494: Scott Bessent—What's Up with Those Trump Accounts

**Mike Rowe** (0:03)
Hey, guys, this is The Way I Heard It. This episode is called What's Up with Those Trump Accounts.
Full disclosure. That was a headline I saw recently somewhere, and I was curious, so I read the article. And then fortuitously, not too long thereafter, I found myself at the Ronald Reagan Economic Forum in the Ronald Reagan Library, listening to a bunch of big shots mouth off about various policy issues.

**Chuck** (0:31)
Yeah.

**Mike Rowe** (0:31)
And guess who I met, Chuck?

**Chuck** (0:34)
Secretary Bessent.

**Mike Rowe** (0:36)
That's a pretty good guess. I should have known.
As the erstwhile producer of this podcast, you wouldn't have access to that kind of information. Scott Bessent delivered a remarkable speech while I was there. And I just happened to have a small crew with me, and we set up camp right there in the library. And I wound up hanging out for a very long day and left with four or five really, I think, super interesting interviews with some very consequential CEOs and people in the aerospace industry and various experts on this and that. But it was Scott Bessent who really got my attention with a speech he gave called While America Slept. You would have loved it.

**Chuck** (1:19)
While America Slept.

**Mike Rowe** (1:21)
Yeah.
Yeah. And where were you, Chuck, while America was sleeping and I was recording this podcast?

**Chuck** (1:26)
I was slumming it at an all inclusive in Cancun, probably swimming down a river or zip lining. I don't know. I was doing something fun.

**Mike Rowe** (1:38)
Well, I hope so. This probably can't compete with that. But I don't know. Listen to the conversation and tell me what you think because this guy, first of all, he's everywhere.

**Chuck** (1:47)
Yeah, that's true.

**Mike Rowe** (1:49)
He is everywhere. And we laugh about this early on because I was like, Scott, you were on TV last night before I had nodded off. And you're right there in the morning in the Oval Office talking about this, that and the other. Oh, and let me also say, before we get into this, fear not, friends, The Way I Heard It is not morphing into some polemic or some political podcast. Yes, it's true. JD Vance was last week's guest. And yes, his mere presence triggered.

**Chuck** (2:20)
Caused a stir. Yeah.

**Mike Rowe** (2:22)
Yes.
Yes. I just want to say for anybody who actually listened to our conversation, it was Mike Rowe Works 101

**Chuck** (2:30)
Yeah.

**Mike Rowe** (2:30)
It was not a political conversation. This conversation with Secretary Bessent is probably more political than the one I had with the VP.
But in some ways, I think it's even more important because these Trump accounts, they're not perfect. Like any other thing, there are rules that you need to be aware of. But I've never seen a better attempt to get people involved in the market who otherwise never would be. It's pretty great.

**Chuck** (3:04)
I mean, I think it's great. It's great on several levels. And the whole idea of compound interest is starting early. And how much earlier can you start than when you're born? You know what I mean? It's like you can really help your kids have a great advantage from the get. Even if you don't do anything, even if you just do a little bit, that's going to over the course of a lifetime, that's going to double and double and double and double.

**Mike Rowe** (3:31)
I kind of think of it like an allowance in a way. Like my allowance was very paltry when I was a kid, but it was my first experience with sort of managing money and thinking about, okay, well, I made a couple bucks this week. Maybe I can get this or that, or maybe I should save some. Well, this isn't so much about money management as it is about financial literacy in general and investing in particular.
So you're right. To get a kid at the earliest possible age aware of the fact that they have money that belongs to them, that's growing in this thing called a market, in indexed funds. And once you've got a little bit of skin in the game, then you become interested in ways that I think are really important. Cause look, man, we've got like half the country or more is not invested in the markets at all. Why would they care?
This is such a great way, I think. And by the way, you're talking about $1,000 from the government, if you have a kid in the next three years, you can contribute to that account. Talk to your financial advisor if you have one about how this compares to 529s and IRAs and Roth IRAs. Right, there are all kinds of options and there are rules. But look, you put $1,000 in somebody's account and you just don't touch it until you're 59, 60 years old. It's going to be worth about 300 grand, at least historically speaking.