Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent used a Monday meeting of the department’s Financial Literacy and Education Commission to argue that Trump Accounts can help address declining financial literacy in the U.S., pointing to early enrollment figures and new educational resources tied to the accounts.
In prepared remarks, Bessent said 7 million children have been enrolled in the tax-advantaged savings accounts since it launched on July 4, with 86% of participants coming from families earning less than $200,000 annually. He said the accounts—available to all U.S. children younger than 18, with eligible newborns born from 2025 through 2028 receiving a $1,000 Treasury-funded seed contribution—will expose more families to investing and will encourage long-term financial planning.
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Bessent emphasized that the program goes beyond savings because it incorporates 15 age-based financial education modules into the Trump Accounts app. The lessons cover topics including budgeting, investing, compound growth, diversification and the role of capital markets, while new dashboard features allow families to track balances, contributions and investment performance over time.
The Treasury Department has also recently broadened ways to support the initiative. For example, ahead of the program’s launch, the agency announced it would accept philanthropic donations of publicly traded stock, allowing charitable contributors to direct shares toward eligible children’s Trump Accounts under Treasury guidance. Officials said the policy is intended to create a streamlined pathway for large-scale private support of the accounts. The Treasury did not mention whether donors would receive a charitable tax deduction.
Though the accounts are otherwise limited to low-cost mutual funds or exchange-traded funds invested in U.S.-company stock, per previous IRS guidance, the IRS previously stated that eligible investments could include those meeting “such other criteria as the secretary determines appropriate.”
