Imagine you could peek over the shoulder of a powerful politician or bet against the loudest voice on financial TV. That's the premise behind Autopilot, an investment platform that lets you do just that. It offers portfolios that mirror the trades of members of Congress—most famously, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—and meme-fueled strategies like the "Inverse Cramer," which does the opposite of what CNBC's Jim Cramer recommends.
In a recent interview, Autopilot co-founder Chris Josephs pulled back the curtain on these popular strategies and made a surprising pick for where he'd put his money for the next ten years.
The Rise of the Political and Anti-Pundit Portfolio
Autopilot's growth is a story in itself. It went from managing $2 million in assets in 2023 to a staggering $1.3 billion by 2026. A huge chunk of that money—around 40% to 45%—is sitting in portfolios that track politicians, with Pelosi's being the star attraction. Another 15% is in meme portfolios, with the Inverse Cramer fund leading the pack.
And here's the thing: the people investing in these unconventional funds are doing really, really well.
The Pelosi Stock Tracker fund now has $462 million in assets. Since it launched, it's up 189% overall, with a two-year return of +56.3%.
The Inverse Cramer fund is smaller, with $55 million in assets, but its performance is even more eye-popping over the shorter term. It's up 160.4% all-time, with a two-year return of +88.0%.
Let's put that in perspective. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), which tracks the broad market, is up a very respectable 43% over the last two years. But both of these niche strategies have left it in the dust.
The Decade-Long Bet: Pelosi or Anti-Cramer?
Now, here's where it gets interesting. Pelosi has announced she won't run for re-election in 2026, meaning she'll leave Congress in January 2027. When she goes, so does the public's window into the stock trades made by her husband, venture capitalist Paul Pelosi. The disclosures that fuel her tracking portfolio will dry up.
So, we asked Josephs a hypothetical: if Pelosi's picks were going to be public for another ten years, would he rather invest alongside her or in the Inverse Cramer fund?
His answer was clear. "I'm riding with Pelosi," Josephs said. "I think Pelosi has the good balance of the long-term picks, whereas Inverse Cramer, he talks about so many different stocks that I don't know how much thesis is driven behind his actual investments."
Josephs believes Pelosi is investing in stocks with the intention of holding them for years. "That is how I personally invest. That's how I think a lot of people should personally invest." He acknowledges her returns might have ups and downs, but he's confident her picks will "do fine over the long term."
It's a classic clash of investment philosophies: one based on concentrated, long-term holdings (or at least the public perception of them) versus one based on reacting against the daily noise of financial media.
