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# A Stake In the American Future: Could Trump Accounts be the Path to Owning our Retirement?
- URL: https://www.sovereigntyledger.com/a-stake-in-the-american-future-could-trump-accounts-be-the-path-to-owning-our-retirement/
- Published: 2026-10-21T19:17:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-29T20:23:36.000Z
- Description: For the first time in Social Security's history, there may be a solution that helps America and Americans take a step forward.
- Author: Kody Fairfield
- Tags: Economy & Taxes, Fiscal Policy, Donald Trump, #essay

## Built on Property, Run on Promises

America was built around the rights of individuals, protected from the government. James Madison put it plainly in 1792: ["Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals,"](https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-14-02-0238?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) and "that alone is a just government, which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own." To the founders, what a man earned by his own work was his property, and government's job was to protect it, both from other men overstepping the bounds of their liberty and from government's own abuse and waste. Yet Social Security was built in contrast: Washington would collect your money and care for it on your behalf, all to "secure" your retirement. What [many Americans don't know](https://www.napa-net.org/news/2023/9/americans-across-generations-lack-critical-social-security-knowledge/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) is that this "security" was only ever meant to replace [about 40% of what you earned before retiring](https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/assets/materials/workers-61-69.pdf?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), and by the program's own numbers, that is projected to shrink to roughly 31% when its retirement trust fund [runs dry in late 2032](https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/press/releases/2026-06-09.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com).

As government grew, it kept finding ways around the founders' line, and it usually came out ahead. In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt ordered Americans to [turn in their gold](https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-6102-forbidding-the-hoarding-gold-coin-gold-bullion-and-gold-certificates?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) at $20.67 an ounce, and the next year Washington [revalued it at $35](https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/mt/20100701/cover.pdf?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) and pocketed a windfall of more than $2 billion. In 1960, the Supreme Court [treated what you pay into Social Security as a tax, not an investment](https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/363/603?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), and ruled that "a person covered by the Act has not such a right in benefit payments" as property. The law says so itself: ["The right to alter, amend, or repeal any provision of this Act is hereby reserved to the Congress."](https://www.ssa.gov/OP%5FHome/ssact/title11/1104.htm?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) Then in 1983, Congress voted to [tax the very checks](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/taxes.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) your payroll taxes paid for, above an income limit it [never raised for inflation](https://www.aarp.org/social-security/things-to-know-about-taxes/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), shrinking that 40% income floor even further for millions of retirees. Thomas Jefferson saw it coming in 1788: ["The natural progress of things is for liberty to yeild, and government to gain ground."](https://www.monticello.org/encyclopedia/natural-progress-things-spurious-quotation/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) And that pattern has held: as government gets bigger, the individual gets smaller.

As the program grew, so did the fear of touching it. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson [ran ads](https://livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1964/social-security?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) warning that Barry Goldwater, who had floated making Social Security voluntary, would "drastically change the social security system." That same year, Ronald Reagan, campaigning for Goldwater, warned that ["governments' programs, once launched, never disappear."](https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/reagans/ronald-reagan/time-choosing-speech-october-27-1964?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) Seventeen years later, he learned it firsthand: after he proposed [cutting early retirement benefits by nearly a third](https://csmonitor.com/1981/0513/051341.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), the Senate [rebuked him 96 to 0](https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/when-did-social-security-become-the-third-rail-of-?ref=sovereigntyledger.com). When George W. Bush proposed personal accounts in 2005, opponents [warned of steep benefit cuts](https://ipi.org/ipi%5Fissues/detail/how-bush-lost-personal-accounts?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), and the plan [collapsed](https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/?p=347021&ref=sovereigntyledger.com). In 2011, Rick Perry called Social Security a ["Ponzi scheme"](https://abcnews.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/romney-campaign-says-rick-perrys-social-security-stance-has-badly-damaged-his-candidacy?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) on a debate stage, and his rival's campaign declared he had "badly damaged his candidacy." In 2023, Joe Biden stood before Congress and warned that ["some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset."](https://www.9news.com/article/news/verify/government-verify/bidens-claim-that-republicans-want-to-sunset-medicare-and-social-security-needs-context/536-9fcec101-b734-4488-b8c7-7598a992c0ac?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)

Washington, D.C. sold the promise of Social Security as security for your future: trust us, we'll make sure you're taken care of, and once voters became reliant on it, it couldn't be taken back. And just like that, Social Security became the [third rail of American politics](https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/when-did-social-security-become-the-third-rail-of-?ref=sovereigntyledger.com): politicians have known, and [admitted](https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/press/releases/2026-06-09.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), that the math doesn't work, but wouldn't risk the votes to fix it. They also know that eventually citizens and the economy will pay the price for their abdication of duty. For the first time in Social Security's history, there may be a solution that helps America and Americans take a step forward.

