The Social Security Administration wants more babies signed up for 'Trump accounts.' But there's still a catch.

By Jessica Hall

Social Security is looking to reverse an initially slow uptake on Trump accounts

President Donald Trump gives a pen to a child during an event about "Trump accounts" in the Oval Office on Oct. 7.

The Social Security Administration just made it a little easier for parents to sign up their newborns for "Trump accounts" - investment accounts for children under 18 - but the move falls short of a hoped-for auto-enrollment process.

The SSA will now include information about Trump accounts with Social Security cards issued to newborns through the so-called "enumeration at birth" program. The insert provides instructions for claiming an eligible child's account through the Trump Accounts app. Babies born between 2025 and 2028 are eligible to receive $1,000 in seed money for these accounts from the U.S. Department of Treasury.

This extra push by the Social Security Administration follows an announcement by President Donald Trump earlier this month that each child would be automatically enrolled, after slow initial uptake on the accounts.

"Anything you can do to simplify the process helps. But we're still far from fully automatic," said Ray Boshara, a senior policy adviser at Washington University in St. Louis and the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program, who has helped policymakers develop plans for children's savings accounts.

Information from this insert from the Social Security Administration will accompany Social Security cards for newborns.

The tax-advantaged investment accounts, which are officially known as 530A accounts, were initially promoted as a way to help children build wealth starting from an early age. Research has found that small, consistent contributions to investment accounts over a lifetime are a reliable way to accumulate wealth, even for low earners. The accounts have contribution limits and at the outset were to be invested in index funds.

The insert details how parents can access their newborn's Trump account.

Philanthropists, employers and businesses offered additional seed money for these accounts, including Michael and Susan Dell, who pledged $6.25 billion in cash to the accounts of children meeting age and geographic benchmarks.

Earlier this year, SpaceX (SPCX) President Gwynne Shotwell promised to donate about 2 million shares of the company's stock. Elon Musk on Monday said he would give "every kid in America" a share of SpaceX next year.

Along with Social Security cards mailed to newborns, the Social Security Administration will include an information sheet that directs parents to visit TrumpAccounts.gov to download the Trump Accounts app and sign up. It also will alert them to look for a communication from the Treasury Department with information about activating the account and receiving the $1,000 contribution, if the child is eligible.

"Every time you're asking parents, especially low-income parents, to get through more hoops, they won't get there. They still need to activate the account and it's a separate process to claim the $1,000," Boshara said.

Only 5% of low- and moderate-income families have opened a Trump account for their children, according to a survey published in September by Commonwealth, a nonprofit organization. The top barriers to participating were concerns about the impact on taxes or public benefits, the inability to afford monetary contributions for their accounts and lack of trust in the Trump administration, Commonwealth said.

On Oct. 1, the Trump administration created Trump accounts for more than 60 million children. That was a big step toward smoothing the enrollment process, but the accounts still need to be claimed by parents to manage them and to allow family members, friends and employers to contribute.

The latest move to have the Social Security Administration provide the information for newborns' parents also may help, but it may not go far enough to allay concerns and increase signups, said Juan Hernandez-Ariano, founder and principal of WealthCreate in Houston.

"I think it helps that it starts with Social Security, but the emails don't come from Social Security. They come from 'no-reply@TrumpAccounts.Treasury.gov.' It's a legitimate domain and there's nothing that screams red flag, but we've been taught as consumers that Treasury and Social Security don't really send emails, they send letters in the mail, so I feel like it adds another layer of resistance for some clients," Hernandez-Ariano said.

"There are just a lot of novelties here for people, and I can see that not 100% of people would participate, even the ones who raised their hand originally, because it looks different than what you'd expect, so I don't think easier instructions by themselves will move signups that much," Hernandez-Ariano said.

About 3.6 million babies are born in the U.S. each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.

"Families do need to take additional steps to access the funds for which their children are eligible. So far as that goes, it's a good thing for SSA to inform families how to access a benefit that will help their children. I think it's safe to assume more families will activate their accounts because of SSA's outreach," said Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank.

Romig, however, said that the SSA's message to the public was concerning.

"The agency has a responsibility to provide nonpartisan information to the public. However, the press release frames it as a '$1,000 gift to a Trump account from the U.S. Treasury Department.' This money is not a gift from President Trump nor from his administration, though the naming and framing of the accounts may lead people to believe that it is. In fact, the accounts are a government program passed by Congress and funded through taxpayer dollars," Romig said. "SSA's wide distribution of this message, to an audience well beyond the new parents whose children are eligible for the $1,000, is particularly concerning two weeks before a consequential election."

-Jessica Hall

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10-21-26 1601ET