invested in low-cost U.S. stock index funds; the default fund charges 0.02% a year. Withdrawals generally wait until the year the child turns 18. Babies born from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2028, get a one-time $1,000 deposit from Treasury. Family, friends and employers can add up to $5,000 a year combined, and employers can put in up to $2,500 a year per employee inside that cap. Gifts from charities and governments do not count against it.

Plenty of people are already feeding the jars. The White House says more than $4.5 billion has gone in since July 4, including $1.3 billion in Treasury seed money, more than $600 million from family and friends and $2.6 billion from philanthropists. Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25 billion to give $250 apiece to 25 million children, and President Trump said more than 70 companies, including Uber, Intel, Nvidia and Steak 'n Shake, will contribute for their employees' children.

The $300,000 question

The White House projects an account could reach $300,000 by age 18. The figure comes from an August 2025 Council of Economic Advisers report, which estimated $303,800 for a child whose family puts in the maximum every year and earns an average stock-market return. With nothing added beyond the $1,000 seed, the same report estimated about $5,800.

That gap is what worries the Urban Institute's Madeline Brown. She points out that about a third of families lack $2,000 in emergency savings, and low-income families already show low participation in other child savings plans. So the biggest balances will go to families with spare cash. She is right about that, and it is why the donor money matters: the White House says about 80% of accounts belong to families earning under $200,000, and the Dell and Dalio pledges target middle- and lower-income households.

Automatic enrollment took care of the first step; officials estimated a sign-up-only system would have stalled near half of eligible kids. The next step belongs to parents. Until a parent or guardian claims the account, it cannot receive the $1,000 seed or a grandparent's birthday money.

So take the jar off the shelf. Download the official Trump Accounts app from the App Store or Google Play, verify that you are the child's parent or guardian, and accept the terms. Then feed it what you can, a birthday here and a tax refund there, and let 18 years do the rising.