The US government just opened investment accounts for millions of children, and the default option is the stock market. Trump Accounts, which officially launched on July 4, 2026, to coincide with the nation’s 250th birthday, give eligible newborns a $1,000 federal seed contribution from the US Treasury and funnel it into low-cost equity index funds.
More than 6 million Americans have already signed up. The accounts are designed to compound over 18 years. That’s a lot of future capital sitting in equities.
How the accounts actually work
Here’s the structure. Children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, are eligible for the one-time $1,000 federal grant. Parents and others can contribute up to $5,000 annually on top of that. Employer contributions up to $2,500 don’t count as taxable income, making this a tax-advantaged vehicle with multiple on-ramps for cash.
The default investment option is the State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF, ticker SPYM. That means unless parents actively choose otherwise, every dollar going into these accounts lands in a broad US equity index fund with minimal management fees.
