Sometimes I'm reminded of just how difficult it can be to keep up with all the news in societal information, particularly if it is not directly relevant to your life.
There was this sidebar notice/ad on a website I was looking at, about something called a "Trump Account."
At first I thought it was a satire piece — in the style of The Onion — because it said that the US government will put $1,000 in a special investment account in the name of any child born between the end of 2024 and sometime in 2029.
Called a "Trump Account" and allegedly part of the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" signed into law earlier this year.
We're it not for the fact that we have two new grandkids born in 2025, I likely wouldn't even have noticed, but I decided to "bite" and give it a second look. And do a little research of my own.
Much to my surprise, this is actually a legit thing!
If you have a kid born during the specified period, the US government will in fact make a one-time $1,000 deposit into a special kind of investment account, where it gets to sit and supposedly grow until the child reaches age 18.
At the moment it actually looks like you can get $1,250 because the Dell Foundation has pledged $6 billion to support the program for families whose income falls below a certain level... that basically still makes it available to over 50% of new parents.
I really thought it sounded like a scam of some kind, but it actually looks like authentic "free money" for qualifying individuals.
Are there catches and limitations?
Absolutely, specifically that the money is locked till your kid turns 18... and God knows what could happen between now and then.
Evidently it is also set up with tax penalties that highly would encourage people to roll the account over into a retirement savings plan, like a 401k.
In retrospect, it's not that far fetched. Growing up in Denmark back in the 1960s and 1970's we had something called a "children's savings account" that was similar — at least in principle — in that you could put money aside for your kid that they couldn't touch till age 18.
It was actually a large part of the reason why I was able to come to the US for University; I had somewhat over $8,000 free and clear when I turned 18 (in 1978, ugh!) which went a long way, back then.
While I remain a bit cynical, I expect the "retirement angle" might be a reflection that the government knows that Social Security will be screwed by the time someone born in 2025 turns 65.
If you compound investment returns on $1000 for 65 years, it would likely turn into a substantial chunk of change, so there's that.
Anyway, it was an interesting "side quest" for today, and I learned something new.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great remainder of your week!
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Created at 2025.12.03 01:54 PST
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