✨ AI Investing Guide 📅 Understanding Automatic Investing

Fractional Shares: Buy a Portion of a Stock

Ready to put your investments on autopilot? The best time to start is now. In 2026, many brokerages offer robust automatic investing features with web and mobile app options to make it easier than ever to set it and forget it. This innovation has made investing more accessible, especially for those who want to invest in high-priced stocks but lack the capital to buy full shares.

This article explains the benefits of incorporating an automatic investing strategy in your personal wealth-building journey to stick to your goals, avoid emotional decisions, and benefit from dollar-cost averaging.

What is Automatic Investing?

At the core of every automatic investment strategy is dollar-cost averaging and compounding interest, based on that dollar-cost averaging. Automatic investing lets you schedule recurring deposits into your investment account—weekly, monthly, or on your own custom timeline. This approach helps you:

• 💯 Be consistent: Stick to a budget and investing plan to build wealth consistently, even during volatile markets.
• 😠 Remove emotion: Reduce the temptation to time the market.
• 📅 Increase accessibility: Make regular contributions - even small but regularly occurring ones - compound into serious wealth over time.

The result of automatic investing? You stay consistent and focused, sidestep emotional decisions, and keep your portfolio growing, even when the stock market gets choppy.

Choosing the Right Broker for Automatic Investing

The ease and flexibility of recurring investments of how you personally plan to build up your portfolio, especially for dollar-cost averaging and long-term planning, are critical questions to consider before creating an automatic-investing strategy.

• Which equities are you trying to automate buying? Have you hand-picked your stocks/ETFs to buy? (PortfolioGPT can help with that!) Or would you prefer a robo-advisor to do the work?
• Is there a minimum investment size or fees? Make sure you're not penalized for making regular investment contributions.
• Do you prefer a desktop-only or mobile-optimized experience? If you stay committed to your investment goals, it's important to consider if the brokerage provides a desktop-only or mobile-optimized app experience. Most brokerages have prioritized their investing experience for desktop, while others have enabled full-functionality in their mobile apps.

Whether you're a seasoned investor or just starting, understanding your risk tolerance is essential for long-term success, as it reflects how much uncertainty or fluctuation in investment value an individual is willing to endure while pursuing financial goals. Understanding risk tolerance isn't just about categorizing yourself as conservative, moderate, or aggressive: it’s about aligning your investments with your unique personal wealth journey.

Which Brokerages Offer Automatic Investing

If you're looking to start, consider opening an account with one of the major brokerages that support re-occurring, automatic investing. Here's a comparison of the major U.S. brokerages offering automatic investing, highlighting their strengths and any notable limitations.

• Charles Schwab: A leader in the brokerage industry, Schwab allows fractional share investing through its Stock Slices program.
• Fidelity Investments: Fidelity offers fractional shares to set-up reoccurring investments on up to 7,000 different stocks and ETFs, making it an excellent option for diversified investing.
• Vanguard: Known for its low-cost index and ETF funds, Vanguard also supports fractional investing.
• Robinhood: A popular choice among younger investors, Robinhood makes it easy to buy fractional shares with no account minimums.
• SoFi Invest: SoFi provides an intuitive platform for buying fractional shares alongside other financial products.
• Webull: A tech-savvy brokerage that offers commission-free trading, including fractional shares.
• Interactive Brokers: This platform caters to both retail and professional investors with its fractional share offerings.

Notable Features & Differentiators

• Fidelity Investments: Only major broker with the ability to set-up recurring buys of stock, ETF and mutual funds.
• Charles Schwab & Vanguard: Strong research, low fees and robust robo-advisor options. Both allow automatic investing in their mutual funds and offer strong robo-advisors for those who want a hands-off approach. However, they don’t support recurring buys for individual stocks or ETFs.
• Vanguard: Low-cost index funds, retirement focus.
• Robinhood & Interactive Brokers: User-friendly app, however, less automation-friendly for stocks and ETFs, but may suit niche needs. Robinhood currently lack robust automation for stocks/ETFs, though ot supports recurring crypto buys, while IBKR offers advanced automation tools for pros
• SoFi Invest: Automated portfolios, CFP access.
• Betterment: Leading robo-advisor, goal-based investing.
• Robo-Advisor Options: make fully-automated investing accessible for everyone, even beginners - perfect for investors who want to set it and forget it. Betterment, SoFi, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios automate everything, from portfolio management, rebalancing, automatic contributions and tax-loss harvesting.
• E*TRADE: Enables recurring investments in eligible ETFs and mutual funds with a low $25 minimum.
• Interactive Brokers: Advanced automation for pros, less beginner-friendly.

The Clear Automatic Investing Winner: Fidelity Investments

Fidelity is the standout for recurring stock and ETF buys, while Schwab, Vanguard, and E*TRADE are excellent for mutual funds and automation-minded investors. Fidelity is the only major brokerage in 2025 that lets you set up recurring, automatic investments directly into both stocks and ETFs—making it a top pick for hands-on investors who want true automation without giving up control. Fidelity leads for recurring stock and ETF purchases, making it the best choice for DIY automation, packed with tools for goal tracking, budgeting, and research, and there are no account minimums or trading commissions for US stocks and ETFs.

Key Takeaways

If you're looking to start, consider opening an account with one of the major brokerages that support re-occurring, automatic investing. Here's a comparison of the major U.S. brokerages offering automatic investing, highlighting their strengths and any notable limitations.

• Charles Schwab: A leader in the brokerage industry, Schwab allows fractional share investing through its Stock Slices program.
• Fidelity Investments: Fidelity offers fractional shares to set-up reoccurring investments on up to 7,000 different stocks and ETFs, making it an excellent option for diversified investing.
• Vanguard: Known for its low-cost index and ETF funds, Vanguard also supports fractional investing.
• Robinhood: A popular choice among younger investors, Robinhood makes it easy to buy fractional shares with no account minimums.
• SoFi Invest: SoFi provides an intuitive platform for buying fractional shares alongside other financial products.
• Webull: A tech-savvy brokerage that offers commission-free trading, including fractional shares.
• Interactive Brokers: This platform caters to both retail and professional investors with its fractional share offerings.

Automatic Investing Conclusion

Automatic investing is a tremendous game-changer for growing your personal wealth in 2025. Whether you're a hands-on investor or want a robo-advisor to handle everything, there's a platform that fits your style. The most important step? Start automating - your future self will thank you!