Loan Trump Accounts Calculator
A Trump Account is a new kind of IRA for a child, created by the 2025 tax law: the federal government adds a one-time $1,000 for eligible children born in 2025–2028, family and employers can add up to $5,000 a year combined, and the money stays locked until the child turns 18. Enter a birth year and a contribution plan and see what it could grow to — every rule below is sourced from IRS guidance, and the parts that are not final yet are labelled as such.
The law caps family + employer contributions at $5,000 a year combined (employer part capped at $2,500) — enter more and the calculator models the capped amount and tells you. The projection runs from birth to the 18th birthday; real accounts opened later simply have fewer years, and the seed is invested when the account is established, not literally on the birthday.
Year by year
| Age | Contributed so far | Balance |
|---|---|---|
| Run the numbers to see the growth table. | ||
The balance column is the invested account at the assumed return. The plain-savings comparison in the results uses the same deposits at the savings rate — same discipline, different engine.
How it works
Trump Accounts were created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 4, 2025; Internal Revenue Code §530A) and explained in IRS Notice 2025-68. The verified rules this calculator models: any child under 18 with a Social Security number can have an account, opened by a parent or guardian election (IRS Form 4547, or trumpaccounts.gov); a one-time $1,000 federal pilot contribution goes to children who are U.S. citizens born January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2028; family, friends and employers may contribute up to $5,000 a year combined (indexed for inflation after 2027), with the employer share capped at $2,500 per employee per year and tax-free to the employee — the $1,000 pilot does not count against the $5,000; contributions could first be made from July 4, 2026; and money generally cannot be withdrawn before January 1 of the year the child turns 18, after which the account is treated like a traditional IRA. Not yet final: the detailed regulations were still in proposed form in 2026, and program mechanics (exact deposit timing, state/charity top-up programs) can still change — check trumpaccounts.gov for the current state. The math here is a plain compound-growth projection: the seed plus each year’s contributions, grown at the return you assume. Nothing here is guaranteed — markets do not pay a fixed rate.
Formula & worked example
Formula: Balance at 18 = seed × (1 + r)years + (family + employer) × [((1 + r)years − 1) ÷ r] × (1 + r), where r is the assumed annual return and the contributions are modelled at the start of each year. The seed is $1,000 for an eligible child (U.S. citizen born 2025–2028, SSN, election filed) and counts from birth; years = 18 − (2026 − birth year), so a later birth year means fewer compounding years. Family + employer contributions are capped at $5,000 a year combined, the employer share at $2,500.
Worked example: A child born in 2026, the $1,000 seed, $1,000 a year from family and a 6% assumed return: the account reaches $35,614.33 at age 18 — $19,000 of contributions and $16,614.33 of growth. The year-by-year table shows the balance passing $10,000 at age 7 and growth nearly catching total contributions by 18, which is compounding doing the heavy lifting late.
When to use this
- Your child was born in 2025–2028 and you want to know what the free $1,000 actually becomes by 18 — with and without your own contributions on top.
- Your employer offers a Trump Account contribution program and you are deciding whether to route family money through it for the tax-free $2,500.
- You are comparing a Trump Account against a 529 or a custodial brokerage account and want the Trump Account's own trajectory first.
- Grandparents ask what a yearly birthday contribution would grow to — this shows them the number without a sales pitch.
How to use it, step by step
- Enter the child's birth year — the pilot eligibility line updates from the published 2025–2028 window.
- Set the seed drop-down: let it check the birth year, or force Yes/No if you know the child's citizenship or filing situation differs.
- Enter what family and others will contribute each year, and any employer contribution separately (it has its own $2,500 cap).
- Set the assumed return — 6% is a middle case, not a forecast — and a savings-account rate for the comparison.
- Read the balance at 18 with the contributed-versus-growth split, then scan the year-by-year table to see when compounding takes over.
What the inputs mean
| Input | What it is | Typical values |
|---|---|---|
| Child's birth year | Sets both pilot eligibility and the years of growth to age 18 | 2025–2028 for the $1,000 pilot |
| Pilot eligibility | Whether the $1,000 federal contribution is counted | Auto-checks the birth window; override if needed |
| Family contributions | What parents, grandparents and others add each year | Any amount; combined cap is $5,000/yr |
| Employer contribution | Employer program money, tax-free to the employee | Capped at $2,500/yr per employee |
| Assumed annual return | The growth rate applied to the whole projection | Try 4%, 6% and 8% — markets vary |
| Savings rate (comparison) | Rate for the plain-savings comparison line | National-average savings rates sit under 1% |
Another worked example
Maximum effort from birth: a 2026-born child, the $1,000 seed, the full $5,000 a year from family and a 7% assumed return. Contributions total $91,000 and the balance at 18 is $185,274.76 — $94,274.76 of it growth. The same deposits left in a plain savings account at 0.5% reach only $95,492.51, so on these assumptions the investing decision itself is worth about $90,000. Split the $5,000 as $2,500 family + $2,500 employer at 6% instead and the balance is $166,654.30 — the employer's share costs the family nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Which children get the $1,000?
U.S. citizens born between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028 who have a Social Security number — with a parent or guardian filing the election (IRS Form 4547 or trumpaccounts.gov). There is no income test. Children born outside that window can still have a Trump Account; they just do not receive the federal $1,000.
How much can our family add each year?
Up to $5,000 a year in total from family, friends and employers combined. An employer may contribute up to $2,500 of that per employee per year, tax-free to the employee, under a formal employer program. The federal $1,000 pilot contribution sits outside the cap. On the defaults here — a 2026-born child, $1,000 a year from family at 6% — the account reaches $35,614.33 by age 18: $19,000 contributed, $16,614.33 of growth.
When can the money come out?
Generally not before January 1 of the calendar year the child turns 18 — that lock is the design, not a bug. After the growth period the account is generally treated as a traditional IRA, with the usual IRA tax rules on withdrawals. Narrow exceptions exist in the guidance; your own situation belongs with the IRS pages or a tax professional, not a calculator.
Can I open one today, and where?
Elections opened with 2025 tax returns (Form 4547) and at trumpaccounts.gov; contributions themselves could first be made from July 4, 2026. The Treasury establishes the initial account; rollover accounts at financial institutions follow once the initial account exists. Only one funded Trump Account is allowed per child.
Is 6% a promise?
No — it is an assumption you control. Trump Accounts must be invested in diversified index-style investments during the growth period, and long-run stock-market averages sit above 6%, but any single 18-year stretch can land well above or below it. Try 4% and 8% as well: at $1,000 a year the spread between them is the difference between a solid head start and a large one.
📈 The growth engine, on its own
Strip away the program rules and this is compound interest doing the lifting — the Compound Interest Calculator shows the same engine on your own savings.
Does the $1,000 count toward the $5,000 yearly cap?
No. The pilot contribution sits outside the cap — the $5,000 limit covers family, friends and employer money combined. It is also why the calculator adds the seed separately from the annual contribution lines: the seed is a one-time deposit, not part of any year's $5,000.
What if my child was born before 2025?
They can still have a Trump Account — any child under 18 with a Social Security number can — but there is no federal $1,000, and the growth window is shorter. A child born in 2020 with $1,000 a year going in at 6% has 12 years of growth and reaches $17,882.14 by 18: $12,000 contributed, $5,882.14 of growth.