The Trump administration says nearly every child in America now has a Trump Account. Whether the money inside those accounts ever grows into much is a separate question.

The Treasury Department announced on Oct. 1 that it had finished automatically enrolling eligible children in the tax-advantaged investment accounts, opening accounts for more than 60 million children who did not already have one. Combined with families that signed up on their own, the total now stands at nearly 70 million accounts, according to the White House.

“Today, I’m pleased to announce that every single eligible minor child in America has now been automatically enrolled in a Trump Account,” President Donald Trump said at an Oval Office event on Oct. 7. The White House also shared the announcement in a post on X.

Owning an account does not make it usable. A parent or guardian must first claim it through the official Trump Accounts app before they can manage it, accept contributions from family and friends, or collect the government’s $1,000 seed deposit for eligible children. With enrollment no longer the hurdle, how quickly parents follow through is the program’s next adoption test.

The shift to automatic enrollment followed slow uptake. Before the change, Treasury had processed about 5.6 million sign-up forms—less than a tenth of the roughly 73.4 million eligible children—InvestmentNews reported. Fortune previously reported that some families who signed up early were still waiting for their promised $1,000.

Where the money is coming from

Trump Accounts were created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the tax-and-spending law Trump signed on July 4, 2025. Since the program launched on July 4, more than $4.5 billion has been deposited into Trump Accounts, according to the White House, including $1.3 billion in government seed contributions, more than $600 million from family and friends, and $2.6 billion in philanthropic gifts. Spread across nearly 70 million accounts, that works out to about $64 per child.

Much of the philanthropic money comes from Michael and Susan Dell’s $6.25 billion pledge, which provides $250 to up to 25 million children age 10 and under who live in ZIP codes with median household incomes below $150,000. More than 70 companies have also signed on to contribute to their employees’ children’s accounts, the White House said, following early commitments from firms such as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America.

The administration has pitched the accounts as a path to serious wealth. A calculator on TrumpAccounts.gov projects that a lone $1,000 seed could grow to $243,000 by age 55, and that an account receiving the $5,000 annual maximum could reach $13 million. Those figures assume the S&P 500 returns more than 10% a year, without interruption, for 55 years. Financial planners who spoke with Fortune put more conservative estimates at roughly $1.5 million to $2 million by 55 for a maxed-out account, assuming a 7% return.

Stock gifts, with strings attached

Most money in Trump Accounts goes into low-cost index funds, pooled portfolios that track broad market benchmarks such as the S&P 500. But Treasury said in July that it would also accept large philanthropic donations of publicly traded stock, and the IRS released a rule on Sept. 30 setting the procedures. Qualifying stock is transferred to Treasury and allocated to eligible children according to donor instructions and Treasury guidance.

“By accepting contributions of publicly traded stock, Treasury is creating a practical pathway for large-scale private giving to support the next generation,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a July statement.

The rules are narrow. Stock donations can come from companies or from charities set up by stockholders—not from relatives—and must be spread across at least 5,000 accounts in a qualified geographic area, according to Yahoo Finance. The shares must be held for at least five years before they can be sold. SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell is among the first to use the option, pledging one share each to more than 2 million children’s accounts.

Single-stock gifts can give children a stake in corporate growth, but they concentrate risk.

“A child could, hypothetically, receive $10,000 of Company X stock and suddenly at least 67% of the minor’s portfolio is concentrated in Company X,” U.S. Bank wealth management advisor Jonathan Lee told Yahoo Finance.

Who benefits most

Critics argue the program’s biggest winners will be families who can afford to contribute. “The program may be open to every child, but its benefits will flow overwhelmingly to families with the means to contribute thousands of dollars a year,” Stanford economists Neale Mahoney and Adam Shaw wrote in Time last December. Researchers at the New School reached a similar conclusion in an analysis for Fortune, based on 15 years of 529 college savings data, the tax-advantaged education plans many American families have long used to put aside money for school.

The White House counters that about 80% of Trump Accounts are linked to families earning less than $200,000 a year.

Who is eligible and how to claim an account

Every child under 18 with a valid Social Security number now has an account. The government’s one-time $1,000 seed contribution, however, is limited to U.S. citizen children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, and the account must be claimed for the child to receive it. Children born before 2025 do not qualify for the seed, meaning the large majority of the nearly 70 million accounts begin without any government money.

Parents and guardians can claim accounts through the Trump Accounts app for iOS and Android; more information is available at TrumpAccounts.gov. Once an account is claimed, family and friends can contribute up to $5,000 a year combined, while employers can add up to $2,500 annually. Taken together, those two channels can put as much as $7,500 a year into a claimed account. The government’s $1,000 seed and certain contributions from state and local governments and nonprofits do not count toward the $5,000 cap.

When a child turns 18, the account essentially becomes a traditional IRA. Withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income, and early withdrawals may face penalties unless they are used for qualifying expenses such as education or a first home, so families should review the tax rules before deciding how to use the money.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.