## A D.C. IOU, Not a Stake in the American Future

The future economic price aside, what has this government-owned program already cost the citizen, beyond the ownership of his money and the dollars he paid in? Picture a worker born in 1959\. He started his first full-time job in 1981 at 22, worked every year through 2025, and reaches his [full retirement age](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), 66 and 10 months, this year. For most of his career, [12.4% of every paycheck](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/progdata/taxRates.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) went to Social Security: half from him, half from his employer. Economists generally treat [both halves as the worker's money](https://crr.bc.edu/project-code/bc23-02?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), since the employer's share comes out of what he would otherwise be paid. Today, [10.6 of those points](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/progdata/oasdiRates.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) fund retirement and survivor benefits, and the rest covers disability.

Say he earned the [national average wage](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/cola/AWI.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) every year of his career. Over those 45 years, he and his employers paid $170,529 toward Social Security retirement. Run his record through Social Security's [benefit formula](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/bendpoints.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) and the [cost-of-living increases](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/colaseries.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) since he turned 62, and claiming at full retirement age gets him a check of $2,590 a month.

Now take the same dollars, in the same years, and put them in an S&P 500 index fund instead. With the market's [actual returns each year](https://pennycalc.com/sp500-returns/history/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) and dividends reinvested, his account would be worth $2.5 million today. A common rule of thumb for retirement withdrawals is [4% a year](https://www.financialplanningassociation.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/MAR04%20Determining%20Withdrawal%20Rates%20Using%20Historical%20Data.pdf?ref=sovereigntyledger.com). At that rate, the account pays him about $8,346 a month, more than three times the check.

| Lifetime earnings                                                                          | Social Security check at full retirement age | Same dollars invested | Monthly income at 4% |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------- | --------------------- | -------------------- |
| Low (45% of average wage)                                                                  | $1,563                                       | $1,126,725            | $3,756               |
| Average                                                                                    | $2,590                                       | $2,503,832            | $8,346               |
| High ([taxable maximum](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/cola/cbb.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)) | $4,152                                       | $5,973,568            | $19,912              |

This isn't a story about the rich. Social Security's formula is most generous to low earners, and even there the account wins. A worker who earned less than half the average wage every year would have retired with more than $1.1 million, and his account would pay nearly two and a half times his check.

And the money would be his. That check was never his: outside benefits for [certain surviving family members](https://www.ssa.gov/survivor?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), it ends when he dies. Beyond those benefits, the program's death payment is a one-time [$255](https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.NSF/lnx/0300210001?ref=sovereigntyledger.com). An account is property, and whatever he doesn't spend [passes to the people he chooses](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-beneficiary?ref=sovereigntyledger.com). That alone could make a generational difference for a family.

Unfortunately, Social Security hasn't changed. Between its fungible dollars, spent as fast as they're collected, the [fraud, waste and abuse](https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-24-105833?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) that big government invites, and a design that only works if government, the population and the economy all grow together, with none allowed to lag. As we already know, the math is failing miserably. By the estimate of Social Security's own Trustees, closing the gap would mean raising the payroll tax from [12.4% to 16.65%](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/2026/tr2026.pdf?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), roughly $3,100 more a year on an average worker's wages.

## Spending Your Stake: Where the Money Went

The math fails because of where the money goes. Social Security collects your money as a tax, sends the cash to the Treasury to spend, and leaves a briefcase full of IOUs from Lloyd Christmas in its place. By Social Security's own description, the cash it hands the Treasury ["is indistinguishable from other cash in the general fund,"](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) and what the trust fund keeps is a stack of special government bonds. From 1984 through 2009, the program brought in [$1.2 trillion more](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/table4a3.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) than it paid out, and the federal government spent every dollar of it. Since 2010, the program has paid out $1.4 trillion more than it took in, and the only reason the trust fund still shows $2.6 trillion is that the Treasury credited it with $2.7 trillion in interest, which are just more IOUs the government wrote to itself. Had those surplus dollars been invested in American companies instead of lent to Washington, the fund would hold roughly $19 trillion today, enough to pay full benefits for decades past the date the trust fund is now projected to run dry. [Fewer than half of Americans](https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2025-08/Cato%202025%20Social%20Security%5FPoll.pdf?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) know that their payroll taxes pay today's retirees instead of being saved for their own.

