VOO and SPYM Track the Same S&P 500, Yet Only One Is Allowed in Your Kid’s Trump Account
VOO and SPYM both mirror the S&P 500 at nearly identical costs, yet the government quietly excluded one of them from the new federally chartered savings accounts for children, and that bureaucratic detail forces every parent's hand.
For parents opening a Trump Account, the choice between Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:VOO) and State Street’s SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPYM) looks like a coin flip, according to Yahoo Finance. Both funds mirror the S&P 500, both charge next to nothing, and their returns move in near lockstep. Only one, however, is on the government’s approved list, and that fact alone decides the question inside a Trump Account.
What a Trump Account Actually Is
A Trump Account is a federally chartered savings vehicle for children, launched under the 2025 tax legislation. Eligible newborns receive a one-time government seed contribution deposited at birth, and parents, relatives, or employers can add to the account each year up to a federal cap. Money grows tax-deferred and must be invested in an approved index fund. Because the rules are still bedding down, contribution limits and seed amounts should be verified on trumpaccounts.gov before funding, but the structural point is fixed: the account holds one fund from a short menu, not any ETF the parent prefers.
Approved Menu and Why VOO Is Missing
According to Business Insider, the Treasury’s Trump Accounts lineup consists of five low-cost index stock ETFs. Those approved tickers are SPYM, IVV, VTI, SPTM, and ITOT, according to Yahoo Finance. Yahoo Finance has reported that SPYM is the Treasury’s default fund when a parent does not choose one.
VOO’s absence is a paperwork outcome. The statute leaves the fund menu to Treasury, and Treasury built the lineup around specific issuers and share classes that met its criteria. Vanguard’s total-market fund VTI made the list; its 500-stock sibling did not. For a parent, the practical takeaway is simple: you cannot put VOO inside a Trump Account, so the relevant S&P 500 choice is SPYM, according to Yahoo Finance.
Under the Hood, They Are Nearly Identical
Both funds track the same benchmark and hold the same names in roughly the same weights. SPYM’s June filing shows household positions such as Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Broadcom, and Meta Platforms sitting at the top of the book, with total net assets of $153.9 billion, according to Yahoo Finance. VOO’s fact sheet reports an expense ratio of 0.03%, among the cheapest in the category. SPYM sits in the same ultra-low-cost tier that qualified it for the Trump Account menu, according to Yahoo Finance.
Performance confirms the overlap. Year to date, VOO has returned 13.4% while SPYM has returned 13.43%, according to Yahoo Finance. Over the trailing year the two land at 17.45% and 17.48%. Over five years the gap is a rounding error.
Share Price and Accessibility
SPYM trades around $90 per share, while VOO trades near $707, according to Yahoo Finance. For a Trump Account funded in modest increments, SPYM’s lower sticker price allows a full-share purchase from a small contribution without waiting for fractional-share settlement, according to Yahoo Finance. Both funds pay quarterly, with SPYM’s latest distribution at $0.239067 and VOO’s at $1.9622 per share, according to Yahoo Finance.
Verdict for the Parent
Inside a Trump Account, there is no decision to agonize over. VOO is not on the menu, SPYM is the Treasury default, and SPYM delivers the same S&P 500 exposure at a comparable cost, according to Yahoo Finance. A parent who does nothing ends up with a broadly diversified, ultra-cheap index fund tracking the largest U.S. companies. That is a good outcome. The calculus only changes if the parent is funding the child’s investments outside the Trump Account, in a UTMA or brokerage account, where VOO becomes fair game again.
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Jake has been been working in financial media for almost 15 years. He focuses on all things personal finance for 24/7 Wall St. with high hopes to educate and entertain. Most recently, Jake spent 12 years working various roles at The Motley Fool. He started copy editing fool.com content, worked on premium and marketing campaigns, and helped launch The Ascent, a personal finance brand.
His work has been featured on platforms like MSN, Yahoo Finance, USA Today, and more. He's written about credit cards, social security, ETFs, savings accounts, and just about anything else you can imagine when thinking about money. Jake love to cook, play golf, and tell people he's never had a cavity. (It's true!)
