The man who spearheaded Trump Accounts said President Donald Trump wants to automatically open accounts for all American children.
In an “All-In Podcast” interview released on Saturday, Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner spoke about the early success of Trump Accounts and how Trump wants to increase adoption.
“In fact, the president suggested that we’re going to auto-create accounts for all 50 million kids — or upwards of 70 million kids — under the age of 18,” Gerstner said.
“So he called on us to get the accounts open faster, for more people, to have more impact, and to make sure no child is left behind,” he added.
Gerstner was one of the architects of Trump Accounts, an investment vehicle for children under 18 that gives them early access to the stock market. Eligible newborns born between 2025 and 2028 will receive $1,000 deposited into their accounts by the US Treasury.
Currently, the program is opt-in, requiring parents to create accounts for their children by submitting an IRS Form 4547 with their tax filings or online through the Trump Accounts website or app.
Later in the interview, one of the podcast hosts, angel investor Jason Calacanis, asked if Gerstner would be following Trump’s instructions to auto-create accounts using Social Security numbers of people under 18.
Gerstner replied that it was the team’s intention to get up to 70 million accounts created “over the course of the next 90 days using all of this data.”
But they needed to work with the Treasury, the White House, and the Social Security Administration to make it happen, he said.
Trump Accounts were launched on July 4, and private donors like Michael and Susan Dell and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell have contributed millions to the accounts. Companies like Goldman Sachs, Micron, and Bank of America have pledged to contribute to their employees’ children’s accounts.
In an X post on Thursday, the White House wrote that American families contributed nearly $125 million to Trump Accounts in the first five days since its launch. Gerstner said during the All-In interview that “over a billion dollars” have been deposited into the accounts in total.
Researchers and think tanks have urged an auto-enrollment structure for the accounts since they were announced last year.
The think tank Urban Institute said in a January article that opt-in programs have historically seen low participation rates, particularly among low-income families.
And a September study published by the Washington University Brown School’s Center for Social Development wrote that automatic enrollment would “enable the policy to avoid the high costs and low participation rates of programs with opt-in enrollment structures.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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