What Happens When You Automate Your Savings?

The quick answer? A lot of good things.

There's a reason many people who aren't particularly great at saving money manage to build up nice balances in their 401(k) plans. The way these plans work is that employees have their contributions deducted from their paychecks automatically, so they don't end up missing the money they're putting in.

But it's not just 401(k) plan contributions you can automate. If you're looking to grow your savings account balance, you can put that process on autopilot. The same holds true for funding your IRA account. And if you've struggled to meet your savings goals in the past, then it definitely pays to look at automating the process.

A whole lot of upside

When you automate your savings, you arrange for a certain amount of money to land in a designated account at preset intervals. Now that can look different depending on what you set up.

You might, for example, decide that $100 will leave your checking account and land in your savings account on the first day of every month. Or, you might decide to move $250 a month from your checking account to your IRA on the 30th of every month.

Either way, when you automate your savings, you effectively reduce your likelihood of not meeting your goals. That's because the process of getting your money moved over happens without your intervention. And also, when you're left with less money in your checking account to spend, you just naturally start to spend less. So all told, it's a win-win.

Which accounts should you automate?

It can be very difficult to stay motivated on the retirement savings front when you're young. After all, if that milestone is 30 to 40 years away, it's hard to overcome the temptation to spend $200 here on a night out or $300 there on a concert, which may be coming up next week, to save for a period of life that's decades away.

If you've yet to make good progress on funding your IRA, then that's an account to consider automating. You'll need personal savings to avoid financial stress in retirement, and the sooner you start building some, the better.

Meanwhile, you may want to set up automatic contributions to a savings account as well if you don't have enough money socked away to cover at least three full months of bills. A recent SecureSave survey found that 67% of Americans could not cover an unplanned $400 expense with money in savings. If you're in a similar boat, you should absolutely automate transfers into your savings account.

Automating your savings could make the process seamless, and it might even help ensure that you don't end up spending money you're not supposed to. So assess your progress on your financial goals and use that to determine which accounts of yours are in need of some automatic contributions.

Remember, you can absolutely write a check to your IRA or transfer money into your savings account during periods when your spending shrinks. But if you want the peace of mind of knowing your savings are being steadily funded, then automating the process is really the way to go.