Set up multiple direct deposit accounts to automate your savings. Enter your net income, pick your pay frequency, and distribute your paycheck across checking, savings, or investment accounts.
How often you get paid
Your take-home pay per paycheck after taxes and deductions
This account receives all remaining funds after other allocations.
Check paycheck totals, then review each allocation.
Total Per Paycheck
$2,000.00
biweekly pay
Allocations
Checking
70%
$3,033.33
$1,400.00 per check
Savings
Remainder
$1,300.00
$600.00 per check
Most employers let you split your direct deposit across multiple bank accounts — a fixed dollar amount or percentage to each, with one account receiving the remainder. This calculator lets you design that split before you fill out the payroll form: enter your net paycheck and pay frequency, add accounts, and assign each one a percentage, a fixed amount, or the remainder.
The preview shows exactly how many dollars land in each account every payday and what that adds up to per month and per year. A popular pattern is to send savings off the top — say, 10% to a high-yield savings account and the remainder to checking. Because the money never touches your spending account, saving stops being a monthly decision and becomes a default.
This "pay yourself first" setup is one of the most effective savings techniques because it removes willpower from the equation. Start with a percentage that feels almost too easy — even 5% — and revisit it after a few paychecks. Most people find they do not miss the money, and the calculator makes it easy to preview the next increment before changing the payroll form.
Ask your employer or check your payroll portal (Workday, ADP, Gusto, etc.) for direct deposit settings. Most let you add several accounts and assign each a fixed amount or percentage, with one account designated to receive the remainder.
Automation removes the decision. Money routed to savings before it reaches checking never feels spendable, so the plan survives busy months and low-willpower weeks. Manual transfers, by contrast, compete with every other use of the money sitting in checking.
Start small — 5–10% of your net pay — and increase it when you get a raise or after a few comfortable months. The 50/30/20 guideline suggests working toward 20% of take-home pay going to savings and debt payoff.
They do not have to be, and there is an advantage to separation: a high-yield savings account at a different bank earns more interest and adds a day or two of friction before you can spend it — which is usually a feature, not a bug.