How to Invest at M1 Finance Using a Portfolio Recipe

After you have chosen a Portfolio Recipe, you are now ready to invest. This How-To Guide is the next steps in "How to Invest Using a Portfolio Recipe," which follows "How to Choose a Portfolio Recipe." Please contact us if you have any questions.

You will need an account with both Recipe Investing and M1 Finance in order to use this guide.
Note: This How-To Guide is written for the web (desktop) version of M1 Finance. The mobile app may differ.

For example, we will use the following sample allocation of t.aaaf (Tactical Adaptive Allocation Portfolio F): DBC="22.94%," EFA="0.31%," IWM="0.13%," IYR="7.37%," SPY="69.25%."

1. Get the Portfolio Recipe ingredients

• Go to https://go.recipeinvesting.com/login

• Enter your email address that you used to sign up, enter your password, and click "Sign In"
• Under "Portfolio Recipes" click "View Content," then choose "Portfolio Recipes & Results" and then choose a link such as "All Portfolio Recipes"
• Once you see the list of all the Portfolio Recipes, you can click on the column headings to sort, or click on a recipe's name to see the details for that recipe.

2. Find the portfolio ingredients and percentages

• Scroll down on the Recipe Detail Page and find the section labeled "How to Invest"
• If the ID for your chosen Portfolio Recipe starts with "t." or "s." (for example, "t.aaaf") then you will locate the portfolio ingredients and percentages, which will look similar to this:
  • DBC="22.94%," EFA="0.31%," IWM="0.13%," IYR="7.37%," SPY="69.25%"
  • The number of ingredients and percentages will vary based on the Portfolio Recipe you have chosen.
• If the ID for your chosen Portfolio Recipe is a mutual fund (e.g., VWIAX or VBIAX) or an exchange-traded fund (e.g., AOA, DVY), then the only ingredient in your recipe will be the fund itself.

3. Log in to your account at M1 Finance

• Go to https://dashboard.m1finance.com/login
• Enter the email address you used to sign up, enter your password, and click “Log In”
• If enabled, enter your two-factor authentication code and click “Submit”

4. Creating a pie

• In the top menu, click “Research”
• Then, in the menu underneath, click “My Pies”
• Click “Create New Pie”
• Using the search bar, enter the ticker (e.g., DBC) and select the result
• Click “Add to Basket”
• Repeat the last two steps for the remaining ingredients
• To finalize the ingredients list, click “Add” at the bottom of the screen

5. Balance your new pie

By default, M1 Finance evenly divides the allocation between each “slice” of your pies. So now we need to rebalance the pie using our recipe's percentages, as follows:

Editing the pie:

• If you are not already there, navigate to: Research > My Pies > [Name of Pie]
• Click “Edit”
• You can rename the pie if you would like (e.g., “Adaptive Allocation Portfolio F”)
• If you wish, you can add a description to your new portfolio

Rebalancing the pie:

• On the left-hand side of the screen, select the text box containing the percent (%) sign
• Enter the percent value as described on the Recipe’s allocation page (e.g., DBC=22.94%)
• Since M1 Finance only accepts whole number percentages, you may need to round the number up or down (e.g., DBC=23%)
• Once you have entered percentages for each ingredient, M1 will ensure that your portfolio adds to an even 100% (because of the rounding required to achieve whole numbers, you may need to adjust the percentages slightly to achieve a sum of 100%)
• When you are finished, click “Save”
• M1 may present you with a summary of your changes and ask you to confirm that you would like to go through with them

6. Adding the new pie to your portfolio

• While still editing your new pie, or while on the "My Pies" page, click "Add to Portfolio"
• If you are trying to add multiple pies to the same portfolio, M1 will make you balance the percentage each pie takes up until you reach a sum of 100%
• When you are ready, and M1 is satisfies that the ingredients' sum is 100%, click "Save"
• M1 may present you with a summary of your changes and ask you to confirm that you would like to go through with them

7. Track your progress and rebalance monthly

After you receive confirmation of your buy orders, you can track your portfolio's progress in your brokerage account. If you are using a tactical (t.) Portfolio Recipe, you will need to rebalance your portfolio at the beginning of the next month. The list of new ingredients and allocations is published for each Portfolio Recipe on the first trading day of each calendar month. Access these by logging in at go.recipeinvesting.com/login