The Trump Accounts investment programme has drawn nearly $125 million in personal contributions within its first five days of operation, the White House announced on Thursday, as a wave of high-profile donors from corporate America joined families across the country in backing the new children’s savings scheme.
Small Contributions Drive the Bulk of Trump Accounts Investment
The headline figure masks a broad base of participation. According to the Washington Examiner, 70% of contributions came in below $250, and 60% were below $100, suggesting that ordinary families, not just wealthy donors, are driving volume.
‘In just five days since launch, American families have contributed nearly $125 million to Trump Accounts,’ the White House wrote in an X post on Thursday evening, adding: ‘THIS is what investing in the future looks like.’
The programme launched on 4 July. President Donald Trump marked the occasion by ringing the opening bell for both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq from the Oval Office, The Hill reported.
Under the scheme, any child under 18 with a Social Security number may open an account. Children born between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2028 who are US citizens are eligible for a $1,000 government seed deposit, according to the IRS. Funds are invested in low-cost US stock market index mutual funds and ETFs, according to iShares, and account holders can use the money at 18 for college, a home, or a business.
Corporate Donors Add Hundreds of Millions on Top
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and her husband donated SpaceX stock to the programme. Trump told reporters the gift was worth $325 million, according to Fortune, though Shotwell herself did not put a dollar figure on the donation in her own announcement. She said via X that the stock would go to more than 2 million accounts, with priority given to children aged 11 to 17 from lower-income households near her home in central Texas, CNBC reported.
Trump praised Shotwell on Truth Social: ‘Thank you to the brilliant and highly respected Gwynne Shotwell, and her husband, Robert, for their extreme generosity in helping children to attain the ever magnificent American dream!’
Dell Technologies chief executive Michael Dell and his wife Susan have pledged $6.25 billion to the programme. Trump lauded the couple when speaking to reporters on Monday: ‘They are truly incredible people. Go out and buy a Dell computer.’ Dell wrote on X on 4 July: ‘This makes every child a shareholder in the greatest prosperity-creating engine the world has ever known, American capitalism.’
The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation has separately pledged to deposit $250 into the accounts of up to 25 million children aged 10 or younger who live in qualifying postcode areas, according to a Chase explainer on the programme’s eligibility rules.
Other donors named in the White House’s announcement include hedge fund manager Ray Dalio and his wife, Altimeter Capital chief executive Brad Gerstner, and rapper Nicki Minaj. Goldman Sachs, Micron, and Bank of America have also announced contributions to their employees’ children’s Trump Accounts.
The $125 million in personal contributions is separate from the large corporate pledges. How quickly those pledges translate into funded accounts will be the next measure of the programme’s traction, with the 31 December 2028 eligibility window for the $1,000 government deposit giving families several years to open accounts.