Let automation do the work: make saving the default

It’s a system problem, not a willpower problem

If saving feels harder than it should, you’re not failing a test of character. Most people mean to save. But saving is rarely urgent, so in a busy week it’s the first thing to slide.

Vanguard’s yearly study of retirement plans describes the pattern. Many workers know they aren’t saving enough and say they’d like to save more. Yet they never get around to signing up, or to raising the amount once they do.¹ When a choice feels hard, putting it off is the easy path. And in a plan you have to join yourself, putting it off means not saving.¹

Automation flips that around. Once saving is set up to happen on its own, doing nothing means you keep saving.

The power of a default

A default is what happens when you don’t make a choice. In 2025, 61% of the workplace retirement plans that Vanguard keeps records for signed workers up automatically. Workers could still opt out, but they didn’t have to opt in.¹

The difference is large. In plans that signed people up automatically, 94% of eligible workers were saving. In plans where workers had to sign up on their own, 64% were.¹

The gap is largest for workers with lower incomes, who often have the least room in their budgets.¹

It’s large for newer workers, too. Among people with less than two years on the job, 90% were saving in plans that signed them up automatically. In plans where they had to sign up themselves, 39% were.¹ If you’re starting a new job, the first few weeks are a good time to look at your plan.

Check the default, too

Defaults are powerful in both directions. They get people saving, but they also tend to decide how much.

Starting settings are often low. In 2025, 38% of Vanguard plans with automatic sign-up started people at 3% of pay or less. Yet in the typical plan, workers had to put in 6% of pay to get the full employer match.¹ Workers with lower incomes were more likely to stay close to the starting rate. But when plans started people at 6%, workers at every income level had a typical saving rate of 7% or more.¹

You may run into automatic sign-up more often. Under a 2022 law, most 401(k) and 403(b) plans started after December 29, 2022, must sign workers up automatically, beginning with the 2025 plan year. The starting rate is at least 3% of pay, and it rises by one percentage point a year until it reaches at least 10%. Plans at new and small businesses, church plans and government plans are exempt.² Either way, you’re not locked in. Before any money comes out of your pay, your employer must give you the choice to save nothing or a different amount.³

Let raises do some of the work

An automatic increase uses the same idea over time. It raises your saving rate a little each year, so you don’t have to remember to do it.

In 2025, 71% of Vanguard plans that signed people up automatically also raised their saving rate automatically every year. The most common step was one percentage point.¹ In all, 31% of people in Vanguard plans saw their saving rate rise through an automatic increase. Just 14% raised it on their own.¹

Some plans offer the feature but leave it to you to turn on. Where that was the case, 25% of people used it.¹ If your plan offers it, it’s worth a look.

You can do the same with your own savings. When you get a raise, bump up your automatic transfer before you get used to the bigger paycheck. Our guide to paying yourself first walks through it step by step.

Build your own automatic saving

You can use the same trick for any goal, not just retirement. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) points to two simple ways:⁵

• A recurring transfer. Your bank or credit union moves money from checking to savings on a schedule. You decide how much and how often.
• A split direct deposit. If you’re paid by direct deposit, ask your employer whether part of each paycheck can go straight to savings.

Vidalia Cornwall, a CFP® professional who volunteers with Advisers Give Back, explains the second one.

Start with an amount that feels doable, even $10 a week. Think of it as a bill you pay to yourself before spending starts. You can raise it later, when you get a raise or pay off a debt.

Watch the timing, though. If a transfer goes through when your checking account is low, you could be charged an overdraft fee. The CFPB suggests balance alerts or calendar reminders to help you keep an eye on it.⁵ Setting the transfer for the day after payday helps too.

Bills and card payments can run on their own, too. Our guide to putting your finances on autopilot covers what to automate and how to do it safely.

Why it changes how saving feels

When saving happens on its own, it stops being a daily test of self-control. It simply becomes part of how your money flows, even in months when everything else feels full.

Automation won’t replace intention. But it makes progress much easier to keep.

You don’t need to think about saving every day to make progress. When life gets loud, your setup keeps going. If you’d like help choosing how much to save, and where, a volunteer adviser can talk it through with you, one-on-one and at no cost.