A new federal government initiative to help the children of America start their investment accounts early launched on Independence Day.
The Invest America Act went into effect on July 4, 2026. It offers tax-advantaged savings accounts — or “Trump Accounts” — invested in low-cost stock index funds for every American child up to age 18.
As part of the launch, the government is offering $1,000 to children born between 2025 and 2028 who open their accounts.
Since the Invest America Act launched, philanthropists have begun making efforts to contribute more funding to these accounts. Michael Dell, tech billionaire and CEO of Dell Technologies, began offering $250 to children from ages 2 to 10 — in other words, those who were born too late to receive the $1,000 from the government.
That still leaves out children aged 11 to 17, and that’s where Maui-based philanthropist Ed Freeman has focused his funding.
His organization, Stable Road Foundation, has pledged to fund every eligible foster child in Hawaiʻi aged 11 through 17 — the one age group left unaddressed — with a $250 contribution per child.
“In partnership with the governor, Michael and Susan Dell, and Stable Road Foundation, we're the first state that every child in foster care is going to have one of these accounts,” Freedman told HPR. The announcement also makes Hawaiʻi the first blue state in the country to fund Trump Accounts.
Freedman shared that his hope is for the children of Hawaiʻi to benefit from having a strong financial foundation to support them into adulthood.
“So when they become 18, now let's imagine this: You're coming out, you're 18 years old, you have money that's been compounding since birth, and all of a sudden you have money for education to start a business, to start a home,” he said.
“I think the financial literacy component, the learning about compounding firsthand, having owned a little piece of Nvidia and Apple, and the 500 best companies in the country gives every kid a bit of hope and every family a bit of hope that no generation before them ever had.”
More information about the Invest America Act can be found here.
This story aired on The Conversation on July 8, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
