“Saving requires us to not get things now so that we can get bigger ones later.” — Jean Chatzky.
There is something about January that makes you want to improve your life. From our lifestyle decisions to our personal finances, we tend to make ambitious goals aimed at drastically improving our lives this month. But we all know this energy is rarely sustained throughout the year.
One of the reasons why we fail to maintain this motivation is because we do not make a detailed plan. If one of your goals for 2018 is to save more there is a way around that, the 52 weeks savings challenge.
You may have probably heard of it; the 52 weeks savings challenge is a plan where participants save a certain amount of money and gradually increase the amount every day or every week. It is not a contractual thing and only depends on your discipline.
We have prepared a few scenarios below for different savings challenges for those who are interested in how it works. As a bonus, we have approximated the interest you can get if you save with us, using the current interest rate of 9.56% p.a. for the purposes of calculations.
The first challenge is starting with ksh.50, then adding an extra Ksh.50 every week.
| Week | Deposit | Amount Saved |
| 1 | 50 | 50 |
| 2 | 100 | 150 |
| 3 | 150 | 300 |
Example: Amount saved in 52 Weeks: Ksh.68,900
Interest earned in 52 Weeks: Ksh 2,280
Total amount in your account in 52 weeks: Ksh 71,180
The second challenge is starting with Ksh. 100 and adding an extra Ksh.100 every week.
Example:
| Week | Deposit | Amount Saved |
| 1 | 100 | 100 |
| 2 | 200 | 300 |
| 3 | 300 | 600 |
Amount saved in 52 Weeks: Ksh.137,800
Interest earned in 52 Weeks: Ksh.4,560
Total amount in your account in 52 weeks: Ksh.142,360
The third challenge is saving a standard Ksh.250 every week.
Example:
| Week | Deposit | Amount Saved |
| 1 | 250 | 250 |
| 2 | 250 | 500 |
| 3 | 250 | 750 |
Amount saved in 52 Weeks: Ksh.13,000
Interest earned in 52 Weeks: Ksh.633.55
Total amount in your account in 52 weeks: Ksh.13,633
The fourth challenge is saving Ksh.700 every week (that’s 100 daily).
Example:
| Week | Deposit | Amount Saved |
| 1 | 700 | 700 |
| 2 | 700 | 1400 |
| 3 | 700 | 2100 |
Amount saved in 52 Weeks: Ksh.36,400
Interest earned in 52 Weeks: Ksh.1,730
Total amount in your account in 52 weeks: Ksh.38,130
Getting started
If you are thinking of joining the 52 week’s challenge it’s not too late to start, you will only need to make the first three deposits when starting. Or you could even start now and assume this is week 1. There is no rule stating that you have to start on January 1st, you could even start in July, November or whenever.
Pro Tips: Saving is good and saving regularly is great, but saving where you get an interest is even better. It’s like you are getting a monetary reward for saving, and who doesn’t love a monetary reward?
Consider the Zimele Savings Plan where you can save and earn a net interest of 9.56% p.a. The flexible nature of the Plan means even when you miss a deposit you can make it later, there are no penalties.
The thing that makes people stop their 52 week’s challenge is that the deposits tend to increase as the weeks pass. If you anticipate that this could be a problem, consider saving a standard amount every week like in the third and fourth challenge above.
Conclusion: The 52 week’s challenge is all about personal discipline. If you do not have an accountability partner it is easy to fall off the tracks. To avoid that from happening, save with a goal in mind. Maybe you want to spend the money during the festive season later this year, or even to cushion you in January 2020. Whatever your reasons, saving with a goal in mind will enhance your discipline and see that you cross the finishing line.
Ecobank towers, 7th floor, Muindi Mbingu street | info@zimele.net | 0733-111106 | @ZimeleAM