President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 30 directing the Treasury Department to launch TrumpIRA.gov, a federal marketplace where workers without an employer-sponsored retirement plan can compare and select low-cost Individual Retirement Accounts. The order also opens a federal Saver’s Match of up to $1,000 per year for qualifying low-income contributors and caps the annual expense ratio on listed IRAs at 0.15 percent.
Independent contractors, freelancers, and self-employed business owners are at the center of the policy. About 54 million Americans work full or part-time without access to a workplace retirement plan, and the Economic Innovation Group counts independent and gig workers as some of the most underserved groups in that population.
What The Order Actually Does
The order tasks Treasury with building TrumpIRA.gov as a public-facing comparison platform, with a target launch of January 1, 2027. Workers will be able to filter listed IRAs by cost, quality, and investment options, and any provider that joins the platform must keep the all-in annual expense ratio at or below 0.15 percent of account balance.
The order also activates the Saver’s Match created by SECURE 2.0, which provides a federal contribution of up to $1,000 a year for workers earning less than $35,000. The match flows directly into the worker’s IRA account rather than as a tax credit, which matters for self-employed filers whose Schedule C income often varies year to year.
Why This Matters For Self-Employed Workers
Solo earners have access to SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and Solo 401(k)s today, but participation rates lag those of W-2 workers by a wide margin. The friction is well documented, with savers citing complex setup, paperwork on Schedule C and Form 5500, and confusion about contribution caps as recurring barriers.
A standardized federal marketplace lowers the search costs for a freelancer or 1099 contractor who has no HR department and no payroll provider to steer them toward a plan. Pair that with a 0.15 percent fee cap, and the gap between a self-employed saver and a W-2 saver narrows on the cost line that compounds the most over decades.
What Self-Employed Workers Should Do Next
Review your 2026 retirement contribution math now rather than waiting for the January launch. Self-employed savers can already open a SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA, or Solo 401(k), and the higher 2026 limits, including a $7,500 IRA cap and a $24,500 employee deferral cap on the Solo 401(k) side, are available today. The TrumpIRA marketplace is an addition to those options, not a replacement.
Second, document any year you expect adjusted gross income to fall under $35,000, because that is the band where the new $1,000 Saver’s Match applies. Self-employed earnings volatility means a slow year may unlock match dollars that a steady W-2 worker would not see.
What To Watch Next
Treasury still has to write the rules governing provider eligibility, fee verification, and plan disclosures, which means the platform’s practical contours are months away from being finalized. Self-employed savers tracking the broader retirement picture also saw new HSA rules expand under OBBBA, a separate channel that pairs well with an IRA for tax-advantaged saving.
Also watch for state portable benefits frameworks that may interface with the federal marketplace. States like Utah, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia have already enacted laws that allow companies to fund worker benefit accounts without triggering reclassification, and a federal IRA marketplace could provide those state programs with a default investment vehicle.
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya: Unsplash
