No 401(k)? Trump Plan Promises to Add $1,000 to Your Savings

If you’re struggling to get out of debt and you don’t have a big paycheck coming in every two weeks, then regularly putting money aside for retirement may be the last thing on your mind.

After all, it can seem like it doesn’t make sense to save money for decades down the road when you’re dealing with mounting piles of past-due bills right now.

But a recent executive order from President Donald Trump aims to lessen the burden of retirement savings for a big segment of the American public.

Trump recently signed an executive order that stands to provide workers who don’t have access to a 401(k) or another employer-sponsored retirement program with an option to boost their long-term savings.

The order highlights a significant problem many in the U.S. are facing. Namely, tens of millions of Americans don’t have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans.

“My administration intends to give these often-left-out American workers access to the same type of retirement-savings opportunities offered to every federal worker and to establish an easy and transparent way for eligible workers to obtain up to a $1,000 match for their savings,” Trump wrote in the order.

Saving enough money to retire one day may not seem possible for workers who are already doing all they can to keep up with energy and healthcare costs in 2026.

The access the order is designed to promote will please workers who don’t currently have access to the type of retirement program Trump referred to in the order. Saving for retirement can be a challenge in and of itself.

But when your employer doesn’t offer you a plan that encourages you to put money aside for your golden years, building your nest egg can be even tougher.

One factor that make saving for retirement especially difficult in 2026 is that many Americans are struggling just to meet their immediate financial needs. And many workers are also losing faith in their retirement prospects.

A recent survey from Gallup found that many U.S. households are struggling to keep up with energy and healthcare prices. And inflation continues to wreak havoc on consumer finances.

With so many financial battles to fight on a daily basis, saving for retirement may seem more like a luxury than a necessity for some people.

Small Contributions Can Grow In the Long Run

Trump is looking for swift action on the establishment of the new retirement-savings option. 

His order calls for the Secretary of the Treasury to set up a new website, known as TrumpIRA.gov, by the beginning of next year. The site will provide workers with no access to employer-sponsored retirement plans with information about high quality, low-cost individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

People will be able to use the site to compare different IRA options and locate the one that best suits their retirement goals. Once they’ve targeted the program they want to pursue, they can begin investing and watch their savings grow.

Under the Federal Saver’s Match, eligible lower- and middle-income workers who contribute to qualifying retirement accounts can receive a match of up to $1,000 per year.

A bonus contribution of $1,000 may not seem like much at first glance. But those new to retirement saving can take comfort in the knowledge that even relatively small investments can grow into much bigger ones over time.

The White House released a fact sheet that illustrates how consistently saving can help bolster a consumer’s retirement fund.

“A 25-year-old low-income worker who steadily saves around $165 per month and qualifies for the Saver’s Match of around $1,000 per year could, at a 6% rate of return, end up with around $465,000 by the age of 65, with nearly $155,000 attributable to the Saver’s Match,” the fact sheet explained.

That projection may not sound realistic to some, but others could view it as underselling potential returns. A review of annual returns on various investment vehicles in recent years shows that the S&P 500 came in at greater than 6% — the figure the White House used in its example — for eight of the last 10 years.

In 2019 and 2021, the S&P 500’s return was substantially higher than 6%. Of course, past performance does not guarantee future results. But the new $1,000 government match program may help first-time investors overcome concerns they have about putting their money in the market.