Then there is the waste that comes with any program this big. The Government Accountability Office estimates the federal government loses [between $233 billion and $521 billion a year to fraud](https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-24-105833?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), and agencies reported [$186 billion in improper payments](https://www.gao.gov/press-release/gao-reports-improper-payments-rose-estimated-186-billion-across-federal-government-fiscal-year-2025?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) last year alone. Social Security sits at the center of it, because federal and state agencies verify who you are against its records, and this year the agency had to add [17 million missing dates of death](https://newsroomamerica.com/a/JTYMBFxnouZdCT5ek2J0aPSBOrK/ssa%5Fsays%5Fit%5Fhas%5Fcorrected%5Fnearly%5F15%5Fpercent%5Fof%5Factive%5Fsocial%5Fsecurity%5Fnumbers%5Fadding%5F17%5Fmillion%5Fdates%5Fof%5Fdeath%5Fand%5Fupdating%5Fabout%5F25%5Fmillion%5Frecords%5Fwith%5Fmissing%5Fcitizenship%5Finformation.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) to that database in the largest cleanup in its 91-year history. Where the government is weakest, the losses pile up: Supplemental Security Income, the needs-based program Social Security also runs, [overpaid by more than 10%](https://www.ssa.gov/finance/2025/Other%20Reporting%20Requirements.pdf?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) in 2024\. An owner watches one account, his own, while one agency tries to watch nearly 390 million records.

Social Security depends on birth rates, the size of the labor force, economic growth and, most importantly, prudent actuarial planning. Every retiree's check is paid by the workers coming up behind him: in 1960 there were [5.1 workers](https://www.ssa.gov/history/ratios.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) paying in for every person collecting, and [today there are 2.6](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/2026/lr4b4.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com). Those workers have to come from somewhere, and Americans are having fewer children: the fertility rate fell [below 1.6 children per woman](https://www.wkbn.com/news/national-world/fertility-rate-drops-to-new-record-low-cdc/amp/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) in 2024, well under the 2.1 needed to keep the population stable. The Trustees just [cut their long-run assumption](https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/IF13256.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) from 1.90 to 1.75 children per woman, and the program's 75-year shortfall jumped from 3.82% to 4.42% of all the wages it taxes in a single year.

Rick Perry was pilloried for calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme, but the comparison is about how the money moves. The SEC defines a Ponzi scheme as ["an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors."](https://www.investor.gov/investing-basics/avoiding-fraud/types-fraud/ponzi-scheme?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) Social Security isn't a fraud in the legal sense, since it's written into law and publishes its finances every year, but it runs on the same engine: today's retirees are paid with money collected from today's workers. Even its defenders have said so: Paul Samuelson, a future Nobel economist who supported the program, wrote in 1967 that ["a growing nation is the greatest Ponzi game ever contrived."](https://www.econlib.org/archives/2009/03/good%5Fnews%5Ffor%5Fs.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) That only works while the nation keeps growing, and that growth is slowing.

Even the inflation protection the check does have is based on someone else's budget. Each year's cost-of-living increase is tied to [prices paid by urban workers](https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/2024-05-24%5FIF12675%5F5f33061b111c2f598c9890edd81e42af0c251c10.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), not retirees, who spend far more of their budgets on [housing and medical care](https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2012/ted%5F20120302.htm?ref=sovereigntyledger.com). From 1985 to 2024, that index rose about 188% while the government's own research index for older Americans rose 211%, so the check fell further behind what seniors actually pay. And that inflation doesn't come from nowhere: the nation's money supply grew [about 41%](https://eco3min.fr/en/us-m2-money-supply-dataset/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) from February 2020 to April 2022 and has since climbed past [$23 trillion](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL?ref=sovereigntyledger.com). Every surge like that pushes prices up, and the check catches up a year late, on a basket built for younger workers. Ownership of American companies has historically outrun inflation over a working lifetime, returning about [6.9% a year above it](https://www.financewonk.com/references/historical-returns?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) since 1928.

