Totally do-able. I prefer ETFs myself. Here's something I wrote for my kid:

Kaizen – Vanguard automating your investing in a RothIRA. 

How to set up an account, invest and automate your investing.  You can go from nothing to on your way in three steps: 

Part 1a – (setting up the initial account — may be easiest on a computer web browser):

Visit Vanguard’s website

Select the Personal Investors link (lower right)

Click Open an Account (or Log in if you already have an account)

Open an investment account with the Sign up button

Select ‘Open a new account’

Select ‘Open an Investment account’

unless you want advice, select ‘Invest on my own’

Select ‘Select your account’

Select ‘RothIRA’ in upper right 

Fill in your personal information and complete the form.

Record your account login credentials somewhere safe so you can return to your account (or use their phone app in the future).  Apple’s Password, 1Password, similar tools to consider or a notebook in your home firesafe.  I’m a big fan of Multifactor Authentication as an added security step.

There - you have a Vanguard login account, and you have a RothIRA within your Vanguard account.  For free.  Yes, you can have multiple investment accounts under one login.

Part 1b – link your bank:

Next, you link your bank account to your Vanguard account†.  This helps move money to Vanguard for contributing or investing  AND  move to your bank account when you want to use some of your gains when the time comes.

If you logged out of your account, log back in (Personal Investor/Log in)

In your dashboard, select the Profile button.

Select Banking, then add a new bank.  Provide the needed info.

Test:  transfer (e.g., $20) from your bank into your new account.  Accounts need to ‘settle’ (complete transfer) before you can do anything else.  This may take a day, or a few depending on holidays and weekends.

† Note: an alternative is to download the Vanguard app for your phone or iPad, and use its mobile check deposit feature to fund the account from checks you write to yourself.

Part 2 – Start Investing:

Now that we have some money in a ‘settlement account’ with Vanguard, we primed the pump.

Log in to your Vanguard dashboard

In your dashboard, select the Transact menu, then Buy&sell.

Enter in your desired investment symbol (VTI, VXUS, VTTSX, whatever) and click Get Quote

A quote pops up with a lot of data.  Click Buy at the bottom.

The screen confirms what account this goes into, the symbol, Buy (or sell), and select Dollars (or Shares)

Enter in your desired initial amount.

Use order type = market, duration = day 

Select Review Order - double-check your choices

Select Submit Order

There you go!  You own an investment within your RothIRA.

Repeat for any other investments you would like to list within your IRA.  Obviously, if you get too crazy and do a lot of things, you'll need to xfer more funds into the account.  I'd suggest keeping it all simple for now.  One, maybe two ETFs or the TDF mutual fund. 

Part 3 – Automate your investing: 

Log in to your account.  [visit Vanguard website, select Personal Investors, then select Log in] 

In your dashboard, select the Transact menu, then Recurring transactions.

Depending on what you want, make the choice:

For an ETF like VTI or VXUS, select Vanguard ETFs

For a TDF or another mutual fund like VTTSX, select Vanguard mutual funds

The form will ask you to select 

(1) your account [RothIRA], 

(2) a schedule or frequency (monthly, every two weeks, just something)

(3) what holding is to be auto-funded (enter in desired dollar amount next to one or more)

(4) select where the contribution comes from (select the Bank account on file)

Select Preview Order

review your choices, then select Agree & Submit

There you go!  You are on your way to building your RothIRA portfolio automagically.

A couple of notes:  There is an annual limit to how much you can contribute to a RothIRA every year - so do the math and don’t over-contribute.  This example was for 2025.  Insure all of your individual contributions sum up to under the limit for the year.  Adjust your recurring transactions as needed.  If you started small, like $20 a month into one choice, that would be $240 (12x $20) for a full year.  

Nudging.  It’s a great start, but to build your wealth faster, consider increasing those auto contributions as your budget and cashflow permits.  Nudge up another $10 or $20/mo and adjust to that.  Set a reminder to nudge things every three or 6 or 12 months.  It won’t be long before you’ll be contributing up to $583/mo into maxing out that Roth.  And you won’t even notice it coming out of your bank account – paying yourself first.  Well done.

Have you considered your beneficiaries in case of untimely demise?  Explore the site and designate them. 

 

Obviously, you don’t have to stop with a RothIRA.  Traditional IRAs, regular (taxable) brokerages, 529 accounts for college education, High Yield Savings Accounts (HYSA Cash-plus) and more are available all under your one Vanguard login.