Who qualifies for the ‘Trump accounts’ for kids? Michael and Susan Dell just donated $6.25 billion as seed money.

The seed money for new specialized investment accounts for kids is growing — and now the hope is for an even bigger bloom.

Tech billionaire Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, announced a pledge Tuesday to put $6.25 billion dollars into the tax-advantaged accounts for children — known as “Trump accounts” — that were established as part of the massive tax bill that passed this summer.

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The pledge amounts to $250 per account for 25 million children age 10 and under, according to the Dells.

The money is separate from the $1,000 that the U.S. government is putting into those accounts for children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and the end of 2028.

The Dells’ pledge is meant for older children who will not get that $1,000, according to a fact sheet.

This donation would provide a leg up for a generation of children who will eventually make investments and retirement plans — and a boost to their parents, who are facing the increasingly expensive job of raising children as the costs of child care, housing and health insurance have soared.

“We’ve seen what happens when a child gets even a small financial head start. Their world expands,” Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies, said in a video posted on X.

It’s a splash of a donation on Giving Tuesday, a day when people around the world are encouraged to donate to worthy causes after making purchases on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

President Donald Trump lauded the Dells for their pledge at a Tuesday afternoon event. “We hope many others will follow Michael and Susan’s example and make their own contributions,” he said.

It could just be the start, Trump said as a website went live for the new investment vehicles, Trumpaccounts.gov.

The Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday said parents will be able to establish an account by filling out a new tax form or creating the account online, via the Trumpaccounts.gov website.

“We expect hundreds of major companies to announce plans to contribute to these accounts in the coming months, and we had tremendous interest in that regard,” Trump said.

Children who have the accounts won’t be able to access the money until they turn 18. If no other money is added to the account, the initial $1,000 investment would grow to approximately $3,500 over 18 years, assuming a 7% annual return.

Account holders will be taxed on the money they take out of the accounts, making them not as favorable, taxwise, as other savings vehicles for children, such as 529 plans, experts previously told MarketWatch.

From the archives (July 2025): Read this before putting any of your own money into one of those Trump accounts for babies

There’s still plenty to learn about the fine print on the accounts, including how to open them, and where the money can be invested. The IRS on Tuesday unveiled guidance, notices and requests for feedback on the account’s details.

Here’s what parents should know about the Dells’ $6.25 billion donation and the wider set of rules coming into focus on these accounts.

The new accounts are essentially junior individual retirement accounts, and the money in them grows tax-deferred.

The contribution limit is $5,000 per year and will be indexed for inflation starting in 2028. Parents, family members, nonprofits or employers can put money into a child’s account. The money in the accounts can be invested in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds tracking major stock indexes, according to Charles Schwab, and the first contributions can be made on July 4, 2026.

Once the beneficiary turns 18, the account has to be converted to an IRA, and withdrawal rules on these accounts apply, the Schwab explainer noted.

The IRS said the investment funds used in the accounts have to follow the S&P 500 SPX or another index that follows mostly American equities.

In its rule-making notice on the accounts, the tax authority sketched out its thinking on the possible rules for investments. That includes a low-cost requirement; the fees and expenses cannot exceed 0.1% of the fund’s net assets, the IRS said.

The investment funds cannot be designed to try to outperform market performance, nor can the money sit in cash or a money market mutual fund for too long , the IRS said.

An account can be invested in more than one eligible investment, the IRS said.

The megabill known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act created the accounts and the provisions about who is eligible for the $1,000 in government money. Any kid under age 18 who has a Social Security number can set up an account, but only children born after Dec. 31, 2024, and before Jan. 1, 2029, will get the $1,000 grant, according to the law. The children must also be U.S. citizens.

The Dells’ pledge widens the pool of children who will get a head start on investing. The pledge is meant for children in ZIP codes where the median income is $150,000 or less, and the money will be deposited straight into their accounts, according to a spokesperson for the Dells. Nearly 80% of children age 10 and under across 75% of U.S. ZIP codes are expected to receive the $250, according to the Dells.

That deposit will occur after parents activate a child’s account, according to the fact sheet about the $6.25 billion donation, which is coming out of the Dells’ charitable funds. If demand exceeds supply, younger children will be prioritized, the fact sheet said.

Separately, Dell Technologies announced last summer that it is planning to match the $1,000 from the federal government for newborn children of its U.S. employees.

Generally speaking, employers can contribute up to $2,500 per year and the sum counts as part of the $5,000 maximum contribution, according to the IRS. The money that employers put in these accounts does not count as part of the employee’s own taxable income, the IRS said.

People will be able to open the accounts starting early next year and will be able to contribute to them starting July 4, 2026, according to Trumpaccounts.gov.

The fact sheet about the Dells’ donation notes that philanthropists, charities, and state and local governments can give to the accounts without a cap — and that money does not count toward the $5,000 annual limit.

At the White House, spokesman Kush Desai added that the Dells’ “investment into America’s children is the first of many announcements to come for America’s children.”

From the archives (May 2025): The GOP tax bill would give every American newborn a $1,000 ‘MAGA account.’ How would it work — and would it make a difference?

Robert Schroeder contributed to this report.

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