Fran Walsh Profile picture
May 26 17 tweets 4 min read Read on X
A 4-year-old with a maxed Trump Account has ~$2.9M waiting at retirement.

That's not the interesting part.

The interesting part is what happens at 18 - when one tax move may be worth $600,000.

Most parents have no idea this window exists.

Here's how it works: ↓
First, kill the #1 misconception:

"Trump Accounts are only for babies born in 2025."
Wrong.

Any child under 18 can open one.

The $1,000 government seed is for newborns born 2025-2028 only.

The account itself is for every child in America under 18.
What any child under 18 qualifies for:

- $5,000/year - from anyone (see below)
- No earned income required
- Tax-deferred growth for decades
- Invested in S&P 500 or U.S. equity index funds
- Contributions can start July 4, 2026
One thing most people miss:

The $5,000 annual limit isn't just for parents.

Anyone can contribute - grandparents, aunts, uncles, family friends, employers, charities.

One $5,000 cap across all contributors.

Every dollar from anyone counts toward that limit.
One more seed contribution most people miss:

The Dell Foundation pledged $250 for children age 10 and under in ZIP codes with median income under $150,000.

Doesn't count toward the $5,000 cap.

~80% of kids 10 and under across 75% of U.S. ZIP codes qualify.
Important: the $1,000 seed and the Dell $250 are mutually exclusive.

Born 2025-2028 (U.S. citizen): $1,000 government seed
Born before 2025, age 10 or under, qualifying ZIP: $250 Dell seed

Open the account. Treasury verifies eligibility automatically.
The compounding math by starting age:

4-year-old → ~$2.9M at 65
8-year-old → ~$1.8M at 65
12-year-old → ~$920k at 65
16-year-old → ~$266k at 65

(Illustrative - $5k/yr, 7%, contributions stop at 18.)

Every year you wait costs your child hundreds of thousands.
How we get there:

$5,000/year from age 4 to 18 (14 years):

→ ~$121,000 at age 18 (7% assumed, illustrative)

Then compounds untouched from 18 to 65.

47 more years at 7%: ~$2.9M.
Your 4-year-old didn't miss anything.
Here's the move most people are completely missing.

At 18, the Trump Account converts to a traditional IRA.

Most 18-year-olds have little to no income.

That makes age 18 potentially the lowest tax rate of their entire life.

This is the Roth conversion window.
The strategy: convert to Roth at 18.

2026 standard deduction (single): ~$15,000

First $15k converted: potentially 0% federal tax.

Next $33k: 10-12% bracket.

~$9,000 in taxes to convert ~$113,000. (Illustrative - assumes no other income.)
Why it matters:

$113k converted to Roth at 18, growing at 7% to 65:
→ ~$2.7M tax-free

Left as traditional IRA, taxed at 22% on withdrawal:
→ ~$2.1M after tax

The Roth conversion at 18 may be worth ~$600k in lifetime tax savings. (Illustrative.)
Key mechanic:

This is a Roth conversion - not a Roth contribution.
Roth conversions don't require earned income.

The child can convert at 18 regardless of whether they have a job.

This is the planning move most advisors haven't mapped out yet.
For teenagers with earned income - the stack:

Trump Account: $5,000/yr (no earned income required)
Roth IRA: up to $7,500/yr (requires earned income)

Same year. Two accounts. $12,500 in tax-advantaged contributions.

Limits are completely independent.
How to open one:

File IRS Form 4547.

Attach to 2025 tax return - due April 15, 2026
Online at - opens July 5, 2026

Contributions start July 4, 2026.

File before April 15 and your child's account is ready the moment contributions open.TrumpAccounts.gov
Watch your benefits package.

Employers can contribute up to $2,500/year to a dependent's Trump Account - tax-free to you.

Schwab, Mastercard, JP Morgan, Chipotle, and Uber have already announced participation.

Ask HR before open enrollment.
Wealthy families don't build generational wealth by accident.
They use every tool - at the right time.

The Trump Account is available to everyone.

The Roth conversion at 18 is the piece nobody's writing about.

Maybe its not for everyone, but its a window that many can benefit from in setting their kids up for the future.
TL;DR - Trump Account + Roth Conversion:
- Any child under 18 qualifies - $5k/yr, no earned income required
- $1k seed: newborns 2025-2028 only
- 4yo maxing = ~$121k at 18, ~$2.9M at 65 (illustrative, 7%)
- File Form 4547 by April 15 or TrumpAccounts.gov by July 5
- At 18: convert to Roth while income is near zero
- ~$9k tax to convert ~$113k = ~$2.7M tax-free vs. ~$2.1M traditional
- Roth conversion requires no earned income
- Stack with Roth IRA if earned income: $12,500/yr total (illustrative)

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Fran Walsh

Fran Walsh Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @FranWalsh73

May 18
You just got $100k.

