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President Donald Trump is changing the way Americans can save through the creation of new investment accounts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Soon-to-launch Trump Accounts<\/a> will provide an initial $1,000 deposit<\/a> to U.S. children who have a Social Security number and who were born between 2025 and 2028. By the time those children turn 18, those accounts could reach “at least $50,000 in value,” Trump has said<\/a>, while additional contributions could bring those balances even higher.<\/p>\n Trump also recently signed<\/a> an executive order to create a new website, TrumpIRA.gov, to enable adult workers without employer-sponsored plans to set aside money for retirement.<\/p>\n Social Security faces a looming projected depletion date<\/a> that may trigger benefit cuts<\/a>. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, recently said the new Trump Accounts for children could serve as a model for the more than 90-year-old benefits program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on May 9, 2024 in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “Conservatives in America for 50 years have been trying to do that \u2014 have been trying to do Social Security personal accounts,” Cruz said on May 4 at the Milken Institute Global Conference, according to a written transcript<\/a>. “Here’s the dirty little secret. Trump Accounts are Social Security personal accounts.”<\/p>\n Those account balances, which Cruz said may climb into the millions with regular contributions over the decades from childhood, “will become Social Security personal accounts.” <\/p>\n The idea of creating personal Social Security accounts was pitched by President George W. Bush in 2004 and 2005. The plan, which called for allowing younger workers to voluntarily put a portion of their payroll taxes, failed<\/a> due to a lack of public support.<\/p>\n In response to Cruz’s recent comments, Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, an advocacy group, said in a statement<\/a> that “the people will not stand for privatization of their hard-earned benefits, and we in the advocacy community will continue to ensure that it never happens.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Trump administration has vowed in statements<\/a> to “preserve and protect” Social Security and has not mentioned privatizing the program.<\/p>\n Cruz’s take on Social Security may be his alone, said Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist at the New School for Social Research who co-wrote research with National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on the need for private accounts for retirement. <\/p>\n “From everybody that I’ve talked to for the past four years about the creating these universal accounts, no one has breathed privatization,” Ghilarducci said. <\/p>\n There’s reason why \u2014 Social Security is the single most valued federal program, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s polling of voters<\/a> has found, according to Emerson Sprick, director of retirement and labor policy at the Washington, D.C., think tank, which promotes bipartisanship.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nNo desire to ‘transfer risk’<\/h2>\n