What's the secret to convincing sir-snores-a-lot to become sir-saves-a-lot? In a word, “greed.” Nothing motivates people like greed. (Lord knows we’ve tried fear—as in, “save now or retire to a homeless shelter—ad infinitum.) Appealing to today's greed is much more effective than trying to scare someone with a decades-from-now scenario. It's important that 401(k) education programs recognize this.

Here's how: Ask current and potential 401(k) plan participants if they’d like an instant raise. Not one that takes effect at the beginning of the New Year or next quarter, but one that's effective immediately. Chances are, if the blood is circulating properly, all will answer with a resounding “yes!”

But don't stop there. Ask them if they’d prefer to give themselves the raise rather than getting their boss to approve it. Again, anyone able to fog up a mirror likely will answer, “You betcha!”

Since you’re on a roll, ask one final question: “Who wants to give themselves a raise right now?” As you see all hands ready, pass out the deferral forms and begin explaining 401(k) contributions not in terms of “saving” but in terms of “how big of a raise do you want?” You, for every dollar saved in a 401(k) plan (or any tax deferred vehicle for that matter), you decrease the amount of taxes due today; hence, you end up netting more take-home pay.

For example, someone earning $25,000, based on single taxpayer tables, pays $1,808/year in taxes, making their net take-home pay equal to $23,192. If that same person deferred just 5 percent of their salary into a retirement plan, their taxes go down to $1,620, raising their net take-home pay equal to $23,380—or $188 “raise” compared to someone saving nothing in a tax deferred retirement plan. The raise gets larger as your deferral rate and salary increase. Someone who works for $45,000 per year and saves 10 percent annually gets a “raise” of $3,824. Similarly, someone earning $65,000 and saving $10, 473. That's a lot of “found” money.

And you can take that to the bank.