The mechanics
Transfer fires before spending wakes up. Even $10 builds the identity; the amount can grow later.
Payroll can send a slice straight to savings; the money never visits checking at all.
If your job matches retirement contributions, that match is salary you have to claim. Contribute at least enough to get all of it, commonly prioritized even during debt payoff.
5% becomes 9% in a year, one painless notch at a time.
What stays in checking gets spent. Payday-morning automation is the whole secret; willpower never gets a vote.
Where the first dollars go
The anti-debt vaccine. Comes first.
Free-money tier. Comes early.
Guaranteed 20%+ 'return' on every extra dollar.
The Roadmap page sequences all of it.
Aller plus loin
Payday automation scares me. What if the money's needed?
Start below your fear line. If $100 feels risky, automate $25 and park it one transfer away (savings at the same bank moves back in minutes if a month truly breaks). What people discover almost universally: the missing $25 never surfaces, because spending quietly shapes itself to what checking shows. That adaptation is the entire mechanism: you're not out-disciplining your spending, you're hiding the trigger. After three surviving months, nudge it up a notch.
Where does the employer match rank against debt payoff?
A full match is commonly a 50-100% instant return on the matched dollars, which is why the standard sequence captures it even alongside high-interest debt payoff: minimums always, small cushion first, then enough contribution to take the whole match, then everything extra at the expensive debt. No match at your job? The step simply doesn't exist; skip straight to the debt. The Roadmap page holds the full order with the circumstances-vary caveats attached.
Sources: CFPB: Automatic saving strategies