President Trump may be laying the groundwork for what once seemed politically impossible: privatizing Social Security.
According to the New York Post, Brad Gerstner, the founder, chairman and CEO of Altimeter Capital and architect of Trump Accounts, said eligibility for the child-focused retirement accounts could soon expand to every American under 40. Those newly eligible would not receive the $1,000 seed contribution, but the expansion could carry far greater implications: the beginnings of a shift away from Social Security and toward retirement savings Americans own themselves.
Trump Accounts may soon be expanded even more to anyone under 40yrs old. That would be another 100 million people, on top of the 70 million kids and 3.5mil babies born each year. This according to Brad Gerstner who is the main guy spearheading efforts on this. He also said Elon is 'tip of iceberg' Nice scoop and piece on it from @LydiaMoynihan @nypost
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 20, 2026
Social Security’s financial troubles have been building for decades, though the program’s design made those pressures foreseeable from the start. Its promise was simple: financial security for Americans in retirement. It was presented as a system in which workers set money aside, then collect it with interest when they retire. But that is not how it operates. Today’s workers fund today’s retirees, a structure that depends on each new generation paying for the last.
Americans recognize the problem, but every proposed fix runs into the same political wall. Older Americans don’t want their benefits cut, and taxpayers resist paying more to keep the system afloat. For politicians, confronting that trade-off has long been an invitation to electoral punishment.
But President Trump may have found a backdoor.
Rather than confront Social Security head-on, the administration could be building a private alternative alongside it, one that gradually makes Americans less dependent on the federal program.
Trump Accounts are available to newborn children in the United States, with those born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, eligible for a one-time $1,000 federal seed contribution. Private donors can add to that foundation, while family members, friends and employers can also contribute.
The immediate promise is a financial head start: money for college or a first home after a child turns 18. But the more consequential possibility is what happens if that money stays invested. Left to grow over decades, these accounts could become the foundation of a retirement system built around assets Americans individually own, not benefits dependent on future taxpayers.
And if these accounts expand to all Americans under 40, that opportunity would extend to workers already planning for retirement, giving them a new incentive to invest in their own future. Rather than replacing Social Security outright, the administration could be creating the conditions for Americans to gradually outgrow their dependence on it.
“Welfare checks do not compound, but ownership compounds,” Gerstner told the NY Post. “You don’t help people by creating more dependency.”
“It sucks to not even know how to get in the game… But with these accounts, everyone has a million dollars within their grasp,” he added. “It makes sure every kid has a stake in the economy.”
While the Trump administration has not explicitly endorsed this vision for Trump Accounts, it is not difficult to see how they could serve that purpose. The accounts have already been described as potentially one of the most consequential policies of President Trump’s second term. But if the goal is to lay the groundwork for privatizing Social Security without confronting it head-on, their significance may be greater than most people realize.