## A Stake for Every American

But something has changed: Trump Accounts now exist. A Trump Account is a privately owned investment in the U.S. economy, with seed money that can start [as early as birth](https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/press/releases/2026-07-03.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com). The accounts started with children under 18, but conversations are in the works to include more citizens: Brad Gerstner, an American financial entrepreneur who [helped turn the idea into law](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/who-could-benefit-the-most-from-trumps-investment-accounts-for-children?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), wants to [open them to anyone under 40](https://www.benzinga.com/news/politics/26/10/62472412/spacex-stock-for-kids-100-billion-giving-race-brad-gerstner-says?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), and Sen. Bernie Moreno says he will [lead a Senate bill](https://www.forth.news/stories/CgE1gRz9uJ6t31YtKs9fG?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) to do it, calling the change a "game-changer." That is the generation that will retire after Social Security's trust fund is [projected to run dry](https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/press/releases/2026-06-09.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), on a reduced check for every year they collect it. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent once called the accounts ["a backdoor for privatizing Social Security,"](https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/?p=347021&ref=sovereigntyledger.com) but that undersells them. These accounts are more than dollars for the future. They are the biggest change to how Americans save in generations, and possibly one of the most consequential returns of individual rights to the people in American history.

Where Social Security depends on each new generation to pay for the last, a Trump Account works the other way around: the citizen grows as the country grows, and the country grows because its citizens own a piece of it. A dollar in a Treasury bond is a loan to Washington, but a dollar in an index fund is a share of American companies, the ones building factories, funding research and creating jobs. When those companies invest and innovate, the economy grows, and so does the account of every American who owns a piece of them. That makes the accounts a realistic way to keep Social Security's promises to the people already counting on it, build its replacement, avoid higher taxes, and return power to the citizens.

Billionaires are often accused of being out of touch with everyday Americans, but some of the richest people in the country are now putting their own money into those Americans' futures. Michael and Susan Dell pledged [$6.25 billion](https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/dell-billions-donations-trump-accounts/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) to seed 25 million accounts with $250 each, aimed at children 10 and under in [ZIP codes where the median household income is $150,000 or less](https://401kspecialistmag.com/dell-foundation-donates-6-25b-to-trump-accounts/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com). Elon Musk has pledged [a share of SpaceX](https://www.benzinga.com/news/politics/26/10/62472412/spacex-stock-for-kids-100-billion-giving-race-brad-gerstner-says?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) for every American child, and Ray Dalio and others have made pledges of their own. Gerstner predicts private contributions could reach $100 billion by the end of 2027\. That money goes into accounts the children own, invested in the same economy that made those donors rich. As Gerstner put it, "Welfare checks do not compound, but ownership compounds."

The real power of these accounts is time. Left alone at the market's [long-run average after inflation](https://www.financewonk.com/references/historical-returns?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), a $1,000 deposit at birth would grow to roughly $76,000 in today's dollars by age 65\. Add what Gerstner calls ["moms and dads adding five, 10 bucks a week,"](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/who-could-benefit-the-most-from-trumps-investment-accounts-for-children?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) say $10 a week until the child turns 18, and that same account reaches roughly $490,000 in today's dollars by 65\. A child raised with that kind of stake grows up tied to the country's future, because his account grows when America does.

Today, nearly four in ten Americans [own no stock at all](https://news.gallup.com/poll/266807/percentage-americans-owns-stock.aspx?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), not even through a 401(k), an IRA or a mutual fund. Even among Americans with solid incomes, [21% say Social Security is all they will need](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251021517917/en/Most-Americans-Dont-Know-How-Social-Security-Fits-into-their-Retirement-Plan-Allianz-Life-Study-Finds?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) in retirement. Trump Accounts change that from the start, for every eligible child, wherever he's born. By Bessent's own count, [86% of the accounts](https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/trump-accounts-risk-missing-low-income-families-buying-in?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) opened at launch belonged to families earning less than $200,000 a year. That puts Americans on the same side, all invested in the same economy. This reconnects Americans to the future of America, giving them a reason to belong again and a reason to be proud to be American. Our history and culture matter, but between big government's interference and the atomization of American life, too many of us have forgotten what makes this country, flawed but far and away the best on earth, worth having a stake in. Trump Accounts put individual rights back at the forefront, as the Founders originally imagined.

