Treasury Releases App for Trump Accounts

The Department of the Treasury officially launched Trump Accounts nationwide on July 4, rolling out the full version of the program’s mobile app on Monday to begin the program created under last year’s expansive tax bill.

The launch allows parents to open and fund accounts, monitor investment performance, access financial education information and receive personalized guidance through the app.

The program’s debut marks the culmination of a rapid implementation effort following last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included the accounts as Section 530A of the Internal Revenue Code.

According to Treasury, the app now provides full account management capabilities, including setting up and making recurring contributions, real-time balance tracking, and educational content designed to introduce families to concepts such as investing, compound growth and diversification. The department also highlighted the program’s goal of expanding stock ownership by giving children an investment account early in life, with contributions from parents, employers, charitable organizations and, through a pilot program for children born from 2025 through 2028, a one-time $1,000 federal seed deposit. More than 50 employers have already committed to offering contributions for employees’ children, Treasury said.

The launch follows several weeks of regulatory guidance intended to address questions from employers and financial institutions. Treasury recently designated a low-cost State Street S&P 500 exchange-traded fund as the default investment option, with four additional broad U.S. stock index funds expected to become available in the coming months. Annual fees are capped, by law, at 0.10%.

Last week, the department also announced that companies can donate public stock to the accounts. Though the accounts are limited to low-cost mutual funds or exchange-traded funds, per previous IRS guidance, the IRS previously stated that eligible investments could include “such other criteria as the Secretary determines appropriate.”

The Department of Labor also clarified that most employer contributions to Trump Accounts will not, by themselves, create a retirement plan covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, removing what many employers viewed as a key legal uncertainty ahead of the launch.

Doug Magnolia, the chief customer officer of Vestwell and the president of Vestwell State Savings, says the administration has moved unusually quickly to set up an entirely new national savings program.

“It’s pretty incredible that they’re going to get it up and running this quickly,” Magnolia says, adding that the industry is now looking toward “Phase 2,” in which additional guidance will be released and more financial institutions will begin offering the accounts.

The Treasury appointed the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. as the initial financial agent and Robinhood Markets Inc. as the initial broker for Trump Accounts. Already, other institutions such as Vanguard and Fidelity have announced rollover capability for Trump Account contributions.

Magnolia says he expects the accounts to complement—not replace—existing savings vehicles such as 529 college savings plans and retirement accounts by introducing families to investing much earlier.

“The real winner about this whole idea is getting people started early,” Magnolia says. “I kind of think they’re training wheels.”

Starting children with an investment account, he argues, could improve financial literacy and make future participation in retirement plans such as 401(k)s more intuitive.

While the recent government guidance has answered lingering questions about the accounts, the speedy launch of the accounts and their newness should lead employers to tread carefully on offering any matches to Trump accounts, says Lisa Carrasco, a partner in law firm Smith Gambrell Russell.

Carrasco says the DOL’s guidance about how the accounts can avoid falling under ERISA, for example, answered an important threshold question, but employers are still awaiting more detailed IRS rules governing plan administration and payroll implementation.

“If I was a cautious employer, that’s what I would be doing,” Carrasco says of waiting for additional guidance. “Employers should consider making contributions, but that doesn’t mean I think they should necessarily be up and running to do so right away.”