How do I set up a recurring investment and change my backup funding source for my recurring investments?

So you want to start automating your investments? You're in the right place! This article covers the ins and outs of creating recurring investments with Greenlight's Investing for Kids product. 

Index (Click to navigate):

1.  What are recurring investments? How do I set one up?

2. How do I change my Backup Funding source settings?

3. Where can I see all my recurring investments?

4. How do I pause, delete, or edit a recurring investment?

5. What happens if I don't have enough funds for my recurring investment in my Cash to Invest?

6. What happens if my recurring investment falls on a market holiday?

What are recurring investments and how do I set one up?

A recurring investment is an investment that is set up one time to invest a set amount of money in a specific stock or ETF on a regularly occurring basis through automation, regardless of the current market price of the asset. Recurring investments allow for a hands-off approach to dollar-cost averaging! 

Greenlight now has the ability to set up recurring investments within the "Investing for Kids" section of the app for every account on “Greenlight + Invest”, “Greenlight Max”, and "Greenlight Infinity" plans. These can be set on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis.

To set up a recurring investment:

1. Within “Investing for Kids”, navigate to the stock or ETF you’d like to set up a recurring investment for. 
2. Tap “Buy.”
3. Select the amount of money you would like to regularly invest on a recurring basis.
4. Tap “One Time investment” then select if you would like your investment to occur Weekly, Every 2 Weeks, or Monthly and on what day you’d like them to occur.
5. Tap “Review Order.”
6. (Optional) Edit the backup funding source for your recurring investment or toggle it off by tapping the mid-screen module on the schedule investment page. 

Note: Funds will always be withdrawn from “Cash to Invest” first, but if it is empty the backup funding source will automatically be a kid’s “Spend Anywhere” unless backup funding has been turned off. 
Note: Only parents may change the backup funding source. Once it is changed, it will be the new default for all recurring investments.) 

1. Tap “Schedule Investment” (Parents) or “Send Request” (Kids) to send a recurring investment request to your parent. 

How do I change the back-up funding source for my recurring investments?

Only parents may change the backup funding source. Once it is changed, it will be the new default for all recurring investments. There are two ways to update your back up funding source. The first way (mentioned above) is done when setting up a new recurring investment.

The second way to change the backup funding source for Cash to Invest is: 

1. Navigate to the “Investing for Kids” section of the app.
2. Tap “Cash to Invest”
3. Tap “Backup funding” (below ‘Move $ In’)
4. Toggle backup funding off at the top to prevent funds from being withdrawn from another balance if there are not enough funds in Cash to Invest. Note: This means a recurring investment will not be placed.

• Or Change the backup funding source you would like. Doing this will make this the new backup funding source for all new and existing recurring investments. 

Where can I see all my recurring investments?

You can see all your recurring investments in the main dashboard for each kid’s “Investing for Kids.” They will be listed beneath the list of all actively owned investments. 

How do I pause, delete, or edit a recurring investment?

To edit any recurring investments, simply tap into a recurring investment from your “Investing for Kids” dashboard and make the appropriate changes to amount or frequency. 

Pause your recurring investment by tapping on the recurring investment and toggling off the green “Recurring Investment is active” toggle. Toggle it back on when you’d like investments to resume.

To delete a recurring investment, tap into the recurring investment and then tap “Delete Investment.”  Then confirm you’d like to delete the investment by tapping “Delete” once more. 

What happens if I don’t have enough funds in my Cash to Invest or Backup funding source for my recurring investment?

If there are not sufficient funds to cover a recurring investment in Cash to Invest then funds will be withdrawn from the set backup funding source, if it is on. If a backup funding source is toggled off when this happens, an investment will not be placed.

If there are no sufficient funds in neither Cash to Invest nor the Backup Funding source, then no recurring investment will be placed until you have added more funds into either the Backup Funding source or Cash to Invest. 

What happens if my recurring investment occurs on a market holiday?

In the scheduled occurrence of your recurring investment lands on a market holiday or a weekend (for monthly recurring investments), the investment will be made on the next open-market day.