Paycheck → Savings → IRA, on autopilot
Goal: money moves to the right place on payday without you doing anything. Time: about 45 minutes, once. Tools: your payroll portal, your bank, a high-yield savings account, an IRA, and (optionally) any AI assistant.
Not financial advice. This is a general setup pattern; check your own situation, account terms, and the IRS's current contribution limits at irs.gov.
Step 1: Work out your split (10 min)
Use our Paycheck split plan prompt in Claude, ChatGPT or Grok. You'll get four amounts per paycheck:
- Bills: covers fixed bills before their due dates
- Savings: goes to high-yield savings until your emergency fund target is met
- Retirement: goes to an IRA (after you're getting your full 401(k) match, if you have one; see the 401(k) guide)
- Spending: whatever is left
Step 2: Split the direct deposit (10 min)
Many employers' payroll portals let you split direct deposit across several accounts by amount or percentage. If yours does:
- Send the Savings amount straight to your high-yield savings account.
- Send everything else to checking.
If your payroll doesn't support splits, use Step 3 for everything.
Step 3: Schedule recurring transfers (10 min)
In your bank or savings app, set recurring transfers for the day after payday (so the deposit has cleared):
- Checking → high-yield savings: the Savings amount (if you didn't split in Step 2)
- Checking → IRA: the Retirement amount (most IRA providers let you schedule recurring contributions from a linked bank account)
Step 4: Make the IRA money actually invest (5 min)
A contribution often lands as cash inside the IRA. Check whether your provider can automatically invest new contributions into the fund you've chosen. If it can't, add a monthly reminder to invest the cash.
Step 5: Add a weekly AI check (10 min)
Use the 10-minute weekly money review prompt. Question 4 checks that your savings transfer actually happened. If you use a connector from our tracker (for example Tiller, PocketSmith or ChatGPT Finances), the assistant can read the transactions for you; otherwise upload a redacted CSV.
When to change it
- Emergency fund full: move the Savings amount to the Retirement line or another goal.
- Raise: split the raise, e.g. half to savings or retirement and half to spending, then update Steps 2 and 3.
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