Inheritance. Bonus. Sold a business.

Everyone says "dollar-cost average it in over 12 months to be safe."

The math says they're wrong 2 out of 3 times.

But the math doesn't account for human behavior.

Here's the system that works: ↓
First, the math.

Vanguard studied this across 90 years of market data.

Lump sum outperformed dollar-cost averaging in roughly 2 out of 3 historical periods.

The reason: markets go up more often than they go down.

Time in the market beats timing the market.
Why DCA underperforms mathematically:

Spread $100k over 12 months and half sits in cash for an average of 6 months.

At a 10% annual return, that 6-month delay costs ~$4,900 in opportunity cost.

You're paying ~$4,900 to feel safer. (Illustrative.)
Read 15 tweets
May 11
The 1% advisor fee debate has been running for years.

The people winning it online are often selling something.

Here's the fully detailed, honest version - real flaws in every fee model, what good advisors actually add, and the flat-fee reality nobody talks about ↓
Let's be precise about what the argument actually claims.

$1M portfolio. 1% fee. 8% gross → 7% net.

Over 30 years: $7.6M vs. $10.1M.

The math is real. The gap is real.

What the argument leaves out is everything that happens between now and then.
Start with the behavioral gap.

Morningstar Mind the Gap (2024): investors earned 7.0%/year vs. 8.2% fund total return over the decade ended December 2024.

A 1.2 percentage point annual gap - from timing of purchases and sales alone. Image
Read 25 tweets
May 2
Person A invested $36,000 and retired with $714,000.
Person B invested $175,000 and retired with $714,000.

Same outcome. Nearly 5x more money to get there & 3x the time.

If you have kids - or were never taught this yourself - this thread is for you.

Here's why it matters ↓
Same index fund. Same 8% average annual return.
Neither touches the money until 65.

The only variable: When they started.
Person A invests $300/month from age 22 to 32.

Then stops. Never invests another dollar.

Total contributed: $36,000.

(Hypothetical, illustrative - 8% annual return. Actual returns will vary.)
Read 18 tweets
Apr 28
We review a lot of tax returns.

Filing your taxes isn't the same as optimizing them.

The same five mistakes show up over and over - costing many households $5,000–$10,000+ per year.

None of them require a complicated strategy to fix.

Here's the list ↓
These aren't exotic tax shelters.

They're accounts and elections most people already have access to - and either don't know about, don't use correctly, or set up once and never revisited.

We see these regularly when reviewing returns.
#1: Thinking the employer match means you've maxed out.

It doesn't.

- The employer match gets you free money (which is really YOUR money)
- The 2026 employee 401(k) limit is $24,500.

Most people stop at the match threshold.
The IRS limit allows much more.
Read 17 tweets
Apr 26
Most high earners think the 401(k) limit is $24,500 in 2026.

It's not. That's just the employee contribution limit.

The actual IRS limit is $72,000.

The $47,500 gap? Most people leave it on the table.

Here's how to access it ↓
The IRS sets two separate 401(k) limits.

Limit 1 - Employee contributions: $24,500
(The one most people know.)

Limit 2 - Total plan contributions: $72,000
(Employee + employer match + profit sharing + after-tax combined.)

The gap is the opportunity.
Most people think maxing their employee contribution means they've maxed their 401(k).

For many plans, they haven't.

The employee limit and the total limit are two different numbers.

Most people only know one of them.
Read 22 tweets
Apr 9
Two high earners.
Same income.
Same retirement accounts.

One pays $64,000 to convert $200k to Roth.
The other pays $44,000 for the same conversion.

Same money. $20,000 difference. The only variable: which year they did it.

Here's how to find the right year ↓
Your lifetime tax rate isn't fixed.

It moves up and down - career transitions, parental leave, early retirement gaps, down business years.

Decisions made in low-rate years may determine how much you keep in high-rate years.

The goal is minimizing the lifetime bill.
Your marginal rate can change with:

- Career transitions or job gaps
- Parental leave or sabbaticals
- A down year in business income
- Early retirement before Social Security
- Years where deductions spike

These can be tax planning opportunities.
Read 16 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(