Donald Trump's new 'Trump Accounts' savings scheme officially opens for contributions this month in the United States, promising a free $1,000 government deposit for eligible children but with strict rules over who qualifies and how much others can pay in. Only children born between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2028 can receive the initial federal contribution, and even then only if parents or guardians opted in earlier this year using a specific Internal Revenue Service form.
The Trump Accounts were unveiled last summer as part of Trump's sweeping 'One Big Beautiful Bill' package, pitched as a way to help American families build long-term wealth for their children. The idea is disarmingly simple on paper: the federal government seeds each qualifying account with $1,000 at birth, the balance is locked away, and the money becomes accessible when the child turns 18. Around that basic structure, however, sit layers of eligibility checks, contribution caps and corporate sweeteners that make the scheme both more generous and more complex than it first appears.
