#52WeekChallenge

There is a Challenge going around Local social circles (could be International) called the 52 Week Challenge. This challenge is a savings plan that seeks to motivate or encourage people to save a small amount each week, towards a final target at the end of the year. I have seen multiple variations of the challenge, and they all seem to provide a tidy sum to the ones who are able to hold out.

For those unfamiliar with the challenge, one of it’s versions goes along these lines:

  • Begin by choosing a starting amount which you are comfortable with e.g. Ksh. 50. This is what will be saved on the first week.
  • Choose an increment that will be added to the starting amount to get the amount to save for the second week. By default, the initial/starting amount is chosen.
  • For every successive week, the increment will be added to the total increments since the beginning of the plan, then added again to the previous week’s amount to get the current week’s amount to save. E.g. taking the initial amount as Ksh. 50, and taking increment = initial amount = Ksh. 50, we can get the following outline for the first month
    • Week 1: 0 + 0 + 50 = Ksh. 50 (previous total increments = 0, previous weekly amount = 0, current increment = 50)
    • Week 2: ((50 + 50) + 50) = Ksh. 150 (previous total increments = 50, previous weekly amount = 50, current increment = 50)
    • Week 3: ((100 + 50) + 150 ) = Ksh. 300 (previous total increments = 100, previous weekly amount = 150, current week’s increment = 50)
    • Week 4: ((150 + 50) + 300) = Ksh. 500 (previous total increments = 150, previous weekly amount = 300, current week’s increment = 50)
    • …and so on till the 52nd week where we shall have Ksh. 68900 as our final amount. Tidy sum, right? 😀

For those with the ability, you can change the initial value and the increment at your own volition to vary the amount you get at the end of the year. Of course the higher the better. 😉

Also, I really think its a good way to get some free cash to splash out on yourself/your friends at the end of the year. Who knows, you could use that cash for a trip anywhere you like (of course within your means).

Yes, we know, the economy is tough, so is life. So suck it up and get moving.

But I believe humans have quite a short lifespan, so they should spend some of it, if not most of it, enjoying the short time they have on this planet. Don’t argue with me…

So I decided to have some fun and create my own challenge calculator. I have modified mine to allow someone to change the incremental value added on each week e.g. if your initial amount was Ksh. 50, you can choose to decrease the increment for the second week by Ksh. 5 off the previous week’s increment, giving you Ksh. 45. We shall define the Ksh. 5 as the decrement. Add this to the first week’s amount of Ksh. 50 and you get Ksh. 145 to save for the second week. I have also allowed one to vary the time period they want to save for (in weeks). Using our previous example, for the first month, the savings plan, with a decrement of Ksh. 5 every week, will look something like this :

  • Week 1: (0 + 50) + 0 = Ksh. 50 (previous total increments = 0, previous amount = 0, current increment = 50
  • Week 2: ((50 + 45) + 50) = Ksh. 145 (previous total increments = 50, previous amount = 50, current increment = (50 – 5) = 45)
  • Week 3: ((95 + 40) + 145) = Ksh. 280 (previous total increments = (45 + 50), previous amount = 145, current week’s increment = (45 – 5) = 40)
  • Week 4: ((135 + 35) + 280) = Ksh. 450 (previous total increments = (50 + 45 + 40) = 135, previous amount = 280, current week’s increment = (40 – 5) = 35)

You can also choose to use the default decrement of 0 to use the default implementation of the plan.

NB: In some cases, while performing the calculations, there will be a time when the weekly increment will get to and go below 0 due to the subtractions on it when a decrement > 0 has been set. At that moment, we shall use the absolute value of the increment for your calculations to get the weekly deposit e.g. instead of -5, we shall use 5. You will not notice this without performing your own calculations, but this actually yields some interesting results. Play around with the calculator and see for yourself 😀


Results:

So, who’s up for a game of Savings? 😎