Status Quo Bias

Preferring things to stay as they are, even when a change would clearly be better.

Status quo bias explains why savers leave money in a default fund for decades, why old insurance policies renew unexamined, and why automatic enrolment raises retirement saving so dramatically. Doing nothing feels safer than acting, because a bad outcome you chose stings more than an identical one you drifted into.

Status quo bias kept her savings in the default fund for eleven years without a single review.