We launched the Drip Portfolio with $500. Unfortunately, over 10% of the start-up money was spent on start-up costs. Fortunately, once drip plans are begun the fees shrink to zero, so over 20 years our initial start-up fees will prove unimportant. For the first few years, however -- ouch -- they hurt a little. (Gotta lose money to make money.)
Atop the $500 seed money, $100 is added to the portfolio every month forevermore, is invested quickly, and is accounted for appropriately. As stated in our "goals" article, the monthly addition of $100 will probably be raised at some point (to $200 perhaps), depending on how in-control Mr. Greenspan keeps inflation.
