Sec. 530A accounts a.k.a. Trump Accounts (TAs), the ‘starter’ retirement accounts for children under 18 that were created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), have been available to open and fund since July 4, 2026. And during that time, they’ve gained modest traction: according to Treasury Department estimates, around 7–8 million children have had accounts opened on their behalf. This early ‘success’ is due in large part to the Federal government’s $1,000 ‘pilot’ contribution made to children born from 2025–2028, as well as to ‘qualified general contributions’ from charitable organizations such as the Dell Foundation’s contribution of $250 for children under 10 years old in ZIP codes with median household incomes under $150,000. However, there are approximately 70 million U.S. children under 18, meaning that until recently even with these incentives only around 10% of the children eligible to have had a Trump Account opened on their behalf actually had one.
Under new regulations issued by the Treasury Department in late September, however, every U.S. child who is eligible for a TA (i.e., who has a Social Security Number and has not yet reached the year that they turn 18) has now had one automatically opened on their behalf. This means that all eligible children will now be able to receive general contributions from charitable organizations for which they are qualified, which they wouldn’t have gotten if they didn’t have a TA open in their name (although those contributions generally have age and geographical restrictions, so not everyone with a TA will actually receive them).
Interestingly, though, even children who haven’t received any type of contribution will also have accounts opened on their behalf – even if their parents or guardians had already decided not to open one – and there’s no ability to opt out or close the account if it isn’t needed or wanted! However, parents and guardians will need to go through a process of ‘claiming’ their children’s auto-enrolled account and verifying their identity in order to assume control over it and make additional contributions. Accounts that go unclaimed will either be closed in the year their beneficiary turns 18 (if there are no funds in it) or will stay open and be rolled into an IRA when claimed (if it does have funds). Which means that it’s a good idea for parents or guardians of children with auto-enrolled accounts to claim the account on their children’s behalf – even if they don’t plan on ever funding it – to avoid it being improperly claimed by someone else in cases of identity theft (or simply lost with potential funds inside that the beneficiary could eventually use).
