Abstract: Embodiments are disclosed of a patronage incentive system in which a monetary award is made to a customer's retirement account as incentive for the customer to participate in a transaction with the sponsor for the sponsor's goods or services. The system includes a means for identifying the customer, a means for inputting the identification information and other information about the transaction into a computer data storage, a computer data processing device which uses a software program along with the transactional information to calculate an incentive award amount a means for transferring the monetary funds equal to the incentive award amount from an incentive award pool to the customer's retirement account, and a means of reporting the incentive award amount to the customer and to the sponsor.