## Better Than Singapore: A Stake Washington Can't Touch

I'm not the only one seeing the bigger picture, or who heard Bessent's "backdoor" line as more than a slip: one [widely shared prediction](https://x.com/ViktorBunin/status/2112595761288327669?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) this month said that within about 15 years, "a law will pass that redirects social security payments into Trump accounts," calling it "the Singapore model." Singapore requires workers to save [37% of their pay](https://endowus.com/insights/how-much-cpf-contribution-rates?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), but the government sets the return, guaranteeing members [2.5% to 4% a year](https://www.cpf.gov.sg/member/infohub/news/news-releases/cpf-interest-rates-from-1-july-to-30-september-2026?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) while it [keeps a share of what the market earns](https://cpf.gov.sg/member/infohub/cpf-clarifies/policy-faqs/why-arent-gics-returns-fully-passed-through-to-cpf-members?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) for its own budget. An American version should start from the opposite place: the money belongs to the worker, and so do the gains, just as Madison said a just government secures to every man "whatever is his own." Invested in American businesses, those dollars help companies grow, hire and earn, and a growing economy produces more tax revenue from wages and profits without raising a single rate. The withdrawals add more: after 17 the account [becomes a traditional IRA](https://cdn.taxesforexpats.com/articles/trump-child-account/trump-account-age-18-withdrawal-rules.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), and what comes out is taxed as income. Our 1959 worker's $2,590 check, if it's his only income, owes no federal income tax, but drawing 4% a year from his $2.5 million account would send [tens of thousands of dollars](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-releases-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2026-including-amendments-from-the-one-big-beautiful-bill?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) to the Treasury, and hundreds of thousands over his retirement. The government would collect more by owning less, and every dollar it does collect would go further toward its actual needs and uses.

The other half of making it American is keeping Congress's hands off the money. Unlike Social Security's trust fund, Trump Accounts aren't held by the Treasury: a private brokerage, Robinhood, [serves as the initial trustee](https://qz.com/treasury-bny-robinhood-trump-accounts-children?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), with BNY acting as the government's financial agent. Until the year a child turns 17, the money has to sit in [low-cost funds that track a broad stock index](https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/irs-proposes-rules-for-eligible-trump-account-investments?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), with fees capped at 0.1% and no borrowing to juice returns. Because the account is the family's property, not a benefit Congress reserved the right to "alter, amend, or repeal," it falls under the Fifth Amendment's rule that private property shall not ["be taken for public use, without just compensation."](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fifth%5Famendment?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) That protection matters: in 2008, Argentina's government [moved to seize about $30 billion](https://www.heritage.org/americas/commentary/kirchners-make-grab-private-pensions-bail-out-argentina?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) from its citizens' private pension accounts. An American version should write the firewall into law: no forced shift into government bonds, and no federal fund standing between a worker and his money.

Keeping it American also means keeping it off the federal books as much as possible. Today the Treasury seeds each eligible newborn with $1,000, under a pilot that runs through 2028\. That deposit should replace dollars Washington already spends on social programs, not add to them: at about [3.6 million births a year](https://www.ksl.com/article/51481355/us-fertility-rates-drop-to-record-low-in-2025-as-births-fall?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), it costs at most $3.6 billion, a fraction of the [$110 billion a year spent on food stamps](https://www.cato.org/commentary/federal-welfare-spending-fraud-magnet-taxpayers-are-paying-price?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) alone. It's also a one-time touch: Washington makes one deposit and steps back, and the money compounds in the citizen's hands, not the government's. Every other dollar, from a parent, an employer or a donor, [never has to pass through](https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0508?ref=sovereigntyledger.com) the federal budget at all.

## A Stake in Our Nation

So, are Trump Accounts a path to owning our retirement? I'm convinced they are, and more than that: they are a path back to the idea this country was founded on, that what a man earns is his own. Social Security asked Americans to trust Washington with their future, while Trump Accounts hand that future back to them, invested in the same country where they live, work and raise their families. Done right, they keep the promises already made to today's retirees, give every American a direct share in the country's success, and do it without raising taxes or growing the government.

## How the Numbers Were Built

The worker comparison is a model, not a real person. He was born in 1959, worked every year from 1981 through 2025, and claims at his full retirement age of 66 and 10 months in 2026\. The average earner earns SSA's national average wage each year; the low earner earns 45% of it; the high earner earns the taxable maximum.

- **Social Security check:** SSA's own formula, with earnings indexed to the 2019 wage index, the highest 35 years, the 2021 bend points ($996 and $6,002) and the cost-of-living increases from 2021 through 2025\. The high earner's result, $4,152 a month, matches SSA's published 2026 maximum benefit at full retirement age.
- **Account:** the retirement and survivor share of the payroll tax actually paid each year, both halves, including the lower rates of the early 1980s, the 1984 credit and the 2011 to 2012 payroll tax cut. Contributions are invested mid-year in the S&P 500 at its actual annual total return (Damodaran, NYU Stern), less a 0.02% fee. Income is a 4% withdrawal of the end-of-2025 balance.
- **Trust fund comparison:** SSA's yearly trust fund income and costs (Table 4.A3), with each year's surplus or deficit excluding interest run through the same S&P 500 returns.
- **Tax estimate:** 2026 federal brackets for a single filer with the standard deduction. It leaves out the temporary senior deduction, which would lower the estimate somewhat through 2028.
- **Seed growth:** 6.9% a year after inflation, the S&P 500's average from 1928 to 2025.

