This headline is similar to Obama’s old “myRA” program, but the differences say a lot about the differing philosophies of the two presidents.  The Obama version limited savers to a single low-yield government bond fund, essentially forcing savers to lend their money to the government on the cheap.  Trump’s version is designed as a wealth-building engine to bridge the retirement gap through private-sector growth.

Unlike Obama’s government-centered model, TrumpIRA relies on a competitive marketplace of low-cost, high-performance private accounts, to harness the compounding power of the stock market. It serves as a market-based vehicle for delivering a 50% Federal Saver’s Match for Americans who make less than $35,000 a year – many of whom currently lack 401k retirement accounts.

This could make every worker a shareholder and every retiree in the future a pension millionaire. It’s a little convoluted for the federal government to collect payroll taxes for a dysfunctional Social Security system, then effectively hand some of it back for a private retirement match, but it’s a step in the right direction.