The Investment App That Tracks Politicians? October Edition

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Autopilot is an innovative investing app that has gone viral on social media for offering retail investors the ability to automatically invest in the stock portfolios of politicians and investment managers. With more than 4,000 reviews on the App Store and an average rating of 4.5, Autopilot is a new, popular option for investors seeking to replicate the trading success of political and financial insiders.

This article will explain how Autopilot works, the motivations of the founding team and which traders’ portfolios you can track through the app. Read on to learn how Autopilot is attempting to reshape the wealth management landscape and whether Autopilot is right for your portfolio.

What Is Autopilot?

Autopilot is an investment app that enables investors to trade the portfolios of famous politicians like Nancy Pelosi and investment managers like Warren Buffett. To use Autopilot, you select the portfolio you wish to invest in, connect your stock brokerage account, select an amount you wish to invest, and Autopilot will direct the brokerage to place trades when new public disclosures of trades are made for chosen portfolios.

Each portfolio, such as the Burry Tracker, highlights the return of the portfolio the previous year and an average delay until when trades are made for investors.

Autopilot offers a free plan that allows you to trade one portfolio, such as the Nancy Pelosi Tacker. Autopilot Plus charges a fee of $29 a quarter or $100 a year to trade multiple portfolios and automatically buy and sell stock positions when disclosures are made.

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Who Made Autopilot?

Autopilot was created by four men hailing from diverse industries from e-commerce to the music industry: Brian Schardt, Scott Schardt, Aaron Langley and Christopher Josephs.

Cofounder Brian Schardt, the CEO, most recently served as an associate director of engineering at Warner Music Group and as a Manager at PwC. His brother, Scott, is a self-taught software engineer who held two engineering positions before joining the team. Langley is director of engineering, who also has experience as a software engineer at two firms prior to cofounding Autopilot. Josephs heads up Content and Growth with prior experience as a financial analyst and co-owner of two e-commerce businesses.

Why Was Autopilot Made?

Autopilot was made with the intention to “democratize wealth management” by enabling investors to have stock trades automatically executed when new public disclosures are made by politicians and traders.

The team founded a social investing app Iris, in 2020, which allowed investors to follow friends’ investment portfolios. In 2022, they built the popular X account, Nancy Pelosi Tracker, which tracked former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other politicians’ trades, and built a tracker of Pelosi’s trades into Iris. Iris users requested portfolios of other top investors and instantaneous trades through the app so the team launched Autopilot in 2023 to fulfill this feedback.

The founders hope for Autopilot to rebuild trust in the financial system by providing affordable access to the high-performing stock portfolios of professional money managers. Additionally, the founders desire to bring awareness to the trading success of politicians by allowing regular investors to trade alongside these public servants.

How Does Autopilot Differ From Other Investing Apps?

Autopilot differs from other investing apps in two principal ways. Autopilot must be connected to an existing brokerage account, including Robinhood, TD Ameritrade or WeBull, in order to make trades based on a portfolio. Most popular investing apps require you to open a new brokerage or retirement account in order to invest. For example, Wealthfront, which offers a robo-advisor service, requires investors to open a brokerage account or IRA to invest in a portfolio of exchange-traded funds like emerging market and dividend stocks, based on risk tolerance and investment horizon.

Autopilot differs from investing apps like Charles Schwab in that trades are made by Autopilot on your behalf based on portfolios like the Pelosi or Burry Tracker in an existing brokerage account. Autopilot allows you to set the amount you’d like to invest in a particular portfolio and Autopilot will notify your brokerage to place trades automatically based on new public disclosures by politicians and traders.

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Which Politicians And Traders Does Autopilot Track?

Autopilot allows investors to automatically trade the positions of a growing list of famous politicians and investors. Below are examples of politicians and traders you can track.

Autopilot enables you to mimic the publicly disclosed trades of politicians including:

Nancy Pelosi, a House Representative from California and former Speaker of the House
Dan Crenshaw, a House Representative from Texas
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a House Representative from Florida

Autopilot also enables you to mimic the trades of famous investors’ firms including:

Warren Buffett, the famous value investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
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Michael Burry, a contrarian investor famous for his returns during the 2008 housing crisis
Billionaire Jim Simons, founder of the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies whose Medallion Fund boasts high returns
Point72 Asset Management, the hedge fund of billionaire Steven Cohen

The portfolios of top traders you can track follow the 13F filings of these traders’ firms. So you are investing in the positions of Michael Burry’s Scion Asset Management, not Burry’s private portfolio, as an example. It’s important to note that while 13-Fs are required to be filed quarterly, institutional investors have up to 45 days after the quarter ends to submit the 13-F form so you could be looking at trades that took place four months prior.

Considerations To Make Before Trading With Autopilot

Autopilot is a popular new entrant to the investing app marketplace because of the ease of access it provides to copy trade successful investors. Below are a few of the key benefits and risks of this app.

Discounted Access To Investing Expertise

One of the key benefits Autopilot offers is the low-fee access it provides to mimic the trades of successful politicians, investors and firms. The portfolios of investors offered through the app have high returns sometimes compared with the average return of S&P 500 stocks.

Portfolio Diversification

Autopilot can deliver diversification to investors who either invest in their own basket of stocks, including the top stocks for 2024, or who passively invest in market indexes without exposure to direct stock investing. By mimicking the trades of successful politicians and investors, you can try out new investing strategies without actively trading on your own.

Returns Are Not Guaranteed

When considering Autopilot, investors should remember that past returns are not indicative of future performance. The success of Dan Crenshaw or Bill Ackman in trading in the past is not a guarantee of future performance so exercise discretion in choosing the amount you wish to invest and don’t invest money you can’t afford to lose.

Delays Can Trim Performance

Trades for Autopilot portfolios are delayed based on when public disclosures are made. Portfolio stock values can rise or fall during these delays, which can reduce the performance Autopilot investors realize. It is not guaranteed that your portfolio will see as high returns as the portfolios of investors or politicians your trades mimic.

Bottom Line

Autopilot is a unique addition to the investing app landscape by offering retail investors the opportunity to track and realize the high returns of politicians and top investors. With access to trade the portfolios of Rep. Dan Crenshraw (TX), Bill Ackman and Citadel Capital, for example, investors have the opportunity to replicate the trading success of leading political and financial traders.

While Autopilot offers portfolio diversification and investing expertise access, investors should recognize that the returns of these top traders are not guaranteed and that trade execution delays can reduce portfolio performance. Despite these caveats, Autopilot represents an exciting development in the investing app marketplace which delivers a more transparent and democratized financial system.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Does Autopilot work on Android and iOS?

Yes, Autopilot offers both Android and iOS apps to invest in portfolios including the Pelosi Tracker.

Does Autopilot work with all brokerages?

Autopilot only works with Robinhood, TD Ameritrade and WeBull brokerage accounts but more integrations are being built with other major brokerage accounts, including Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

Yes, Autopilot is safe from a data security perspective as your Autopilot account is connected to your brokerage using bank level security. Autopilot also cannot trade more than the amount that you allocate for portfolio investments.

Is investing with Autopilot risky?

Investing with Autopilot, as with any stock trading, bears some level of risk as the value of your investments can decrease because of market fluctuations or lowered stock value. The portfolios of politicians or traders can also lose value as they are not omniscient despite political insight or investment expertise.