Past returns do not guarantee future returns.

## Sources

**Built on Property, Run on Promises**

1. James Madison, "Property," National Gazette, March 29, 1792, via [Founders Online](https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-14-02-0238?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
2. "Americans Across Generations Lack Critical Social Security Knowledge," [NAPA](https://www.napa-net.org/news/2023/9/americans-across-generations-lack-critical-social-security-knowledge/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), September 6, 2023 (Nationwide Retirement Institute survey)
3. "Retirement Ready: Fact Sheet for Workers Ages 61 to 69," [Social Security Administration](https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/assets/materials/workers-61-69.pdf?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
4. 2026 Social Security Trustees Report press release, [Social Security Administration](https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/press/releases/2026-06-09.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), June 9, 2026
5. Executive Order 6102, April 5, 1933, [The American Presidency Project](https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-6102-forbidding-the-hoarding-gold-coin-gold-bullion-and-gold-certificates?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
6. Richard G. Anderson, "The First U.S. Quantitative Easing: The 1930s," [Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis](https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/mt/20100701/cover.pdf?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), July 2010
7. Flemming v. Nestor, 363 U.S. 603 (1960), [Legal Information Institute](https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/363/603?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
8. Social Security Act, Section 1104, [Social Security Administration](https://www.ssa.gov/OP%5FHome/ssact/title11/1104.htm?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
9. "Income Taxes and Your Social Security Benefit," [Social Security Administration](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/taxes.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
10. "Things to Know About Taxes on Social Security Benefits," [AARP](https://www.aarp.org/social-security/things-to-know-about-taxes/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), updated July 20, 2026
11. Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, May 27, 1788, via [Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia, Monticello](https://www.monticello.org/encyclopedia/natural-progress-things-spurious-quotation/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
12. "Social Security," 1964 Johnson campaign ad, [The Living Room Candidate](https://livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1964/social-security?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
13. Ronald Reagan, "A Time for Choosing," October 27, 1964, [Ronald Reagan Presidential Library](https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/reagans/ronald-reagan/time-choosing-speech-october-27-1964?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
14. "Reagan's plan to keep older workers on the job," [Christian Science Monitor](https://csmonitor.com/1981/0513/051341.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), May 13, 1981
15. "When Did Social Security Become the Third Rail of American Politics?," [History News Network](https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/when-did-social-security-become-the-third-rail-of-?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
16. Peter Ferrara, "How Bush Lost Personal Accounts," [Institute for Policy Innovation](https://ipi.org/ipi%5Fissues/detail/how-bush-lost-personal-accounts?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), October 30, 2008
17. "Bessent says Trump accounts could pave way to privatizing Social Security," Associated Press via [Hawaii Tribune-Herald](https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/?p=347021&ref=sovereigntyledger.com), 2025
18. "Romney Campaign Says Rick Perry's Social Security Stance Has 'Badly Damaged His Candidacy,'" [ABC News](https://abcnews.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/romney-campaign-says-rick-perrys-social-security-stance-has-badly-damaged-his-candidacy?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), September 8, 2011
19. "Biden's claim that Republicans want to sunset Medicare and Social Security needs context," VERIFY via [9News](https://www.9news.com/article/news/verify/government-verify/bidens-claim-that-republicans-want-to-sunset-medicare-and-social-security-needs-context/536-9fcec101-b734-4488-b8c7-7598a992c0ac?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), February 2023

