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FIRST ON FOX: The “Trump Accounts” will serve as the nation’s first financial education kit that simultaneously serves as an antidote to rising anti-capitalist sentiment, according to the head of the Treasury office that regulates and oversees the nation’s banks.
“Trump Accounts will be one of the most powerful financial literacy tools in our country’s history,” said Director of Currency Jonathan Gould on Friday before the Commission on Financial Literacy and Education. “They provide a unique opportunity for all Americans to participate in the world’s most powerful economy, watch their money grow, and begin their investment journey.”
The Trump accounts were created under the “big, good bill” signed into law on July 4, 2025, and are classified as tax-deferred investment accounts for children. Eligible children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, who are US citizens with valid Social Security numbers, receive a $1,000 federal seed donation, while families and employers can also donate under established limits.
In addition to the accounts helping to strengthen children’s ability to protect the “American Dream,” as administrators celebrate, Gould said the accounts will strengthen financial literacy and push back against what he described as an anti-capitalist ideology.
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The Trump accounts were created under the “big, good bill” signed into law on July 4, 2025, and are classified as tax-deferred investment accounts for children. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Fox News Digital obtained Gould’s full comments at a Financial Literacy Commission meeting focused on enforcement, consumer education and efforts to access Trump Accounts. The commission is a body within the Ministry of Finance that was established in 2003 to improve the financial knowledge of citizens.
Gould aimed for “collective policies,” such as socialism, opposing financial literacy requires “a basic understanding of the principles of the free market” and issuing Trump’s Accounts as a response to what he called growing anti-capitalist ideas.
Trump Accounts “offer a unique opportunity for all Americans to participate in the world’s most powerful economy, watch their money grow, and begin their investment journey,” Gould said. “Trump Accounts give America’s children the opportunity to experience the best of our free markets and be a part of the American Dream. And they are direct challenges to the philosophical and economic edges of corporate policies.”
“Trump Accounts will be one of the most influential financial literacy tools in our nation’s history,” said Director of Currency Jonathan Gould before the Commission on Learning and Education. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Gould heads the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent office under the Treasury Department’s umbrella that regulates all national banks, public savings associations, and branches of foreign banks licensed to operate in the US.
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A recent survey found that US adults suffer from financial illiteracy, including data published by the World Economic Forum in 2024 that found nearly 50% of US adults could not pass a 28-question test on personal finances, called the P-Fin Index. A separate study published in 2024 by WalletHub found Gen Z – the youngest generation in the US workforce – is the least financially confident generation, with 85% reporting that they see one or more barriers to financial success.
Gould continued in his remarks on Friday saying his goal is “to ensure that Americans are equipped with the knowledge to navigate the financial system, strengthen the competitive environment that supports their communities, and have a regulatory structure that promotes prosperity.”
He added in his remarks before the commission that banks should use their credibility and standing to inoculate the American people against the rise of “anti-capitalist ideology” that includes financial illiteracy in the US after decades of “a dangerous and unfair curriculum neglect that many of our schools and colleges have been teaching.”
“I strongly encourage banks to use their credibility and standing in the community to fight against the growth of anti-capitalist ideas,” said Gould. “These ideas are caused by financial illiteracy and reflect decades of neglect of the dangerous and wrong curriculum that many of our schools and colleges have been teaching. As one of the main utilities of capitalism, banks have a big hand in this, and they have an important role to play in protecting Americans from these dangerous ideas.”
An American flag is displayed at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
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“Financial literacy and regulatory change are intertwined,” Gould said. “When consumers understand the bank and the regulations, they are less vulnerable to inappropriate practices and are able to understand how innovation, whether it is digital payment, modern distribution methods, or new financial services, can better serve them.”
Some Democratic lawmakers and policy groups have spoken out against Trump’s accounts, saying they fall short of addressing the financial challenges Americans face or could widen the wealth gap as poor families unable to increase contributions following seed money will benefit less, the Associated Press reported.
President Donald Trump hailed the accounts as providing citizens with a better picture of the “American dream” while adding that they are like “real trust funds for all American children.”
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“The federal government will also make a one-time seed contribution of $1,000 to Trump’s tax-deferred accounts for every US newborn, fulfilling a promise I made in the 2024 campaign,” Trump said in December while announcing the accounts. “Trump’s accounts should grow to many thousands of dollars by the time the child is 18 and even more by the time they are 20 or 30 years old.”
