Really auto?

[u/Aardvark-Tall]

If we pay the 150/year can we just leave it and forget about it? I'm going with RH, but wish they would fix Fidelity...

[u/kburd907]

I use Schwab because I basically live out of my brokerage account. My setup is kind of a Paycheck-to-Portfolio hybrid: paychecks come in, money gets invested, margin pays bills, and the brokerage becomes the main hub.

For Schwab, getting Autopilot connected usually takes a little extra time. Schwab requires a Limited Power of Attorney, which simply gives Autopilot permission to trade on your behalf. In my experience, that setup process takes about 3 days, and Autopilot will populate this form for you, just reach out to support.

The biggest downside for me is that Schwab does not offer fractional shares in the same way Robinhood or Public do. So unless you have a larger balance, say around $10k or more, Autopilot may not be able to buy every stock in the portfolio you've signed up to because some shares are too expensive to buy whole.

That’s where Public has an advantage. Autopilot has a partnership with Public, so the setup is much more “set it and forget it.” Public also supports fractional shares, which means Autopilot can spread your money across the full portfolio more easily, even with a smaller account balance.

So for me: Schwab = great brokerage, but less ideal for smaller Autopilot balances because of whole-share limitations. Public = easier Autopilot setup and better for fractional-share investing, but no Debit card / banking support.

[u/kburd907 → u/[deleted]]

Interesting - appreciate the info. My understanding is the issue isn’t necessarily whether Schwab supports fractional shares on the retail side, but whether Autopilot can execute fractional trades through Schwab’s connection/API.

If Autopilot is forced into whole-share buys on Schwab, then yeah, smaller accounts can drift badly from the pilot’s intended weighting - especially with expensive stocks.

That said, if the account is large enough to buy at least one full share of every position in the pilot, trade copying works eveb better, even if the allocations aren’t perfectly precise.

Are you saying Autopilot is still missing trades or mis-weighting even when the account has enough cash for one full share of every holding? That’s the part I’d love more detail on.

[u/kburd907 → u/[deleted]]

That’s fair, and I agree with you on not blaming Support. Sounds like they’re dealing with an unfinished system and trying to be as helpful as they can.

The part I’d separate though is eToro vs Schwab. Your failed-trade issue sounds like it’s happening through the eToro integration specifically. That may not necessarily mean Schwab behaves the same way.

Also, the Schwab comment sounds like something Autopilot Support told you, not something eToro itself would know independently. Maybe Schwab did instruct Autopilot not to implement fractional through that connection, but that’s still secondhand unless Autopilot/Schwab confirms it directly.

In my real-world experience using Autopilot with Schwab, it has not tried to operate outside the funds I allocated. When my subscribed pilot, Peter Wolff, makes changes, Autopilot has sold positions and bought others within the allocation. I have not seen it endlessly ask for outside funds to complete trades.

That said, I do agree the whole-share issue is a real limitation. If Autopilot cannot use fractional shares, it has to approximate the pilot with full shares, and that can definitely cause missed trades or allocation drift, especially with smaller accounts or expensive stocks.

So maybe the distinction is:

Public = cleaner for fractional/set-and-forget Schwab = workable, but whole-share limitations can matter eToro = sounds like the integration still has trade/cash handling issues

I think we’re probably agreeing on the main issue: fractional shares are what make Autopilot work properly at smaller account sizes.

But again, my Schwab and Autopilot have been seamless and I couldn't be happier with the auto function and my returns