**A D.C. IOU, Not a Stake in the American Future**

1. "Benefits Reduction for Early Retirement," [Social Security Administration](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
2. "Social Security and Medicare Tax Rates," [SSA Office of the Chief Actuary](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/progdata/taxRates.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
3. "Who Pays the Employer Share of the Payroll Tax?," [Center for Retirement Research at Boston College](https://crr.bc.edu/project-code/bc23-02?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
4. "Social Security Tax Rates" (OASI and DI), [SSA Office of the Chief Actuary](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/progdata/oasdiRates.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
5. "National Average Wage Index," [SSA Office of the Chief Actuary](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/cola/AWI.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
6. "PIA Formula Bend Points," [SSA Office of the Chief Actuary](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/bendpoints.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
7. "Cost-of-Living Adjustments," [SSA Office of the Chief Actuary](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/colaseries.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
8. "S&P 500 Return History," [PennyCalc](https://pennycalc.com/sp500-returns/history/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), using Aswath Damodaran's NYU Stern data, 1928 to 2025
9. William P. Bengen, "Determining Withdrawal Rates Using Historical Data," Journal of Financial Planning, October 1994, via [Financial Planning Association](https://www.financialplanningassociation.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/MAR04%20Determining%20Withdrawal%20Rates%20Using%20Historical%20Data.pdf?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
10. "Contribution and Benefit Base," [SSA Office of the Chief Actuary](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/cola/cbb.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
11. "Survivors Benefits," [Social Security Administration](https://www.ssa.gov/survivor?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
12. "Lump-Sum Death Payment," RS 00210.001, [SSA Program Operations Manual System](https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.NSF/lnx/0300210001?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
13. "Retirement Topics: Beneficiary," [Internal Revenue Service](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-beneficiary?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
14. GAO-24-105833, "Fraud Risk Management," [Government Accountability Office](https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-24-105833?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), April 16, 2024
15. The 2026 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal OASI and DI Trust Funds, p. 8, [Social Security Administration](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/2026/tr2026.pdf?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), June 2026

**Spending Your Stake: Where the Money Went**

1. "Frequently Asked Questions about the Social Security Trust Funds," [SSA Office of the Chief Actuary](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
2. Table 4.A3, Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Trust Funds, [SSA Office of the Chief Actuary](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/table4a3.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
3. "Cato 2025 Social Security Flash Poll," [Cato Institute and Morning Consult](https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2025-08/Cato%202025%20Social%20Security%5FPoll.pdf?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), July 2025
4. "GAO Reports Improper Payments Rose to an Estimated $186 Billion," [Government Accountability Office](https://www.gao.gov/press-release/gao-reports-improper-payments-rose-estimated-186-billion-across-federal-government-fiscal-year-2025?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), April 27, 2026
5. "SSA Corrects Nearly 15% of Active Social Security Numbers," [Newsroom America](https://newsroomamerica.com/a/JTYMBFxnouZdCT5ek2J0aPSBOrK/ssa%5Fsays%5Fit%5Fhas%5Fcorrected%5Fnearly%5F15%5Fpercent%5Fof%5Factive%5Fsocial%5Fsecurity%5Fnumbers%5Fadding%5F17%5Fmillion%5Fdates%5Fof%5Fdeath%5Fand%5Fupdating%5Fabout%5F25%5Fmillion%5Frecords%5Fwith%5Fmissing%5Fcitizenship%5Finformation.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), October 20, 2026
6. "Other Reporting Requirements," SSA Agency Financial Report FY2025, p. 183, [Social Security Administration](https://www.ssa.gov/finance/2025/Other%20Reporting%20Requirements.pdf?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
7. "Ratio of Covered Workers to Beneficiaries," [SSA History](https://www.ssa.gov/history/ratios.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
8. Table IV.B4, Covered Workers and Beneficiaries, [2026 OASDI Trustees Report](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/2026/lr4b4.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
9. "Fertility rate drops to new record low: CDC," Nexstar via [WKBN](https://www.wkbn.com/news/national-world/fertility-rate-drops-to-new-record-low-cdc/amp/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), April 9, 2026
10. "Social Security: Selected Findings of the 2026 Annual Report," IF13256, [Congressional Research Service](https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/IF13256.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), June 25, 2026
11. "Ponzi Scheme," [Investor.gov, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission](https://www.investor.gov/investing-basics/avoiding-fraud/types-fraud/ponzi-scheme?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
12. David R. Henderson, "Good News for Social Security?," [EconLog](https://www.econlib.org/archives/2009/03/good%5Fnews%5Ffor%5Fs.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), March 20, 2009, quoting Paul Samuelson, Newsweek, February 13, 1967
13. "A Hypothetical Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment Based on the Research Consumer Price Index for the Elderly," IF12675, [Congressional Research Service](https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/2024-05-24%5FIF12675%5F5f33061b111c2f598c9890edd81e42af0c251c10.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), May 24, 2024
14. "Consumer Price Index for older Americans," [Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2012/ted%5F20120302.htm?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), March 2, 2012
15. "US M2 Money Supply Dataset," [Eco3min](https://eco3min.fr/en/us-m2-money-supply-dataset/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), using FRED data
16. M2 (M2SL), August 2026, [Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
17. "Historical Investment Returns," [FinanceWonk](https://www.financewonk.com/references/historical-returns?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), using Damodaran's NYU Stern data

