The news
Michael Dell said on October 7, 2026, that he and his wife, Susan Dell, had funded 10 million Trump Accounts with $250 each, part of their $6.25 billion pledge to 25 million American children. He spoke at a White House event marking automatic enrollment for every child under 18.
Why it's trending: the Oval Office event was scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern, and U.S. searches for both Michael Dell and Susan Dell climbed as it got under way. The couple appeared alongside President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as the administration urged parents to download the Trump Accounts app and claim their children's accounts.
According to Sinclair's WPDE, which reported from the event, the Dells expect to have funded all 25 million of their pledged accounts by the end of that week. Michael Dell told the room the couple had committed to children in America that they would contribute $6.25 billion. The pledge was first announced in December 2025.
The event followed a Treasury announcement on October 1 that it had finished automatically enrolling eligible children under 18 who have a valid Social Security number. Treasury said more than 60 million additional children now have an account ready to be claimed, and Bessent called it a "transformative milestone." Sinclair reported that roughly 70 million children now have accounts, that nearly 8 million had been created since the program launched in July, and that more than $4.5 billion has been deposited.
Trump said more than 70 companies have committed to contribute to the accounts, naming Uber, Intel, Nvidia and Steak 'n Shake, according to WPDE. He told parents the money is their child's future.
The catch is the claim step. Treasury says a parent or guardian must claim the auto-opened account in the official app, verify their identity and relationship to the child, and accept the terms before they can manage it, receive contributions from family or employers, or collect the one-time $1,000 federal seed deposit for eligible children.
The numbers
- Dell pledge
- $6.25 billion ($250 x 25 million children)
- Dell-funded accounts (October 7, per Michael Dell)
- 10 million
- Children auto-enrolled by Treasury (October 1)
- 60 million+
- Federal seed deposit, children born 2025-2028
- $1,000
- Companies committed to contribute (per Trump)
- 70+
Why CEOs should care
For HR and benefits leaders, the program is now a live employee benefit question. Sinclair reports that employers can contribute up to $2,500 a year per account without it being taxable to the employee, and parents can add up to $5,000 a year. Ask payroll and benefits vendors whether they can route contributions to claimed accounts, and what verification they need from staff.
For CFOs and boards, more than 70 companies have now made public commitments, according to the president. A pledge tied to a named presidential program carries reputational weight in both directions, so boards weighing a contribution should set clear eligibility rules, budget caps and a communication plan before announcing anything.
For fintech and consumer finance teams, the bottleneck is identity verification and claiming, not account creation. Moneywise reported that only about 1 in 10 eligible children had been signed up by mid-September, which is why Treasury switched to automatic enrollment. Products that help families find, claim and fund these accounts are likely to see demand.
The bigger picture
Trump Accounts were created by the 2025 tax law as tax-advantaged investment accounts for children. The Dell gift is the largest private commitment to the program so far and sets a template: a donor gives a fixed amount per child, and the federal plumbing handles delivery. Moneywise reported that the Dell $250 goes to eligible children born from 2016 through 2024 in ZIP codes with a median household income below $150,000.
Automatic enrollment changes the scale of the program overnight. Before October 1, families had to opt in; now accounts exist for most U.S. children, and the open question is how many parents will take the final step to claim them.
What’s next
The Dells said they expect to finish funding all 25 million pledged accounts by the end of the week of October 5. Watch for Treasury's next count of claimed accounts, which will show whether automatic enrollment turns into money actually reaching children, and for further corporate pledges to the program.
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