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Merrill Edge Recurring Investment (2025)
Does Merrill Edge offer automatic investment plan (AIP) contributions? Merrill Edge dollar cost averaging
program (DCA) setup and review. ME SIP fees on ETFs, stocks, and mutual funds monthly/weekly recurring investing.
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Important Takeaways
- Merrill Edge has an Automatic Investment Plan (AIP).
- Mutual funds can be traded in Merrill Edge’s AIP.
- Automatic investing at Merrill Edge is a form of dollar-cost averaging.
Instead of manually entering purchase orders for mutual funds inside your Merrill Edge brokerage account, you can instead set up an Automatic Investment Plan that will create regular purchases for your selected fund with no manual input from yourself.
Synopsis of Merrill’s Automatic Investment Plan
Merrill’s Automatic Investment Plan is valid for purchases of mutual funds only. Sales and other securities, such as ETFs and stocks, are not eligible. Some mutual funds available through Merrill Edge may not be eligible for autopilot purchases. Every fund on Merrill’s Select List of mutual funds is eligible. We counted 88 funds on this list.
Turning on the Merrill Edge AIP
To set up a purchase schedule for an eligible mutual fund, the first step is to buy the fund. To find something on the Select List, head to the mutual-fund hub, whose link appears under the Research tab. Once on the fund hub, find the tab for Merrill Edge Select Funds. It’s also possible to use the screener and specify the Select List.
Browse through the Select List and find a fund you want to invest in. On the fund’s profile, there will be a check mark at the top indicating the security is on the Select List. Go ahead and make a purchase.
Once the trade has settled the following business day, autopilot purchases can be turned on for the fund. To do this, hover over the Trade tab in the top menu of the website and select the link for mutual funds.
On the next page, you’ll get the regular order ticket for mutual funds. There is a second tab for Automatic Investment Plans. Click on this tab to pull up details on Merrill’s AIP. There is a blue button further down the page to set up a plan for a specific mutual fund. Click on this blue button.
Now you’ll have the AIP enrollment form where a recurring-investment schedule can be established. If you have more than one account with Merrill, you’ll first need to select the account in which the mutual fund is held.
Next, select the fund or funds you want to enroll in recurring purchases. It’s possible to sign up more than one fund at a time (there’s a maximum of 10 funds in each plan). Finally, select the frequency for purchases (there are several available).
The necessary cash for a trade can come from an external bank account or from an account at Bank of America, Merrill’s parent company.
Merrill Edge Dollar-Cost Averaging
Because recurring purchases of mutual funds at Merrill Edge are placed in whole dollars, the AIP is a form of dollar-cost averaging. Dollar-cost averaging advocates investing over the long-term using whole-dollar amounts so that more shares will be purchased when the securities markets are low. And because purchases are made on a regular basis, the investment grows over time.
Cost of Autopilot Fund Purchases
Merrill Edge charges nothing for its AIP service. Trades in the program have no transaction fees from Merrill, although remember that mutual funds sometimes have their own policies regarding purchases and sales. Be sure to read a fund’s prospectus before buying it.
Updated on 2/4/2025.
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
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