Authored by Paul Mueller via The Daily Economy,
No - or at least, not by the time they finish high school.
Depending on how they're funded, a Trump Account could turn a child into a decamillionaire by retirement, or it might just be worth about $4,300 on their eighteenth birthday. As with any account, three variables dictate the outcome: contributions, rate of return, and time.
What might Trump Accounts actually be worth for children born this year? A thousand dollars takes a very long time to become a million dollars. That initial thousand dollars for children born during this administration could grow to be $4,342.45 (8.5 percent annual return), $5,122.17 (9.5 percent annual return), or $6,032.83 (10.5 percent annual return) by the time they turn 18. That's nice, but not life-changing.
Does this mean Trump Accounts won't materially benefit a lot of kids? No. The magic of the numbers really comes from the basic principles of compound interest over long periods of time, not anything special or magical about the Trump Accounts themselves.
Extending the time horizon to retirement, however, is a different story. These Trump Accounts could be worth a lot if funded aggressively and left to compound over a lifetime. By the time a child born today reaches retirement age in 2093, that $1,000 seed money could be worth: $236,478.93 (8.5 percent annual return), $437,266.28 (9.5 percent annual return), or a whopping $804,030.69 (10.5 percent annual return).
Currently, Trump Accounts are limited to $5,000 annually of individual contributions, but qualified general contributions do not count toward this. So Michael Dell's $6.25 billion gift of $250 per child toward 25 million accounts will not count against the $5,000 annual limit. The claim about Trump accounts creating millionaires only works if one assumes the money compounds at an above market rate until the kids retire at age 67, or that they receive thousands of dollars of contributions into their account while children.
Maxing out the annual contributions ($5000/year, $90,000 over 18 years), however, will deliver impressive results. By the time they turn 18, those children will have a substantial endowment of $200,957 (8.5 percent), $222,078 (9.5 percent), or $245,691 (10.5 percent) depending on their rate of return. Extend that another 50 years or so to retirement and we are talking real money: ~$11 million (8.5 percent), ~$19 million (9.5 percent), or ~$33 million (10.5 percent).*
These calculations don't account for inflation. Prices may be three and a half (2 percent annual inflation) to seven times (3 percent annual inflation) higher in 67 years. So that eye-popping number of $33 million (which will not be a common outcome) may only be worth the equivalent of $4 to $10 million in today's dollars. While 10.5 percent is the historical long-term average annual rate of return for the S&P 500, it can vary quite a bit year to year and even decade to decade. More importantly, most children will not see maxed-out annual contributions to their accounts every year.
Becoming a decamillionaire requires $5,000 contributions per child annually for 18 years - no small feat for most people. One of the architects of Trump Accounts, Brad Gerstner, however, believes that hundreds of billions of philanthropic dollars will flow into these accounts every year. Plus, these accounts may serve as a focal point for family and friends who want to contribute to children's long-term prosperity - much as grandparents of an older generation would give long-term Treasury bonds to their grandkids.
But there were already tax vehicles to invest money for your own kids, like 529 education savings accounts. Trump accounts were created to facilitate broad-based direct-transfer philanthropy. Billionaires now have a mechanism for giving money directly to millions of people without government officials or NGOs taking a big cut. The distribution of the Dells' gift just hit children's accounts this week.
Will there be widespread adoption of Trump accounts, and will people contribute to them regularly? Less than a month after the rollout, Secretary Bessent said over seven million children were enrolled - a promising start. Will billionaires contribute significant amounts of their wealth to millions of kids through Trump accounts? Michael and Susan Dell's $250 per child gift, matched by Gerstner in Indiana and Dalio in Connecticut, has become a reality. And will Trump accounts provide a viable alternative to currently unsustainable entitlement programs like Social Security? These are a few very important questions that will determine how much Trump accounts impact American society.
It's true that Trump accounts, should they be held until retirement, could be worth impressive amounts of money, especially if people contribute every year their child is a minor. But 2093 is a long way off. Saving and investing for the far future is great. Parents will still have to decide whether sacrificing thousands of dollars today is worth tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in future decades.
*The account projections do not incorporate the program's permitted fund fees, which may be as high as 0.10 percent annually, per this White House explanation. Even a small fee matters over 67 years.
Tyler Durden Tue, 09/15/2026 - 08:05The rise of right-wing populism in Germany comes as globalist policies backfire and crush Europe's industrial powerhouse. The nation's auto industry is in shambles, with layoffs and production cuts, after European leaders had the brilliant idea of letting cheap Chinese EVs flood the struggling continent.
Bloomberg cites new data from Schmidt Automotive Research showing Chinese brands accounted for 10.7% of Western European car sales in the second quarter, up from 3.4% two years earlier, highlighting how BYD Motors's cheap $34,000 EV is quickly taking market share from domestic brands.
Chinese EVs in the EU have seen quarterly registrations surpass those of Japanese brands. Citigroup analyst Harald Hendrikse estimates Chinese brands could capture 30% of the EU market by 2035 without additional protective measures.
The immediate result of the flood of Chinese EVs on the continent has been restructuring news from Volkswagen that upwards of 100,000 jobs could be cut by the end of the decade. More recently, Jaguar Land Rover plans to cut 10% of its workforce.
Beyond automakers, the ripple effect of layoffs is impacting parts supplier companies:
European Auto Job Cuts
Auto Suppliers Job Cuts
Germany, previously resistant to tougher trade barriers, is preparing tariffs on Chinese hybrids as it watches its industrial base erode, stoking the rise of Alternative für Deutschland as German political elites betray working-class folks.
Protection could give domestic brands time to restructure. Still, China's dominance in batteries and rare earths gives Beijing potential means to retaliate, complicating Europe's effort to preserve its automotive industrial base.
The quick erosion of Europe's automotive industry is a national security risk for the continent because its factories, skilled workforce and supplier networks underpin the continent's capacity to produce weapons. At a time when the Russia-Ukraine war escalates and the Middle East conflict spreads, a diminished industrial base in Europe ahead of a much-needed rearmament supercycle is just bad news for EU defenses.
Tyler Durden Tue, 09/15/2026 - 07:45