Financial stability is a milestone in everyone’s lifestyle. It ensures one does not fall victim to financial stress or out of money to fulfil important wants and needs. Savings is one of the ways to achieve financial stability. But it is easier said than done. Savings can be very tricky. It requires constant dedication for a longer time. The extra money you save without spending it on not so important purchases is what matters. And to make this happen a solid plan is required with the best savings technique to achieve the goal. There are several ways to improve your savings and one of the best and effective techniques is the 52-Week Savings Challenge.
Check: 30 Days Savings Rule – Working & Benefits
Working of the 52-Week Savings Challenge
52-Week Savings Challenge is an incremental savings plan which increases on a daily basis and by the end of the year, there would be a good amount of money saved. This is a simple and practical technique to save money.
As the name suggests, the 52-Week Savings Challenge is based on the savings goal, which involves 52 weeks and by the end of the 52 weeks, there would be $1000 saved.
The working is simple where you’ll be saving 1 AED in the first week, then 2 AED in the second week, 3 AED in the third week and each week there will be a dirham extra saved. By the end of the 52nd week, you’ll have AED 1378. This is one of the most easygoing ways to save where you will not be stressed out about saving.
- The first step you need to follow is opening a bank account in the UAE that is limited to savings without a debit card or chequebook.
- Download and Print the 52-Week Savings Plan chart and set up an automatic transfer if possible and start your savings plan every week without missing a week.
- See your savings grow certainly
Though the traditional 52-Week Savings Challenge is about increasing the savings by a penny every week, you can also follow the reverse approach where you can start with 52 AED in the first week and end it with 1 AED in the last week. Any approach can be followed according to your convenience.
Also, check: How to save money in a limited salary in the UAE?
Benefits of 52-Week Savings Challenge
Savings are most important to cover any small or big financial requirements like a down payment of a house, vacation, or emergency funds. The benefits of the 52-Week Savings Challenge are,
- Start small – It gives an opportunity to save in small amounts. Unlike other saving techniques where a constant and decent amount should be saved on a monthly basis, the 52-Week challenge can be achieved by saving very little.
- Flexible savings – Though the savings amount should be increased every week, there is no maximum limit to it. Hence instead of increasing it by 1 AED per week, you can save more than that.
- Improves savings habit – This builds momentum and increases the savings habit starting slow and saving more in the long term.
- Works for anyone – As big amounts are not involved, it provides an opportunity for everyone to save irrespective of monthly earnings.
How to succeed with the 52-Week Savings Challenge?
- One of the easiest ways for any savings challenge to work is by having a goal. Having a goal and time period to achieve it will make you motivated to save. People tend to drop halfway through the challenge as the goal is not motivating enough. Therefore have a goal first then plan further. Planning to save without a goal may not keep you encouraged.
- Set reminders on your phone every week to not miss the savings in between
- Add the extra money you have in the month to the savings
- Don’t quit once you’ve reached your target. Keep a new target and make savings a part of your life.
Read: Why is frugality not key to gain Financial Independence?
Savings improve the mindset on money and can be addictive if motivated enough with the right goal for the savings. The only thing you need is to be prepared to save every week. But again the 52-week challenge expects a small amount hence it is easy to keep away some change for savings. Over time the savings will improve and help you in fulfilling all your small to large financial goals which eventually will help you in gaining financial stability.
About the author
Nikitha is a Senior Analyst at MyMoneySouq.com. She has been writing about personal finance, credit cards, mortgage, and other personal finance products in the UAE. Her work on Mortgage loans has been featured by the GulfNews and other popular Financial Blogs in the UAE.
