How much money do you need to start on Autopilot? No stated minimum, but three things that decide whether a small allocation works

I'm Chris, one of the co-founders of Autopilot. We don't publish an account minimum, and it isn't a fund with a buy-in. But "no minimum" isn't the same as "any amount works well," and I'd rather explain the three mechanics that decide it than let you find out from a half-filled Portfolio.

One thing first, because we're an SEC-registered investment adviser and I have to say it. Autopilot is the app. The actual investment advice comes from Autopilot Advisers, LLC. If you want the full legal version of anything in here, it's on our disclaimer page.

There's no account minimum

You connect the brokerage account you already have and allocate whatever amount you choose from its settled buying power. There's no deposit into anything of ours, because we don't hold money, and no minimum balance to open with, because there's nothing to open. Basic Tier has no platform fee. So the floor, in principle, is whatever your brokerage lets you hold.

Mechanic one: minimum order sizes

Every order has to clear a small system-wide minimum of a few dollars, and each brokerage has its own minimum order size on top of that. A Portfolio's weights are applied to your allocation, so a stock that's a small slice of the Portfolio becomes a very small order in a small account, and if that order falls under a minimum, it doesn't happen. The result is a Portfolio with its smaller positions missing and more of your allocation sitting in cash. The larger the allocation, the fewer positions get skipped.

Mechanic two: fractional shares

Some brokerages fill fractional orders, some trade whole shares only, and some allow fractions with restrictions. In a whole-share account, a small allocation can't hold a high-priced stock at its intended weight at all, so weights are approximated and small positions are skipped. If you plan to start small, a brokerage that supports fractional shares matters more than almost anything else, and which ones do is the brokerage's call and can change; the connect screen and your brokerage are the sources. Why all of this makes your account differ from the Portfolio is in Why your returns won't match the Pilot's: proportional following, timing, fractional shares, and the cash that never got invested.

Mechanic three: the flat fee

Basic Tier has no Base Advisory and Licensing Fee, but the following, the part that keeps your account aligned as the Portfolio changes, is the paid Premium Tier, a flat cash subscription. Flat dollars are a large share of a small allocation and a small share of a large one, so the same fee that's trivial on one account is the whole return on another. Convert the fee to dollars a year, divide by what you'll allocate, and look at that number honestly; I did the arithmetic in What a flat investing fee means at your balance: the small-account math, what Premium Tier is for, and how to leave. For a very small allocation, the honest answers are Basic Tier's one-time snapshot, or waiting until the fee is a share you're comfortable with.

What I'd actually do with a small account

Start on Basic Tier, which has no platform fee, to see how the mechanics behave in your account. Pick a brokerage with fractional shares. Allocate only settled cash you actually have, never a hoped-for number, because an allocation above your buying power shows up as phantom cash and unfilled orders. Prefer a Portfolio with fewer, larger positions over one with fifty small ones, since the small ones are what get skipped; the fact sheet's largest positions tell you which kind you're looking at. And read the fee as a share of your allocation before you turn on Premium Tier.

Frequently asked questions

How much money do you need to start on Autopilot?

There's no stated account minimum: you allocate any amount from the settled buying power in a brokerage account you already have, and Basic Tier has no platform fee. Whether a small allocation works well depends on three things: minimum order sizes, which cause small positions to be skipped; whether your brokerage supports fractional shares; and the flat Premium Tier fee, which is a bigger share of a small allocation. Start on Basic Tier and do the fee math before paying.

Is there a minimum investment for Autopilot?

No published account minimum. Autopilot isn't a fund with a buy-in; it follows a Portfolio inside your existing brokerage account using whatever you allocate. In practice, each order must clear a small system minimum of a few dollars plus your brokerage's own minimum, so very small allocations end up with positions skipped and more cash uninvested, especially at brokerages that trade whole shares only.

Can I use Autopilot with a small account?

Yes, with eyes open. Use a brokerage that supports fractional shares, allocate only settled cash you actually have, prefer Portfolios with fewer and larger positions, and start on Basic Tier, which has no platform fee. Before turning on Premium Tier's ongoing following, convert its flat fee to dollars a year and divide by your allocation; on a small account that share can be large, and the honest answer may be to wait.

Why did my small allocation skip some stocks?

Because a Portfolio's weights applied to a small allocation produce orders that fall below the system's minimum order size of a few dollars or your brokerage's own minimum, so those orders don't happen and the money stays in cash. Whole-share brokerages make this worse, since a small allocation can't hold a high-priced stock at its intended weight. A larger allocation or a fractional-share brokerage fills more of the Portfolio.

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Since Autopilot Advisers is an SEC-registered investment adviser, we have to put disclaimers on stuff like this. They're below, and the full version is on our disclaimer page.

Disclosures

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