U.S. Treasury Proposes Common Sense and Low-Cost Investment Rules for Trump Accounts

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced proposed guidance governing eligible investments in Trump Accounts, with a focus on keeping costs low, promoting broad diversification, and helping children’s savings grow over the long term.

“Every dollar in a child’s Trump Account should be working toward that child’s financial future, not diminished by unnecessary fees,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury is putting simple, commonsense protections in place to help families keep more of their investment returns.”

Treasury previously announced that State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM) would be the default investment for all Trump Accounts. Treasury also announced four additional low-cost index ETFs that may be chosen for investment by a parent or other responsible party.

Investment fees and expenses can materially reduce account balances over time. Treasury’s proposed guidance would support the long-term growth of children’s Trump Accounts by limiting eligible investments to choices with low expense ratios and excluding products with excessive fees or unnecessarily complex strategies.

By emphasizing straightforward, low-cost investment options, the proposed guidance would allow children to benefit more fully from decades of compound growth and ensure that a greater share of investment returns remain in their accounts.

The proposed guidance establishes a framework for the designation of eligible investments for future Trump Account trustees, including rollover trustees. Under the framework, an eligible index must be designed primarily to measure the performance of a broad segment of the U.S. or global equity market using objective financial criteria.

This framework is intended to provide families with clear, transparent investment choices focused on cost, diversification, and long-term financial performance.

“For a child investing over decades, even small differences in annual costs may have a meaningful effect on the amount available in adulthood,” said Frank Bisignano, CEO of the IRS. “By emphasizing low-cost index investing, the proposed rules seek to maximize the share of investment returns that remains in each child’s account.”