U.S. President Donald Trump points his finger at the podium at the U.S. Treasury’s Trump Account Summit in Washington, DC, on January 28, 2026.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
The Trump administration is positioning a new investment account, the Trump Account, as an early wealth-building tool for children, which officials say could turn them into millionaires by their late 20s.
But financial advisers and policy experts say this number depends on factors such as annual contributions and investment performance.
“If we, as parents, contributed the maximum amount to our children’s Trump accounts, by the time they were 28 years old, the estimated value would be close to $1.1 million,” White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said at the Trump Accounts Summit in Washington, D.C., on January 28.
Later that day, President Donald Trump told summit attendees that “even with modest donations, Mr. Trump’s account should be worth at least $50,000 by age 18” and “could be significantly more than that.”
“If you donate a little bit more, a typical account can exceed $100,000, $200,000 or even $300,000 per child,” he said.
Other politicians and speakers also announced additional predictions during the event.
Forecasts likely to be ‘significantly exaggerated’ profits
TrumpAccounts.gov predicts that assuming an initial $1,000 in Treasury deposits and no further contributions, the account could grow to $6,000 by age 18, $15,000 by age 27, and $243,000 by age 55. This estimate is based on the S&P 500’s historical average annual return of greater than 10%.
But Alan Viard, senior fellow emeritus at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, said in a Jan. 23 report that these are “overly optimistic assumptions” about future stock market returns that do not adjust for inflation or taxes.
“The administration’s projections vastly overstate the likely returns to the treasurer,” he wrote.
White House Press Secretary Khush Desai told CNBC in an email that many economists had inaccurately predicted an “economic catastrophe” under the Trump administration.
“Economists who cannot see a year from now need to have the humility to admit that they probably cannot predict the 28-plus years of compound growth that a generation of American children will enjoy thanks to the Trump account,” Desai said.
How much will Trump’s account grow?
Account balance prediction is backed by mathematics. Although advisors and other professionals use compound interest calculations, there remains uncertainty in assumptions regarding future returns and contributions.
“Investors should understand that these forecasts reflect best-case outcomes, not expectations,” said Kathy Curtis, a certified financial planner at Curtis Financial Planning in Oakland, California.
He and other advisers say the government’s estimates for the growth of Trump’s account may not be realistic for many families.
“Such predictions are mathematically possible, but they rely on a very specific set of assumptions that deserve scrutiny,” said CFP Douglas Bonepers, president of Born Fied Wealth in New York.
For their children to reach seven figures by their late 20s, parents will need to maximize their Trump account over many years while earning “fairly strong and uninterrupted market returns,” Vonepers said.
“Unfortunately, that’s not how most families actually save,” he says.
For example, if a family starts with $0 and contributes $2,500 a year, they would have about $282,000 after 28 years, assuming a 9% annual return based on “the long-term average growth rate of the stock market,” says Gloria Garcia Cisneros, CFP and wealth manager at Lord Murray in Los Angeles.
But “the stock market goes up and down quite a bit from year to year,” she says.
Some market analysts say U.S. stock market returns could decline even further over the next decade, with six major stocks predicting annual returns of 3.1% to 6.7%, according to a January report from Morningstar.
Additionally, investors may need to consider custody fees and fund expense ratios that can reduce returns, said Zach Teutsch, founder and managing partner of Values Added Financial in Washington, D.C.
Trump’s account will be invested in “broad-based U.S. stock index funds,” such as mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, with annual fees of less than 0.1%, according to the Treasury Department. The exact investment options are still unknown.
Garcia Cisneros said families should consider a variety of account options when funding their children’s educational goals, including 529 college savings plans.
Mr. Bonepers, Mr. Curtis, Mr. Garcia Cisneros and Mr. Teutsch are all members of CNBC’s Council of Financial Advisors.
