I work in Financial Capability at NeighborWorks® America, so I know what people are talking about in the field, especially when it comes to saving to buy or rent a home. I also have children, and I am strategic there, too, listening for programs that will help my family and others prepare for the costs of growing into adulthood in the United States.
Even before my youngest child was born, I began hearing about the Trump/530A accounts, with a federal, $1,000 contribution available to children born between 2025 and 2028. I signed up before our baby could even sleep through the night.
My two elementary-aged children were too old to qualify for the $1,000 contribution. But there is other money out there for them, like the contributions being offered by the Dell Foundation. My kids were the right age and we were living in one of the targeted ZIP codes. When we realized they were eligible, we opened accounts for them, too. 
Like a lot of parents, we'd already been saving. But these new accounts open the door to contributions from philanthropic organizations, employers and even state and local governments. We wanted to make sure our children had access to them.
The process for all three kids was surprisingly easy. We were able to use IRS Form 4547 when we filed our taxes, and we got all three accounts established that way.
But it’s even easier now. My kids were among the 10% of eligible children who had been registered by July of this year. To make sure all eligible children were enrolled, the U.S. Treasury Department reported this month that they had automatically registered 60 million children into the accounts. Parents need to claim the accounts to receive contributions.
As early adopters, when the accounts went live on July 4, we were able to log in and see our baby's $1,000 contribution. A couple of months later, the funds from The Dell Foundation showed up in our older kids’ accounts.
With accounts like this, it’s the length of time in the system that helps accrue money. While my kids would still be eligible to receive the money if I waited to sign them up when they were 17 and thinking about college, they’d still be able to get the $1,000. But the money wouldn’t be in the market and it wouldn’t have time to grow. That’s why signing them up early was important to me, and that’s why it’s important for parents to take the next step for their kids to claim their accounts.
Because I work in financial capability, we've been very open with our kids about money in general. We’ve helped them design “souvenir budgets” for trips where they can make choices about what to spend their money on. Our oldest gets an allowance and weighs how important something is to them if we say we won’t pay for it, “but you can use your allowance money if you’d like to.”
We have tried to talk about compound interest and how investment accounts like the Trump/530A Accounts will grow more over time. I think that conversation is still going over their heads for now.
But you don’t need to be a financial expert to take advantage of these accounts.
One of the things I appreciate is that the money is invested in a broad index fund automatically. Parents don't have to pick stocks or know a lot about investing to get started. For families who are new to saving and investing, these accounts can become a learning opportunity. Parents and children can learn together, and there are plenty of resources available to help along the way.
I've been talking about the new program with friends and coworkers, especially people who have children around the same age or who live in the same area. At a dinner playdate the other day I even mentioned to our neighbors: “Hey: Our ZIP code is eligible for the Dell Foundation contributions and signing up was really easy.” My husband pulled up the App on his phone to show them what the accounts look like.
At my office, NeighborWorks® America, I’m working with my team to ensure that the 250 nonprofits in our network have up-to-date information on the accounts, too – especially organizations that have Volunteer Income Tax Programs, where they are sure to get a lot of questions.
NeighborWorks will be hosting a webinar for network organizations so they can learn more about the accounts. The webinar will take place Oct. 24 from 1:30-3 p.m. ET. And for those of you reading who are not in our network (including my neighbors), you can learn more by visiting the government website.
