The Trump administration has undertaken a public relations blitz for “Trump” accounts over the past month. During the State of the Union address, President Trump asserted that these accounts were “so special, it has taken off and gone through the roof.” A commercial aired during the Super Bowl, promoting these accounts as a way to “jumpstart the American dream.” In late January, Nicki Minaj appeared with President Trump at a summit about Trump Accounts, saying, “Early financial literacy & financial support for our children will give them a major head start in life.”

As an expert on policies that support the economic security of children and families, I have to say – it’s a little more complicated than the hyperbole suggests.

If you’re not familiar with Trump Accounts, these new tax-favored savings accounts for children were recently enacted as part of the 2025 tax and reconciliation bill. According to “trumpaccounts.gov,” parents can open these accounts by filling out a form when they file their taxes or online. In late February, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reported that about two million accounts have already been opened.

Parents (or other family members or employers) can contribute up to a total of $5,000 per year until the child reaches age 18; governments and nonprofits can also make contributions. The federal government will contribute $1,000 to the accounts of children born between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2028. Some private individuals–including Nicki Minaj–are pledging to contribute to the accounts of certain children, like those whose birthdates don’t fall within that narrow window.

One big question is how much these accounts would be worth. Some congressional champions and President Trump have asserted that these accounts could be worth over a hundred thousand dollars by the time a child turns 18. But “could” is doing a lot of work in that calculation: to achieve those lofty account balances, parents or other family members have to make the maximum annual contribution of $5,000 every year until the child is 18 (and investment rates of return have to be consistently strong).

This is utterly unrealistic for the many families who are struggling in Trump’s economy. With high grocery bills, increased utility costs, and the skyrocketing cost of child care and health care, many families – especially the families whose kids could most benefit from a healthy nest egg – can barely afford the basics, much less scrape together $5,000 a year, every year, to contribute. This administration’s drastic cuts to nutrition assistance and health care supports and threats to child care and social services funding will make it even harder for families across the country to do so.

Now, if a child only ever receives the $1,000 in government “seed money,” and it produces investment returns of 5.4 percent per year (which is admittedly lower than recent historical returns from the S&P index, which hover around 7 percent), the account would be worth around $2,500 when the child turns 18. $2,500 is nothing to sneeze at. But I’m not sure it provides the jumpstart for the “American dream” that is being advertised. It would not enable someone to buy a house, or attend college, or start a business. It certainly is not going to be the transformational policy that remedies growing wealth inequality, or narrows the persistent wealth gap faced by Black families.

There are ways that Trump Accounts could be improved, if policymakers really wanted to ensure that they live up to their promise for all children, especially those who could benefit the most. But that is precisely why Trump Accounts are so dangerous: the policymakers who enacted the Trump accounts are unlikely to finish what they started. Given that the lawmakers who included the Trump Accounts in the tax and reconciliation bill also made historic cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, along with unprecedented tax giveaways to the wealthiest and a huge boost in funding for ICE, they don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.

In their intentionally inadequate design, Trump Accounts are not just a fig leaf for the disastrous tax and reconciliation bill, but a Trojan horse that gives away even more wealth to those at the top. They trumpet the transformative power of saving, without providing new resources for the families who can’t afford to do so. Instead, they provide another way for people who already have wealth to spare, to grow and hoard more of the same.

And when these accounts, inevitably, fail to transform the lives of the children who are born into economically disadvantaged families, those who are loudly promoting Trump Accounts now will likely have a simple explanation: it was their parents’ fault, not policymakers’.

Amy K. Matsui, JD, is Vice President for Child Care and Income Security at the National Women’s Law Center, and a Public Voices Fellow of the OpEd Project in Partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute.

Correction: An updated version of this story was posted on 3/3, including updated data and new policy details.