There's a reason so many people have success saving for retirement in a 401(k) plan. Employer-sponsored 401(k)s are funded via payroll deductions. You sign up to contribute a certain amount of money to your workplace plan, and that sum is deducted from your paychecks before you get an opportunity to spend it.

IRAs work differently. IRA contributions aren't taken as payroll deductions. Rather, it's on you to send money into your retirement account. And if you've struggled in that regard, or you want to do better in 2026, there's a really easy way to make that happen.

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It pays to automate IRA contributions

A lot of people fund their IRAs as follows: They set a monthly savings goal, spend their money during the month, and hope there's enough money left at the end of the month to make their target IRA contribution. What often happens, though, is that some of that money gets spent elsewhere, leading to smaller IRA balances.

If you want to boost your IRA this year, don't leave things to chance -- or until the end of the month. Instead, automate contributions to your IRA so that money lands in that account each time you get paid. That way, you won't have a chance to spend any of the money you're aiming to save.

An even better bet, in fact, is to set up those automatic contributions in January and make a point to bank your raise. If you send that money into your IRA from the start, you won't miss it, and you won't get used to spending it.

Remember, you can always change your IRA contributions if you get too zealous about the amount you're saving. It's definitely not worth landing in debt month after month to fund your IRA aggressively. But if you put those contributions on autopilot and bank your raise, you may find that you're very happy with your IRA balance by the time 2026 comes to an end.