Initial Roth investing strategy

Fidelity allows fractional share purchases in a Roth IRA, I can’t imagine Vanguard is that different.

It's been a while since I looked into it, but I believe the Vanguard ETF versions are different share classes of their mutual funds and some of the mutual funds can be converted to ETF, or at least the could a few years back.

If this is still true, do the automated investing in a mutual fund and convert to the ETF when she has enough money built up. The ETF is a little less expensive but at her level it won't make much difference, it is more important to develop the investing habit and the best way is through automatic investing.

Vanguard does allow fractional share purchases of EFTs, I didn’t know that.

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Most funds require 3k initial investment.

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My advice is to find another fund or ETF that isn't stuck in the 1980s with bogus minimum investment amounts.

With you currently setting aside $50 every 2 weeks it would take you over 2 years before you could invest in that fund. That's a long time to miss out on the market.

Another simultaneous option to the $50 every two week investment could be to put up to $220 every 2 weeks and just hold it in a money market or cash option within the Roth.

Your daughter can always withdraw the principal from there if necessary, but it may allow her to save more aggressively and get the Roth funded completely each year. After a few years she can invest the cash too after her emergency fund is comfortable.

It may sound a bit unorthodox, but a disciplined saver using a Roth for their emergency cash (above say 2-3 months of expenses outside of the Roth) can quickly get ahead.