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The chairman of the White House National Economic Council said that wealthy Americans are looking to help finance the seed money for the so-called “Trump accounts” for newborns.
NEC Director Kevin Hassett said in a Friday appearance on FOX Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” that there has been a surge of interest among wealthy Americans interested in making donations to provide money to help fund the accounts above the government’s contribution.
“Michael Dell came out with $6.2 billion, and he said, ‘You know what? For everybody 10 and under, I’m going to give them all $250, and he is doing that to 25 million people,'” Hassett said. “And since Michael Dell did that, we’ve got people, wealthy people from all over the country, ringing our phones off the hook, saying, ‘hey, we want to do that too.’”
“It’s a new model. It’s a new platform for making society more just, but doing so voluntarily, with the well-earned profits of America’s philanthropists,” Hassett added.
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Hassett, who is under consideration to be nominated as the next Federal Reserve chair as President Donald Trump considers candidates to fill the vacancy created by the expiration of Jerome Powell’s term as chair next year, said the Trump accounts help young Americans by giving them a stake in the U.S. economy’s success.
“What he did with the Trump account is he made it so that every kid, when they’re born in America, basically gets a share of the pie. They get a piece of the action, they get money put into a broad-based index fund so that they get to feel like they’re part of the capitalist system. They’re part of the economy that’s making us all so rich,” Hassett said.
“And not only that, but they’ll be saying, ‘Oh, I own $50 worth of Apple.’ Like, they could look at the companies in the index funds themselves,” Hassett said.
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The NEC director also noted that the law creating Trump accounts not only provided for newborns to receive accounts, but also created accounts for Americans who are 18 or under.
The new savings program was included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which provides every child born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, with a one-time $1,000 government deposit at birth.
Families are eligible to open an account once their child has a Social Security number, and the money must remain untouched until the child reaches age 18.
Parents and other relatives can contribute up to $5,000 each year, with the limit subject to possible inflation adjustments after 2027.
‘TRUMP ACCOUNTS’ FOR NEWBORNS COULD GROW TO $1.9M, TREASURY SAYS
The Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Analysis estimated that if families were to maximize contributions and allow the funds to grow, it could lead to a sizable balance.
It projected that a fully funded account could reach as much as $1.9 million by age 28, and even at the lower end of projected returns could total about $600,000 over the same period.
Without additional contributions beyond the federal government’s initial $1,000 deposit, Treasury estimated the account could grow to between $3,000 and $13,800 over 18 years.
Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias and Emma Colton contributed to this report.
