NOT ADDING UP

White House Called Out for Shoddy Math on New Trump Accounts Website

Investment calculations from the White House aren’t adding up for its new Trump Accounts venture.

Investing no money into “Trump Accounts” will give someone higher earnings than investing each year, according to the Trump White House’s newly launched Trump Accounts website.

As of Wednesday, following the accounts’ launch, the Trump Accounts website shows that investing $0 per year starting at age 18 will result in a potential Trump account recipient receiving $200,000 by age 55. But investing $250 per year across that same timeframe will leave the recipient with just $192,000.

Even with the discrepancy, it is unclear how the Trump administration calculated these predicted earnings, but the website said the numbers are “derived from historical S&P 500 averages.”

Parents of children born between 2025 and 2028—which just so happens to be when Trump leaves office—are eligible to sign up their children for the accounts, which come with an initial deposit of $1,000 funded by the government. Parents can sign their children up for the accounts using the new, aptly named IRS Form 4547, representing Trump’s two terms in office.

The account transitions into a traditional ⁠IRA when a child turns 18.

According to the Trump accounts website, the Trump administration expects the accounts to be worth $5,800 by the time the newborn turns 18, if no additional contributions are made. Additional investments can yield higher returns.

Parents can invest a maximum of $5,000 per year into the accounts, which White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said could turn into $1.1 million by the time a child turns 28.

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She did not elaborate on how the administration came to that number, but financial analysts told Reuters that maxing out the account would likely yield around $700,000 by age 28. The official Trump Accounts website also states that, by age 27, if the maximum is invested, the account would have $377,800.

The White House did not return the Daily Beast’s request for clarification.

Reddit users were quick to call out the White House’s confusing calculations. “If you contribute, you’ll lose money. Makes sense…” one user said.

“Trump skins a little off the top once he sees you’re donating, but he’s got poor impulse control, so sometimes he skims a little too much,” another responded.

Another user quipped, “If you contribute to Trump’s scheme you lose money. Makes sense to me.”

“I’m more infuriated that he has to name every goddamn thing after himself. Zero propriety,” another commented.

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Several major companies, including Charles Schwab, Uber, SoFi, Mastercard, Visa, and Dell, have pledged to match the federal government’s initial fund for Trump accounts for U.S. employees.

Rapper Nicki Minaj, who attended the Trump Accounts event and was seen holding hands with the president, said she would personally contribute between $150,000 and $300,000 to fund her fans’ Trump Accounts.

The new Trump accounts join the long list of items the president has named after himself, including the $1 million “Trump Gold Cards” for visa seekers and the yet-to-be-released “Trump cards” from banks.

The president has also slapped his face on federal buildings, including the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor, and put his face on the America the Beautiful National Parks pass. His administration has also claimed it renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Kennedy Center after Trump, but those name changes require the approval of Congress to be made official.

Trump also revealed last week that he wanted to rename the Gulf of Mexico, not to the “Gulf of America” as he has declared, but to the “Gulf of Trump.”

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