Dell Helps Fund Trump Accounts With $6.25 Billion Gift

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00:00Michael and Susan Dell are donating six and a quarter billion dollars to fund the Trump Accounts program for children.

00:07The president praised the move, writing on true social quote, two great people, I love Dell.

00:12Bloomberg senior editor Mike Shepard joins us now in Washington.

00:15Shep, this is just an insane amount of money to be donating.

00:19It is an insane amount of money to donate, and the idea is to give an additional group of children access to this program,

00:28known informally as the Trump Accounts, but formally as the Invest America Initiative.

00:34And it actually predates Donald Trump's time in office.

00:37It's the brainchild of Silicon Valley venture capitalist Brad Gerstner,

00:42who really wanted to come up with a way of closing the wealth gap in the country and increasing financial literacy.

00:48And basically, the government for children born between 2025 and 2028 will cede $1,000 for investment accounts

00:58that parents can open on their children's behalf and then continue making contributions until they reach the age of 18.

01:06And this is something naturally that the president embraced,

01:09and he even featured it at an event in June that Michael Dell attended together with Brad Gerstner,

01:15where they held this program.

01:16And I guess that's only for the Trump Accounts, the $1,000 is only for kids, as you say, born 25, 26, 27, 28.

01:26This donation is going to be to kids under the age of 10 or maybe up to 10, right?

01:33So even existing children will get hold of this 250.

01:37What do you have to do to get into this program?

01:41I mean, you'll really have to go through the Invest America platform to try to access this.

01:48But the idea is really basically the same.

01:51And this is what Michael Dell is hoping to do, is to reach beyond the smaller cohort of children born between those years

01:59and try to expand possibly the availability of access to these accounts.

02:05And it's important to note that the idea is to put this money into low-cost index funds that have some measure of security

02:13and that children would be able to eventually, when they reach adulthood,

02:18would be able to use that money for education, to buy their first home, or even cover some startup expenses.

02:25All right, Mike, great having you on the program.

02:29What a feel-good story.

02:30And also Dell stock, you can see, moving up 4% in today's trade.

02:34Bloomberg's Mike Shepard there in Washington, D.C.