More than 60 million American children have been automatically enrolled in Trump Accounts as the Treasury Department moves to dramatically expand participation in the new investment program, officials said Thursday.
Parents and guardians still have to claim the accounts and, after that, opt in to receive seed contributions of $1,000 a pop from the federal government for eligible children.
“Millions of children have already enrolled in Trump Accounts. With automatic enrollment, over 60 million more eligible children now have an account ready to be claimed,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC.
The Treasury proposed regulations Tuesday that would allow the government to automatically create accounts for millions of children, and the process was completed by Thursday, according to the agency.
Trump Accounts, also known as 530A accounts, launched July 4 and are available to children under 18 who have Social Security numbers.
Citizens born from 2025 through 2028 also qualify for a one-time $1,000 contribution from the Treasury.
Automatic enrollment does not automatically trigger the payment.
Parents or guardians whose children have been automatically enrolled must use the Trump Accounts app to verify their identity and relationship to the child, review the account information and accept the account terms.
After that, eligible families can separately opt in to receive the government’s $1,000 contribution.
An eligible child’s account must be claimed before family members, friends and employers can make contributions or the child can receive the government’s $1,000 payment.
The sweeping enrollment push marks a sharp change from the program’s earlier opt-in structure, which had raised concerns that millions of families — particularly lower-income households — could fail to participate.
Derek Reisfield, a MarketWatch co-founder and finance executive, said his own effort to enroll his son had been anything but seamless.
“I filled out the IRS paperwork twice and was rejected, and then all of a sudden I got an email that I had successfully enrolled my son out of the blue about two weeks ago — which I assume was this process,” Reisfield told The Post.
“This is a real convenience for people,” he added.
As of mid-September, roughly 7 million to 8 million children had been signed up, Bessent recently told the House Financial Services Committee.
The Trump Accounts have drawn support from high profile business leaders.
Tech billionaire Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, have committed $6.25 billion to provide $250 to qualifying children born from 2016 through 2024 who live in ZIP codes with median incomes of $150,000 or less.
New Treasury rules also allow stock donations to Trump Accounts, opening another avenue for large private contributions.
Under the rules, donated individual stocks generally must remain in the accounts for five years before they can be sold.
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