Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said seven million children have enrolled in Trump Accounts since the program launched July 4, describing the investment accounts as a way to expand financial literacy by giving young Americans real-time experience with saving and investing.
Bessent outlined the program in remarks for a meeting of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission in the Treasury Department’s historic Cash Room. The commission met to discuss digital financial literacy and efforts to help Americans understand and safely navigate an increasingly technology-driven financial system.
“When the Trump Accounts program went live on July 4th, it became the most successful launch in government history,” Bessent said. “Today, 7 million children are enrolled, 86 percent of whom are from families earning less than $200,000.”
Trump Accounts are tax-advantaged investment accounts available to U.S. citizens under the age of 18. The accounts were enacted through the Big Beautiful Bill.
All U.S. citizens under 18 are eligible to begin saving through the accounts, while children born during Trump’s second term, from 2025 through 2028, are eligible for a $1,000 seed investment from the U.S. Treasury.
Bessent presented the program as a shift from abstract financial education to practical experience, allowing participating families to track savings in real time and learn through direct involvement in the market.
“As I mentioned at our previous meeting in February, we have reached a new paradigm in financial education with Trump Accounts because we are going from an abstract notion to a real-time experience,” he said.
Bessent said digital platforms and financial products have changed how Americans bank, invest, save, spend, and borrow.
“And the easier it is to participate in our financial system, the more important it becomes to understand how it works,” he said.
Bessent also noted that many consumers, particularly younger Americans, are turning to social media, online communities, and artificial intelligence for financial advice.
“So today, we will focus on how to help them evaluate this information critically, navigate the digital marketplace safely, and make financial decisions more confidently,” he said.
“By meeting consumers where they are, we can ensure that financial education keeps pace with financial innovation,” he said.
Bessent said Trump Accounts provide an example of that approach because participants can learn about saving and investing while holding an account tied to the American economy.
“Every child born during the President’s term can get a stake in the American Dream from day one with a $1,000 seed investment from the U.S. Treasury,” he said. “And all U.S. citizens under eighteen are eligible to start saving immediately with these tax-advantaged investment accounts.”
Bessent said 38 percent of American households have no exposure to equity markets and that approximately two-thirds of Generation Z Americans fail to answer more than half of basic financial-literacy questions correctly.
He said that enrolling children in investment accounts could create a new class of shareholders and make movements in financial markets personally relevant to millions of families.
“Trump Accounts will unleash a financial literacy boom,” Bessent said. “The daily movements of the market will now be personally meaningful to millions.”
The Treasury Department has also developed 15 educational modules that are available through the Trump Accounts app. Bessent said the modules are tailored to different age groups and allow parents to participate alongside their children.
He characterized the program as a large-scale, real-time learning experience intended to give the next generation both an economic stake and the knowledge needed to participate in the financial system.
“As we embark on one of the great real-time learning experiences in the history of the United States, I look forward to working with each of you on this Commission to help a new generation enter our economy with both a stake in its future and the knowledge of how to thrive in it,” Bessent said.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also posted a video on X highlighting the commission’s meeting and the Trump administration’s financial-education efforts.
“Financial literacy fuels the American Dream,” the OCC wrote. “The Financial Literacy & Education Commission this week discussed how the Trump Administration continues to further financial education & unlock opportunity for all Americans.”
The video opened with President Trump saying, “We’re finally ensuring that every young American gets a great start in life.”
A narrator said that future opportunities begin with financial literacy and noted that the financial system is changing through new technologies, new savings methods, and new opportunities for younger Americans.
In clips included in the video, Bessent said Trump Accounts would make market activity meaningful to more Americans and help create what he described as a generation of capitalists who believe in America.
“Trump accounts can be the antidote, minting a generation of capitalists who believe in America,” Bessent said. “Trump accounts represent the triumph of capitalism over socialism.”
The video said leaders across the federal government are advancing financial education before showing a clip of Bessent discussing the role of the two dozen federal agencies represented at the meeting.
“The pursuit of financial literacy has never belonged to any one of us, but to all of us,” Bessent said in the clip.
The video also stated that the OCC continues to offer practical educational resources that consumers can use in their daily lives.
The commission meeting continued an initiative that Bessent has emphasized since becoming Treasury secretary. One of his first actions upon entering office was relaunching Financial Literacy Month.
Bessent promoted financial literacy throughout April through events, partnerships, and resources available on MyMoney.gov. He concluded Financial Literacy Month by welcoming more than 50 students from the greater Washington, DC, area to a Treasury Department fair hosted alongside Visa that featured interactive financial-education activities and a tour of the Treasury Vault. Bessent told the students that financial literacy is “a necessity, just like reading and writing,” encouraged them to develop skills in saving, budgeting, planning, and investing, and said Trump Accounts would give children a direct stake in the American economy while helping them build wealth from an early age.
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