A plan by President Donald Trump to launch Trump accounts for children born from 2025 through 2028 with $1,000 from the government has drawn support from Americans and also from billionaires, helping to fund them. However, the world’s richest man has taken the opposite stance; Elon Musk is not only refusing to donate but is actively urging other wealthy individuals to withhold their support.
Here’s a look at how easily Musk could underwrite the entire initiative if he chose to.
Trump Accounts Get Billionaire Backers
Billionaire Michael Dell and his wife recently pledged $6.25 billion to help fund accounts for 25 million U.S. children aged 10 and under who were born before the Trump accounts started. Together, children aged 10 and under and those born in the next four years will be eligible to open an account kick-started with some funding to grow over time.
Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio announced he will match the $250 donations from the Dells for children in Connecticut, with an estimated 300,000 children eligible in Dalio’s home state.
“I personally appreciate the Trump administration’s launch of the Trump accounts, appreciate the Dells for piling on with their support, and appreciate both of them for allowing Dalio Philanthropies and others to join in,” Dalio tweeted Wednesday.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced more details of the Trump Accounts on Wednesday. Bessent launched a “50 State Challenge” to inspire billionaires in every state to partner on the Trump accounts.
“We are inviting every philanthropist in every state across the country to partner with us in building generational wealth for America’s children through Trump accounts,” Bessent said.
Musk, who is the world’s richest person and the first person to be worth more than $600 billion, likely won’t be joining the 50 State Challenge or donating to Trump accounts.
“It is certainly a nice gesture of the Dells, but there will be no poverty in the future and so no need to save money. There will be universal high income,” Musk tweeted in response to one of Dalio’s posts on Wednesday.
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How Much Could Musk Help
As the world’s richest person, Musk could choose to help support the Trump accounts or to help support the additional accounts for kids already born like Dell and Dalio.
After all, Musk has spoken very publicly about the need for people to have more children, so what better way to support more births than to fund kids’ accounts that grow through investments over time?
With a current wealth of $644 billion according to Bloomberg, Musk is the world’s richest person and could significantly help the Trump accounts.
A CDC report lists the current U.S. birth rate at around 3.6 million children born each year. From Jan. 1, 2025 through Dec. 31, 2028, that would equate to around 14.4 million children born at the current rate during the time period for the Trump accounts.
Musk could match the $1,000 seed for Trump accounts for the next four years with $14.4 billion.
After matching the total, Musk would still be worth $629.6 billion and remain the world’s richest person by a significant margin over second-place holder Larry Page at $260 billion.
Even after donating the funds necessary to match the $1,000 for all the children born in the United States from 2025 to 2028, Musk would retain 97.8% of his wealth.
Musk would still be worth more than Jeff Bezos ($249 billion), Mark Zuckerberg ($234 billion) and Bill Gates ($118 billion) combined.
Of course, this assumes that Musk has cash on hand to donate, while the majority of his wealth is currently tied to equity stakes in Tesla, SpaceX and other companies. Musk’s net worth could rise significantly in the coming years thanks to a new pay package and from the potential of a SpaceX IPO.
Musk has argued for universal high incomes in the past, and he is a firm believer that items like AI and robotics can help people stop working in the future.
The Optimus humanoid robot from Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) could be worth 80% of the company’s future value and help the company trade at a valuation of more than $20 trillion in the future, Musk has said.
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