Start Your New Year Financially Savvy with the 52-Week Savings Challenge

The 52-week challenge is a great way to start the New Year with a focus on your financial goals, making it easier to increase your savings, create a contingency fund for emergencies, and improve your overall outlook.

Following this Savings Challenge calendar, putting tend Rand (approximately 53 US cents) into a designated savings account in week one and increasing that amount by a further ten every week will amount to just under 14,000 Rand (745 USD) by the end of the year—plus interest earnings!

You can follow the same principle in any currency, ensuring that money deposited into savings isn't available for discretionary spending, which causes the temptation to spend more than necessary.

Common Reasons We Struggle to Save

Why participate in the challenge rather than simply deciding to contribute more to your savings in the next few months? 

The reality is that most people have zero savings—the Money & Pensions Service in the UK estimates that 25% of adults have under £100 (roughly R.2,000), and one in six have nothing at all. In South Africa, the situation is similar, with a BusinessTech poll showing that 35% do not transfer anything from their income to retirement savings.

In the long term, this lack of savings can cause serious financial difficulties, particularly where pensioners have nothing to supplement social security benefits and do not receive sufficient income to cover essential expenses such as housing, food, and fuel.

Households without a weekly or monthly budget may perceive they have no excess cash to save. Budgeting is a great starting point, highlighting spending you can reduce or prioritising savings over less important outgoings such as dining out.

Impulse spending is habitual, so we often purchase things we don't necessarily need when we could be improving our financial future. Having a budget is a useful way to revisit your financial habits and see where you stand to make savings.

How the 52-Week Savings Plan Works

The challenge is straightforward, and you can even automate deposits or set up recurring payments every month, ensuring the funds are removed immediately when you receive your income.

However, if you have existing debt, it may be advisable to repay short-term borrowing before you begin saving. The interest charged on debt such as credit cards and personal loans will likely cost more than the interest you can earn on deposited savings.

Here's how the challenge works:

Pay in ten Rand (call it $0.50) on week one. (This is the amount by which you will increase each subsequent deposit.)

Increase that amount to twenty Rand in week two.

Deposit thirty in week three, and so on...

By week 52, you will have R.13,780, and with deposit interest from 3% to 10% or above, depending on the type of savings account you have and the interest rates offered, the final balance is likely to be a little higher.

Whether you use that amount to treat yourself, continue your new savings habit to build a larger financial cushion or decide to invest to increase your wealth further, the challenge makes savings simple.