Why tie to gold? Why not 1982 Bordeaux?

A company invites their employees to sign up for a plan where every time they get a raise, some part of that raise goes to increasing their contribution rate to the 401k plan. In the first company we convinced to adopt this plan, saving rates tripled.

One simple step firms can take is make sure that people that are getting paid a lot of money, say more than a million or two, that a big chunk of that money is deferred. That's going to change the whole ballgame.

The lesson from behavioral economics is that people only save if it's automatic.

People exaggerate their own skills. they are optimistic about their prospects and overconfident about their guesses, including which managers to pick.

When should we nudge and when should we shove, I think, it's a political judgment. Obviously in some situations we need shoves, we need laws. Fraud is against the law, murder is against the law, drunk-driving is against the law. We don't need just nudges.

My mantra is if you want to help people accomplish some goal, make it easy.