When entrepreneur Devin Miller co-founded SecureSave in 2020, his mission was clear: Help Americans get better at saving for emergencies.

Now, the company has over 100 clients across the U.S., and those clients have helped employees collectively put over $100 million in savings, he says. When the Journal previously reported on SecureSave in 2023, the company had 10 clients.

SecureSave's clients include major health care systems like Jefferson, Kentucky-based Baptist Health, which has over 50,000 employees, and large financial firms such as Truist, Voya, TransAmerica, and HSA Bank.

Spokane-based clients include the law firm Lee and Hayes PLLC and Movher, which provides cleaning and moving services. 

Employees of the SecureSave's customers have opened 60,000 savings accounts to date, and the company expects to double its user base and savings totals in the next 12 months, Miller says.

The program, which is paid for by the employer, costs $1 to $3 per employee per month, compared to $10 to $20 for a traditional retirement plan, says Miller.  

Miller declines to disclose exact revenue figures, but he says the company's annual revenue is in the "low millions" and has grown exponentially within the last two years. 

Employees can sign up through a simple email prompt, and once connected to payroll, contributions happen automatically. “It’s out of sight, out of mind,” says Miller. 

"It's kind of like when you open a 401(k) account, but much easer," he says.

Following the economic uncertainty of COVID-19, Miller, who serves as CEO of the company, says he recognized the need for a simple, automated tool that met people where they are.

“We’re our own worst enemies,” says Miller, who brings an engineering and human-centered design background to financial technology. “In America, our savings rate is lower than almost any other developed country. We’re just really bad at short-term savings.”

SecureSave is a workplace emergency savings program designed to make saving easy and automatic. Unlike traditional bank accounts or retirement plans, SecureSave operates as an “out-of-plan” benefit—funded through payroll and offered by employers, but separate from regulated retirement accounts like 401(k) plans, Miller says.  

"Most people are just not saving on their own. We (created) a product that's going to make it easier for them," he says. 

Incorporated as Secure Inc., SecureSave is formally headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, but Miller says the company's 25-team workforce is remote and scattered throughout the U.S. He leads it from his home on Spokane's South Hill.

Miller founded the company five years ago with former coworker, Bassam Saliba, and personal finance celebrity Suze Orman.

SecureSave accounts are FDIC insured through banking partners, and employees can access their funds anytime. Employers typically offer incentives—often matching contributions—to encourage participation. 

“Ninety percent of the employers we work with offer incentives,” Miller says.

Employers see immediate benefits, as well, says Rob Hartman, CEO of Spokane-based law firm Lee & Hayes. He says SecureSave helps reduce employee stress.

“If you take care of your folks and help them feel a little more secure on the outside of these walls, then we have a stronger organization inside,” Hartman says. “It’s not only a way to help your employees, but strengthen your organization at the same time.”

Hartman says the emergency savings program is a great benefit to employees and employers.

"We all have times in our life where we hit a rainy day," he says. "We want to make sure that we're doing what we can to help people be prepared for that."

An added bonus is emergency savings also help employees avoid dipping into retirement funds, Miller says.

“If people can handle short-term issues, they’re more likely to stay on track for long-term goals,” he says. 

The emotional design of the product, Miller says, is also central to its success.

“People are stressed about money,” Miller emphasizes. “It’s one of the number one things that stresses people out. And it has for a long time.” 

Financial stress is one of the top productivity killers in the workplace, Miller says.

“When people are stressed they get distracted and make mistakes. If you have saved for emergencies, you are less stressed,” he says. “And you make less mistakes, you are more productive, and you’re nicer to customers.”

When Orman was initially approached by Miller and Saliba, she was especially impressed with the user-friendly SecureSave app, custom-built by Saliba. “It’s like a Cadillac,” she says. 

Once the system is integrated with payroll, employees just get an email, enter how much to save, and “press a button,” Orman says. 

When the company launched with Louisville, Kentucky-based health insurance provider Humana Inc., over 30,000 employees signed up.

“Not one glitch,” Orman says. 

Orman, a two-time Emmy award winner and 10-time New York Times best-selling author, says she’s been approached by fintech companies in the past, but was impressed with Miller and Saliba’s dedication to the person, not just how they could financially benefit from the person.

“They wanted to do something that is meaningful and what people needed,” Orman says. 

Most people want to make money off other people, she says. "There’s no agenda to what we are doing.”

For Orman, the program is similar to her 2007 collaboration with Omaha, Nebraska-based TD Ameritrade, which is now Charles Schwab Corp., on the “Save Yourself Account,” which rewarded users for saving money. The success of the program led to Orman agreeing to collaborate with Miller and Saliba, she says.

“I created a concept of let’s teach people to save,” she says. “Don’t reward them with a toaster or $200 to open an account, reward them after they’ve done it. We’re paying you to save.”

In the end, Orman says emergency savings comes down to changing behavior toward savings.

“You have to change psychology. You have to change behavior. You have to let people feel that they’ve done something, that they deserve the reward,” she says. “Because when you feel you’ve deserved it, you increase your self-worth, and your self-worth increases your net worth."