Automatic instead of deciding again every month
If you decide every month whether to save, you often decide against it. In 2004 Richard Thaler and Shlomo Benartzi described a programme in which employees agreed in advance to save more with every future pay rise (Save More Tomorrow). 78 % of those offered it joined, 80 % stayed through the fourth rise, and their saving rate rose from 3.5 % to 13.6 % of pay in 40 months. The authors state themselves that it was not an experiment with random assignment.
In the NextGen tab the yearly rise of the standing order does the same job. €50 a month from birth gives €15,718.64 by 18 at an assumed 4 %, credited once a year. If the amount rises by 3 % every year, it is €19,820.89, with €82.64 a month in the last year and €14,048.66 paid in instead of €10,800.
One decision made in advance replaces many decisions every month.
13.6 % of pay was the average saving rate after the fourth rise, from 3.5 % before.
Calculated like the NextGen tab: the standing order at the start of each month, the return credited once a year, until the 18th birthday. The return is an assumption, not a promise.
Questions people ask
What is Save More Tomorrow?
A programme described by Richard Thaler and Shlomo Benartzi in 2004. Employees agreed in advance to put part of every future pay rise into saving.
What did Save More Tomorrow achieve?
In the first implementation 78% of those offered it joined, and their average saving rate rose from 3.5% to 13.6% of pay in 40 months. It was not a randomised experiment.
How does a yearly rise of the standing order work in NextGen?
The monthly amount grows by the set percentage at the start of every year. €50 rising by 3% a year is about €82.64 a month in the 18th year.
Source: Thaler, Benartzi (2004), Journal of Political Economy 112 (S1), S164 bis S187, as of 2004, retrieved 2026-10-29
A decision made once in advance, and what it does over 18 years.
The simulation, the comparison and the Beam stay free.
Education, not advice. Disclaimer