If you have a child or grandchild born in 2009 or later, the federal government has likely just opened an investment account in that kid’s name. No form. No app. No permission slip from you.
As of Oct. 1, the Treasury Department is creating Trump Accounts for virtually every child in America with a Social Security number who doesn’t already have one. Treasury figures the switch could add more than 60 million accounts.
Sounds like free money landing in your kid’s lap. It isn’t. Not yet, anyway.
What Treasury is opening is closer to a locked safe-deposit box. There’s nothing in it, you don’t have the key, and the $1,000 everybody’s heard about won’t show up unless you ask for it.
Here’s what changed, and the five things I’d do about it this fall.
Why Treasury is suddenly doing this
Until now, Trump Accounts were strictly opt-in. A parent had to file IRS Form 4547 or sign up through the official site. Plenty of families never got around to it.
Earlier this year, Treasury said it couldn’t work out the legal and administrative kinks of automatic enrollment in time for the July 4 launch, according to Bloomberg Law. Now it says it’s found a workaround.
The new temporary regulations took effect Sept. 30. The short version: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent makes the sign-up election on every eligible kid’s behalf, all at once.
That’s a real change. It’s also where most of the headlines stop. Here’s what they’re leaving out.
1. Find out whether your kid is getting one
To get an automatic account, a child needs a Social Security number and can’t turn 18 before the end of the year Treasury makes the election. For the October batch, that generally means kids born in 2009 or later.
If you already signed your child up with Form 4547 or the app and activated the account, Treasury skips your kid. You don’t get a second account, and you don’t need one.
Babies born later aren’t left out. The rule says Treasury will keep running periodic sign-ups for newly eligible kids, often enough that parents generally won’t need to file anything to get an account opened.
2. The $1,000 isn’t automatic. You have to ask for it
This is the one that’ll cost families real money.
Kids born from 2025 through 2028 qualify for a one-time $1,000 deposit from the Treasury. But the new rule spells it out: The Treasury Secretary can’t make that election for you. Somebody in the family has to.
According to the IRS instructions for Form 4547, the child must be a U.S. citizen with a valid Social Security number, born after Dec. 31, 2024, and before Jan. 1, 2029.
You can file the form with your tax return, or check the official site, TrumpAccounts.gov, to do it online.
Why sweat a single grand? Because it compounds for 18 years before anybody can touch it. Treasury’s own illustration, based on historical stock returns, shows $1,000 at birth growing to about $6,000 by age 18 — without another dime added.
That can help pay for a used car or some expenses for a first year at a state school. Walking away from it because nobody told you to check a box would be a shame.
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3. Claim the account, or nobody else can add to it
Until a parent or guardian claims an automatic account, the Treasury Secretary is technically in charge of it. And while it’s sitting unclaimed, it can only take money from governments and charities that fund whole groups of kids at once.
Grandma can’t chip in. Neither can your employer, even if it’s one of the companies that promised to contribute. That money needs a claimed account to land in.
To claim it, you’ll have to prove who you are, show you have legal authority over the child’s account and sign consent forms so Treasury can share the child’s information with you. Then you activate it with the account trustee and sign the account agreement.
The good part: Treasury estimates the claim itself takes about six minutes.
4. You can’t opt out, and that’s OK
Some parents will bristle at the government opening an account for their kid without asking. I get it.
But there’s no opt-out in the new rule, and once there’s money in an account, it can’t be closed until the child’s growth period ends — Dec. 31 of the year the kid turns 17.
Treasury is considering a way for a young adult to formally refuse an account, but only once they’re 18, only if nobody has claimed it, and only if it never got the $1,000 deposit. For now, that’s just an idea Treasury is taking public comments on.
Meanwhile, there’s no charge to open an account, according to Treasury. Leaving it alone won’t hurt you. Ignoring the $1,000 will.
Just don’t confuse “free account” with “best place for your own money.” Before you pour in your own cash, read “Your Kid’s Free $1,000 Trump Account Has a Catch.” For many families, a 529 or a Roth IRA does the job better.
5. Expect scammers to beat Treasury to your phone
Sixty million new accounts, $1,000 deposits and a lot of confused parents? That’s a crook’s dream.
The new rule doesn’t say how Treasury will contact families. So assume any text, email or social media message urging you to “claim your child’s $1,000” is fake until proven otherwise. Don’t click the link. Type TrumpAccounts.gov into your browser yourself.
For what it’s worth, the IRS says its first contact is normally a letter, and that a direct message on social media is never from the agency.
Above all, never hand your child’s Social Security number to anyone who contacts you out of the blue. A kid’s clean credit history is gold to identity thieves, and your child might be a victim without you knowing for years.
If you want another layer of defense, you can compare identity protection services that cover the whole family.
The bottom line
I’ve been writing about money since 1991, and here’s one rule that’s never failed me: when the government hands out something free, there’s usually a form attached.
This time, the account really is free, and it really is automatic. The $1,000 isn’t. If your kid was born from 2025 through 2028, file Form 4547 or visit TrumpAccounts.gov this week. Then claim the account so the rest of the family can pitch in.
A few minutes of paperwork today could be worth $6,000 by the time your kid graduates high school. That’s the best hourly rate you’ll earn all year.
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