Behind the Curtain: Universal Basic Investment

Why it matters: Billionaires Michael and Susan Dell, quickly followed by Ray and Barbara Dalio, are running with the Trump Accounts for kids championed by President Trump — which in turn built on ideas from Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas). It's a potentially scalable, bipartisan partial solution.

• Think of it as Universal Basic Investment.

How Trump Accounts work: Under the Invest America Act, part of this year's "big beautiful bill," every U.S. citizen baby born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, automatically gets a $1,000 seed deposit from the federal government.

• The mechanism: The money sits in a tax-deferred investment account (tracking the S&P 500) and cannot be touched until the child turns 18.
• The growth: Family and friends can contribute up to $5,000 annually. By age 18, that money could grow enough to fund college, a business, or a down payment.

On Giving Tuesday earlier this month, Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies, and his wife, Susan Dell, pledged $6.25 billion — roughly 4.5% of their $135 billion fortune — to seed Trump Accounts for millions of kids who missed the federal cutoff.

• The goal: To give the next generation a financial leg up, plus a living lesson in compound interest and investment.

The Dell twist: Government funding covers only newborns. The Dells are stepping in to give $250 each to 25 million existing kids (ages 10 and under) in specific income-qualified ZIP codes.

• The Dells hope others will follow: They point to "the power of collective action ... what becomes possible when families, employers, philanthropists, and communities all join together to create something transformative."

A mini-movement has begun. Billionaire hedge fund founder Ray Dalio and his wife, Barbara, announced Wednesday they're donating about $75 million to put $250 in Trump Accounts for approximately 300,000 Connecticut children. "Following the Dell model," the couple said, "the funds are initially targeted for children [ages 2-10] who live in a Connecticut ZIP Code where the median income is less than $150,000."

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the Dalios are part of a "50 State Challenge" aimed at enlisting philanthropists in every state.

But who could actually afford to do what the Dells and Dalios did without blinking? We crunched the numbers. If we define "easily afford" as giving away $1 billion without selling control of your company or dipping below 90% of your net worth, the list is short but powerful:

1. The "Extremely Easy" Tier (centibillionaires)

• 14 Americans with a net worth over $100 billion (think Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Ellison, Gates), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
• The math: For them, a $1 billion donation is less than 1% of their total wealth. It is the financial equivalent of the average family donating $1,000.
• The potential: If just this small group matched the Dells' $6.25 billion pledge, they could fully seed accounts for nearly every child born in the U.S. for the next decade.

2. The "Very Feasible" Tier

• 30-ish Americans are worth $20 billion to $100 billion (heirs to Walmart/Mars fortunes, founders of Nike, etc.).
• The math: A $1 billion check represents roughly 1% to 5% of their fortune. It's a major philanthropic decision, but financially safe.

3. The "Significant but Possible" Tier

• Nearly 250 Americans are worth $5 billion to $20 billion, per the Forbes Billionaires Index.

• The math: This is where it gets harder. Matching the Dells would require liquidating a double-digit percentage of their assets. But a smaller, targeted pledge (say, $100 million to $500 million) is well within reach.

The foundation unlock: While individual billionaires get the headlines, the real sleeping giant is the $1.6 trillion sitting in U.S. private foundations.

• The unlock: Under the new rules, qualifying charitable foundations are exempt from the $5,000 annual contribution cap. They can give as much as they want to these accounts.
• The scale: A mere 1% shift in total foundation assets toward these accounts would generate $16 billion. That's enough to give 16 million kids a $1,000 nest egg overnight.
• The hurdle: Historically, foundations prefer grants they can "control" or measure immediately. Handing cash to a 5-year-old, with vesting in 13 years, requires a shift in philanthropic mindset — trusting the market over the program manager.

That could turn into something bigger — the Alternative UBI: Universal Basic Income (government cash) can be politically toxic and would be expensive.

• Elon Musk and others have championed this as a possibility if AI erases too many jobs and requires the biggest AI beneficiaries to help the general population.
• So we're talking Universal Basic Investment — giving capital that'll grow.

Why it works: It bypasses the argument about "handouts." You aren't giving someone money to buy groceries today; you're giving them equity in America that vests when they become adults.

The education twist: This is the ultimate "lab class" for the AI generation.

• Gamifying wealth: Imagine an app where a 15-year-old can log in, see their "UBI Fund," watch the line go up, and learn the magic of compound interest.
• Nonprofits could match contributions for kids who complete financial literacy modules, get good grades, or learn a trade.

The bottom line: The Dells just showed that the private sector doesn't have to wait for Congress to tackle the wealth gap or the retirement crisis. They just handed the keys to the engine of American prosperity to 25 million kids.

• Who will follow?

Go deeper: How to opt in to Trump Accounts.