Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent walked into CNBC’s Times Square studio on Wednesday morning with a political soundbite in one hand and a policy pitch in the other. The soundbite: that NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is now effectively the leader of the Democratic Party. The pitch: Trump Accounts, a government-backed initiative to get millions of Americans into the stock market for the first time.
Bessent told Squawk Box that 38% of American households currently have zero investment in equities. Trump Accounts are designed to change that math, starting with the youngest Americans.
How Trump Accounts actually work
The program gives eligible children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, a $1,000 seed investment from the Treasury. Kids in lower-income zip codes get an extra $250 kicked in by philanthropists. Families can contribute up to $5,000 annually on top of that.
The numbers so far are significant. As of April 2026, 5 million Trump Accounts had been opened, with 1.2 million children qualifying for the initial seed money. A mobile app launched in late May 2026 to simplify account setup, timed to build momentum ahead of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
