07/06/2026
There has been a lot of discussion about the new Trump Accounts this year, and yesterday was the day they went live. I set up an account for each of my kids this morning, and figured I'd share my experience.
Who qualifies?
Children born between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028 can receive a $1,000 federal deposit into a newly established Trump Account.
There's also a separate program through the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation that will contribute $250 to the first 25 million activated accounts for qualifying children age 10 and under who live in ZIP codes with a median household income below $150,000.
Your household income doesn't matter—it's based on your ZIP code. Rising Sun qualifies, and I also checked at least one Newark, DE ZIP code that qualified.
You can check eligibility here:
investamerica.org/dell
Just enter your child's birth year and your ZIP code. The site uses Census data and immediately tells you whether your child qualifies for the Dell contribution.
Setting up the account
I started from investamerica.org, which links you to your IRS Online Account (the same place many people make quarterly estimated tax payments). If you don't have one, set it up - not too difficult, but does require multifactor authentication through IDme.
If you go in from one of the "feeder" pages, it will plop you right on the landing page and you will click "Begin Form". If you go in through your normal IRS account, you can click "Forms" at the top right, and get to the form that way. You are filling out IRS Form 4547 electronically. Your information will pre-fill, so you will just need to have your child's name, date of birth, Social Security number, and your relationship to them.
You can add multiple children during the same session.
For my youngest (born this year), the system allowed me to elect the $1,000 federal contribution. My older two aren't eligible for that deposit, but their account applications are processing and should still be considered for the Dell contribution. Both of these contributions are supposed to happen automatically - my applications are still in "processing" so I can't prove that (yet).
The entire process for all three kids took me less than five minutes.
There is also a Trump Accounts app available, but I went through the IRS portal and will probably download the app once everything is active.
My take
Every family's situation is different, so this isn't personal financial advice.
For my own family, I wanted to claim the available free money. Beyond that, I don't currently plan to make additional contributions. I think there are other planning strategies, and account types that make a lot more sense depending on your goals. Regardless of your political stance (or the name of the account), it is "free" money for your kids (unless you consider the fact that your tax dollars are funding a lot of it).
If you'd like to compare these accounts with other options or talk through whether they fit into your family's overall financial plan, I'm happy to do that.
If you're a client, or even if you're not, feel free to call the office. We're happy to walk parents or grandparents through the process or answer any questions we can.
Michael and Susan Dell are committing $6.25 billion to help 25 million children start investing early, putting $250 into investment accounts for children 10 and under so more families can begin building financial futures.
