Trump Administration Launches ‘Capitalist from Birth’ Initiative for U.S. Children

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Wednesday, 28 January 2026 01:47 PM EST

The Trump Accounts initiative will make “every child in America a capitalist from birth,” according to Altimeter Capital founder and CEO Brad Gerstner.

Gerstner is one of the key figures behind the administration’s program that will allow all children born after January 1, 2025, to begin life with an investment account seeded with $1,000.

The initiative, which began four years ago as a push to “reconnect every child in America with the American Dream,” was announced Wednesday by President Donald Trump at an event where Gerstner described it as part of his “Main Street Agenda” alongside calls for no taxes on tips, Social Security, or overtime.

Gerstner, who partnered with Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell to integrate private sector involvement, stated that the effort advanced after Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, authored the Invest America Act in the Senate and Trump quickly embraced the concept.

“He immediately understood the impact that this wasn’t about the wealthy folks in America,” Gerstner said. “This was about the 50 million American families who will be lifted up and reconnected to the American dream.”

Under Trump Accounts, “every child in America, from rural Missouri to rural Indiana, from Trenton to Compton, is going to start off life with an investment account at birth, seeded with $1,000,” Gerstner added, noting that children will gain a personal stake in major U.S. companies.

“They privately own Nvidia and Microsoft,” he said, describing the program as a private-market approach “independent from government, not more socialism.”

“The answer to more socialism is more capitalism,” Gerstner concluded.

Gerstner credited Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senator Ted Cruz for advancing the legislation, stating it “would not have happened without their leadership.”

The initiative also includes Gerstner’s personal pledge of $250 per child under age 5 in his home state of Indiana.

Dell described passage of the bill as a “miracle” and emphasized that Trump Accounts creates a platform for communities, families, corporations, and philanthropists to add to children’s accounts.

“In not too many years, essentially every child in America will have savings invested in the greatest companies in this country,” Dell said. “That will change the face of this country over the next 10, 20, or 30 years.”

Dell added: “The best investment a country can make is in its people, especially in its children.”

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades of journalism experience and covers news, media, and politics.