# Status Quo Bias

*Behavioral Finance — Finicade finance glossary*

Status quo bias is preferring things to stay as they are, so defaults become decisions. It's why auto-enrolment transformed pension participation, why people leave money in a 0.1% savings account for years, and why an unrebalanced portfolio drifts into a risk profile nobody chose. Its practical exploitation — setting good defaults — is the most effective intervention in personal finance.

**Also known as:** inertia, default bias

**Related terms:** [Nudge](https://finicade.com/glossary/nudge), [Auto-Enrolment](https://finicade.com/glossary/auto-enrolment), [Endowment Effect](https://finicade.com/glossary/endowment-effect), [Rebalancing](https://finicade.com/glossary/rebalancing), [Behavioral Biases](https://finicade.com/glossary/behavioral-biases)

**Taught in:** Mind Over Markets — Loss Aversion & the Endowment Effect

Source: https://finicade.com/glossary/status-quo-bias