Raise your hand if you know you should have more in your savings account.
Don't worry, you're not the only one.
Bankrate earlier reported that over 75% of Americans don't have enough cash savings to cover their expenses for 6 months.
27% don't have any savings at all!!
#ouch
Before I got married, I had very little cash. I was (and still am) a spender.
After my wife and I tied the knot I think we maybe had a whopping $500 cash in the bank.
While I was deployed to Iraq we made a conscious goal to boost our savings. Our 1st goal was $1,000 inspired by Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps.
Our goal gradually increased where we eventually amassed up to 12 months of our expenses in cash.
Why Cash?
Many people don't see the importance of having so much cash on hand. In my book, I talk about having a FRAGO (Financial Reserves and Goal Obligation) fund.
Because having cash on hand doesn't just protect you from emergencies, it helps you achieve short-term and long-term goals.
When we built our dream home and I took a risk in starting my own firm, there's no way we could have pulled it off had we not been diligent with our savings.
That didn't happen over night. It all started small when I was deployed.
Feel like you don't have the extra cash to save? Check out our post on ways to make extra money, including becoming an Uber driver, which is nice because with this extra side hustle you can create your own schedule according to your flexibility and in turn, have extra cash to save towards your goal!
Starting Small – The 52 Week Plan to Boost Your Savings
I can't take credit for this concept. In fact, I'm not even sure who came up with it. All I know is that I've seen the 52 Week Savings chart everywhere.
How does the 52 week challenge work? It's so freaking simple which makes it that much more awesome.
The 1st week you deposit $1 into your best savings account. The 2nd week you deposit $2 into your savings account. The 3rd week you deposit $3.
You get the picture?
By the 52th week after you deposit $52 you'll have accumulated $1,378. And that's not including interest!
If you have struggled having cash in your savings account, this challenge is for you!
But in case that isn't much of an incentive to start saving, what if I offered you real cash?
That's right: Cash Money!
Do I have your attention now?
If so, read on….
Double Your Savings Account
The wife and I are excited about getting people to really start saving. My deployment to Iraq was the catalyst that got our saving rolling.
We're hoping this challenge is your catalyst. And for those that make the entire 52 weeks we want to reward one lucky person with an awesome prize.
We want to double what you've saved and match your $1,378.
That's right. One super lucky person that personally saves $1,378 will be awarded the same amount.
Now are you inspired to save? WE hope so! 🙂
Want to know how excited we are?
This excited:
So excited that we took a selfie holding a piggy bank minutes before we were rushing to get our kids off to school. 🙂
Rules of the Competition
First, you're more than welcome to take on this challenge without following the below steps. BUT….if you want to be eligible for the prize pool, this is how it will go down:
- Step 1: Leave a comment below announcing you've joined the challenge.
- Step 2: Open a *FREE* brand new savings account with Capital One 360 (affiliate link).
- Step 3: Coordinate with your current bank to facilitate the weekly transfers
- Step 4: Winners must provide confirmation email showing the new account opened and a screenshot of the balance in their account after the 52 weeks
Updated:
(Note: we realize that people could take advantage of this situation and make it look like they completed the challenge. For that, we reserve the right to disqualify anyone that we feel is being dishonest. We may ask for additional info to verify you did complete the challenge. Thanks for reader Anthony for suggesting that we add this).
That's it! Taking on this challenge will finally get your savings account to a level it's never been AND you have a chance to double it.
All for taking action right now.
A few questions you might have.
Why Capital One 360? There are several online savings account you can choose from. We just think they are one of the best. It' s free to setup and super easy to open. Open an account today and see how easy it is.
Why does it have to be a new account? We want this account to be separate from any other savings account you have so your less tempted to touch. How many times have you started a savings account only to raid it for some purchase? This will hopefully prevent that.
Can anyone sign up? Not quite. You have to be at least 18 years of age and a U.S. Resident.
When's the deadline to sign up? You have until January 31, 2014 to get started. You have plenty of time BUT don't procrastinate!!
Want This Free Download?
I created this slick looking PDF to keep you inspired for the 52 Week Challenge.
Download the Free Worksheet and you'll also get access to a ton of other free resources I've created directly for the GF¢ community.
Share the love?
Inspire your friends, co-workers and family members to join this challenge with you.
I've joined the 52 Week Savings Challenge at GoodFinancialCents via @jjeffrose & @houseofrose Click HERE to Tweet
Make this YOUR year that you get your savings on track!
Heather says
I just knew deep down in my soul I was going to win this but completely forgot to do the screen shot thing. I still wanted to thank you for the encouragement to do this. It really have been able to get into the habit of saving!
Sue says
Whats up with this Jeff? Have you chosen a winner? Does everyone that participated need to send in verification before you pick a winner?
Ted says
Congratulations to Heather! And thanks to Jeff and GFC for the inspiration. For the first time in a many years, my family did not incur any new debt in 2014 to be carried over into 2015. A big part of that was due to the money I saved during the challenge. Santa’s service fees will be paid off this month!!. Woot!! Good luck to everyone in 2015!
Jeff Rose says
Congrats to Heather B. for winning the 52 Week Money Savings Challenge.
Great job on everyone that took part and finished. If you didn’t finish, don’t stress! 2015 is your year. 🙂
Shannon says
Hey Jeff! Thanks for motivating us all to save. So great to see the money add up week after week – and now use some of it for an earmarked vacation. Can’t wait to do the challenge in 2015 as well! Has a winner been announced yet? Thanks!!
Ben says
I took part in the challenge this year and can I say how excited I am to have saved over $1,300 rather effortlessly! Has the winner of this year’s challenge been announced yet? Will there be another challenge in 2015? I am planning to save again regardless, but may do it backwards this year (to make the challenge get easier as the year goes along and to take advantage of increased interest).
Tawnya LaFave says
Super excited to see who the winner is!
Nicole says
I’ve completed the challenge as well. Where do I send the screenshots confirming participation?
Such a great program and am definitely doing it again in 2015!
Thanks Jeff!
Jeff Rose says
@ Nicole we’re picking the winner this week and then verifying if they completed the challenge. We’ll announce soon who the lucky person is! 🙂
Ted says
Thanks for the update Jeff! Is it safe to say, that if we haven’t been contacted for verification, then we haven’t been chosen as the winner?
Jeff Rose says
@Ted As of right now. I’ve contacted the winner but they’ve yet to respond. If I don’t hear from them soon we’ll then contact another winner at random. So there’s still a chance! 🙂
Mark says
Hi Jeff, checking in on this contest again…maybe you could post the winner’s first name in case your email to them got filtered out somehow?
I started saving anew in 2015 – what a great idea. Thank you!
Mark says
Hi Jeff, we did it! We actually decided to double down and do it with my wife’s income and my own!! Where do we send our PDF proof of the 52-weeks of savings that we have accomplished? Thanks so much for this idea and encouragement. We’re definitely going to continue with the program in 2015.
Nicole R says
I have one week left in the challenge – did I start too late last year to still qualify for the double savings prize??
Ted says
Happy Movember Everyone! I was wondering how everyone was doing in the home stretch for this challenge! We had a couple months in which it looked like I would have to dip into this fund for extreme emergencies, but we managed to tough it out and keep this sealed up. So far so good for the end of the year! Thanks to Jeff Rose for inspiring all of us to save this much for ourselves.