**A Stake for Every American**

1. "Social Security Administration to Launch Process to Assist Enrollment in Trump Accounts," [Social Security Administration](https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/press/releases/2026-07-03.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), July 3, 2026
2. "Who could benefit the most from Trump's investment accounts for children," [PBS NewsHour](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/who-could-benefit-the-most-from-trumps-investment-accounts-for-children?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), July 2026
3. "SpaceX Stock for Every Child Could Kick Off $100B Giving Race, Brad Gerstner Says," [Benzinga](https://www.benzinga.com/news/politics/26/10/62472412/spacex-stock-for-kids-100-billion-giving-race-brad-gerstner-says?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), October 2026
4. "Moreno to spearhead Senate bill expanding Trump Accounts to Americans under 40," [Forth](https://www.forth.news/stories/CgE1gRz9uJ6t31YtKs9fG?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), October 20, 2026
5. "Dell family to give $6.25 billion to create 25 million additional 'Trump Accounts,'" NBC News via [NBC DFW](https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/dell-billions-donations-trump-accounts/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
6. "Dell Foundation Donates $6.25B to 'Trump Accounts,'" [401(k) Specialist](https://401kspecialistmag.com/dell-foundation-donates-6-25b-to-trump-accounts/?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
7. "What Percentage of Americans Own Stock?," [Gallup](https://news.gallup.com/poll/266807/percentage-americans-owns-stock.aspx?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), 2025
8. "Most Americans Don't Know How Social Security Fits into Their Retirement Plan," Allianz Life via [Business Wire](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251021517917/en/Most-Americans-Dont-Know-How-Social-Security-Fits-into-their-Retirement-Plan-Allianz-Life-Study-Finds?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), October 21, 2025
9. "Trump Accounts Risk Missing Low-Income Families Buying In," [Bloomberg Government](https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/trump-accounts-risk-missing-low-income-families-buying-in?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), July 2026

**Better Than Singapore: A Stake Washington Can't Touch**

1. Viktor Bunin, post on [X](https://x.com/ViktorBunin/status/2112595761288327669?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), October 20, 2026
2. "CPF contribution rates (2026)," [Endowus](https://endowus.com/insights/how-much-cpf-contribution-rates?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
3. "CPF Interest Rates from 1 July to 30 September 2026," [CPF Board](https://www.cpf.gov.sg/member/infohub/news/news-releases/cpf-interest-rates-from-1-july-to-30-september-2026?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
4. "Why aren't GIC's returns fully passed through to CPF members?," [CPF Board](https://cpf.gov.sg/member/infohub/cpf-clarifies/policy-faqs/why-arent-gics-returns-fully-passed-through-to-cpf-members?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
5. "Trump child accounts: Age 18 and beyond," [Taxes for Expats](https://cdn.taxesforexpats.com/articles/trump-child-account/trump-account-age-18-withdrawal-rules.html?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
6. "IRS releases tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026," [Internal Revenue Service](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-releases-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2026-including-amendments-from-the-one-big-beautiful-bill?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
7. "BNY and Robinhood to manage Trump accounts for kids," [Quartz](https://qz.com/treasury-bny-robinhood-trump-accounts-children?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), April 6, 2026
8. "IRS proposes rules for eligible Trump Account investments," [Accounting Today](https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/irs-proposes-rules-for-eligible-trump-account-investments?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), August 2026
9. Fifth Amendment, U.S. Constitution, [Legal Information Institute](https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fifth%5Famendment?ref=sovereigntyledger.com)
10. James M. Roberts, "Kirchners Make a Grab for Private Pensions to Bail Out Argentina," [Heritage Foundation](https://www.heritage.org/americas/commentary/kirchners-make-grab-private-pensions-bail-out-argentina?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), November 7, 2008
11. "US fertility rates drop to record low in 2025 as births fall," Associated Press via [KSL](https://www.ksl.com/article/51481355/us-fertility-rates-drop-to-record-low-in-2025-as-births-fall?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), April 9, 2026
12. Chris Edwards, "Federal Welfare Spending Is a Fraud Magnet," [Cato Institute](https://www.cato.org/commentary/federal-welfare-spending-fraud-magnet-taxpayers-are-paying-price?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), February 11, 2026
13. "Treasury Announces the Launch of the Trump Accounts App and Next Steps," [U.S. Department of the Treasury](https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0508?ref=sovereigntyledger.com), 2026

Sources cited in more than one section are listed where they first appear.