Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio has joined the list of billionaires backing President Donald Trump’s new plan to give $1,000 to every child born in the next three years.
Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, and his wife, Barbara, will donate $250 to about 300,000 children in Connecticut who live in zip codes where the median family income is $150,000 or less, Dalio Philanthropies said in a press release.
“Barbara and I believe strongly in the importance of equal opportunity and believe this initiative is an important step in that direction,” Ray Dalio said in the release. “I have lived the American dream. At an early age, I was exposed to the stock market, and it changed my life. By providing children with savings accounts that compound over time, we are providing them with early insights into financial literacy and a path towards financial independence.”
BlackRock, too, announced on Wednesday that it would “offer an employee match to the US government contribution of $1,000 for all eligible US employees to Trump Accounts.”
Several other business leaders, including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, have also committed to contributing funds to the accounts of their employees’ children, according to Invest America, the federal program spearheaded by Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner that is now commonly known as “Trump Accounts.” BNY, a financial services company, also announced last week that it would match Trump Account funds for its employees.
Since June, some of the country’s wealthiest individuals have been lining up behind Trump’s plan to provide a one-time, tax-free federal grant of $1,000 to every American child born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028. The accounts will be in the child’s name, but their parent will remain the sole custodian until the child turns 18. Others can contribute up to an additional $5,000 tax-free to those accounts every year.
The program will officially launch on July 4, 2026.
The Dalios’ donation follows a substantial commitment from Michael and Susan Dell, who pledged to deposit $250 into the accounts of 25 million American kids — about $6.25 billion — earlier this month. The payments will be automatically deposited into the account of any child who fits the criteria and opens a Trump Account.
However, not all billionaires are rushing to contribute to the Trump Accounts.
The world’s richest man, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, shared his thoughts on the Trump Accounts in a response on X to Ray Dalio, who had posted his praise for the program and Dells’ contribution.
“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 wrote. Musk once said that Tesla’s Optimus robot would “eliminate poverty.”
Dalio Philanthropies and BlackRock did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
