Your kid may have $250 waiting. How the new children's accounts work, and how to claim the Dell money

There is a new kind of savings account for children, created by the tax law Congress passed in July 2025, and as of this month there is money in it for a lot of Magnolia families who have not opened one yet. Two separate pots. The first is federal: every child born in 2025, 2026, 2027 or 2028 gets $1,000 from the Treasury. The second is private: Michael and Susan Dell of Austin pledged $6.25 billion last December to put $250 into the account of every child ten and under who was born too early for the federal money, as long as the child lives in a ZIP code where the median household income is under $150,000. Magnolia's 77354 is at roughly $112,500 by the latest Census estimate. It qualifies.

The Dell money began arriving on August 31, according to the Dell Foundation, and it lands only in accounts that exist. That is the whole point of this piece. A parent who does nothing gets nothing.

What the account is

• Who can have one: any child under 18 with a Social Security number. No income test for the account itself.
• Where the money goes: a low-cost fund that tracks a broad U.S. stock index. The family does not pick stocks.
• What can go in: up to $5,000 a year from parents, grandparents, anyone. An employer may add up to $2,500 a year for an employee's child, and that counts toward the $5,000.
• Tax treatment: it grows without being taxed year to year, the way a retirement account does. Contributions are not deductible.
• When it opens up: at 18. The law names education, a first home, and starting a business among the uses; the details of how withdrawals are taxed are still being written by Treasury.
• Cost: nothing to open.

Who gets which deposit

A child cannot get both. The Dell gift was designed for the children the federal seed skipped.

How to open one, in order

1. Have the child's Social Security number and date of birth, and your own.
2. Go to trumpaccounts.gov, or download the Treasury's Trump Accounts app from the Apple or Google store. Both opened July 4. The election can also be made on paper with IRS Form 4547.
3. Make the election for each child separately. One form per child.
4. The Treasury opens the account, applies the $1,000 seed if the child qualifies, and, by the Dell Foundation's description, applies the $250 automatically based on the child's age and your ZIP code. You do not apply to the Dells.
5. Set a contribution if you want one. A recurring monthly amount is the option in the app. There is no minimum.
6. Ask at work. More than fifty employers had committed to contributing for workers' children as of the July launch, and a company match into this account costs the employee no tax.

One Magnolia family, worked

A household in 77354 with a six-year-old, a nine-year-old and a baby born in March. If the parent opens all three accounts this month: the baby gets the $1,000 federal seed, the two older children get $250 each from the Dell pledge, and $1,500 is sitting in three accounts that did not exist a month ago. If the parent does nothing, none of it is deposited. The Dell pledge has no published closing date, but its own terms say older children qualify only "if funds remain," which is the order in which the money will run out.

Contributions are optional. As an illustration only: $50 a month into the nine-year-old's account from now until 18 is $5,400 of deposits. At the roughly 7% a year the U.S. stock market has averaged after inflation over the long run, a figure that is an average and not a promise, the balance at 18 would be near $8,000. At 0% it would be $5,400. The account cannot lose the deposits to fees, because Treasury charges none, but it can lose value in a bad year, because it holds stocks.

Three things to watch

• The address on file decides the Dell money. It is a ZIP-code test. A family in 77354 or 77355 qualifies; a family across the county line in a higher-income ZIP may not. Use the address where the child actually lives.
• The account is not a piggy bank. Money that goes in stays in until the child turns 18; there is no early-withdrawal provision in the law.
• Private companies will offer their own versions. Fidelity, Schwab and others have said accounts can eventually be moved to them. The seed money lands in the Treasury account whether or not a family later moves it.

Sources: Treasury's July 4 launch announcement; the Congressional Research Service overview of the accounts; TIME on the Dell pledge and its eligibility rules; CNBC on the August 31 start of deposits; Fidelity's explainer; Census American Community Survey estimates for ZIP 77354.