How Banks Can Fix the Real Reason Americans Aren't Saving

Banking Transformed with Jim Marous · Jun 6, 2026 · 7m

Americans are saving less than they have in years, and the banking industry is partly to blame.

Jim Marous argues that the savings crisis is partly a design failure. Banks spent decades making spending effortless while leaving saving to willpower, and the programs that actually changed behavior, from Christmas Clubs to round-ups to retirement auto-enrollment, all worked the same way: they built a system and removed the decision. The uncomfortable part is why the industry never automated everyday saving behaviors.

This episode covers the difference between a knowledge problem and a behavior…