The 5% Challenge
By Melissa TosettiIs "Save Money" on your list of New Year's Resolutions?In our experience of working with clients, those who have the most success when it comes to saving money have done so by setting and achieving incremental goals.One of the reasons our money saving resolutions fail is because we try to do too much at once. We go from not saving anything at all to trying to save 10% or more of our income. Then, money feels too tight, we start dipping into our savings, get frustrated and stop altogether, claiming to the world that we’re just not “good savers”.It’s not about being a “good saver”. It’s just a matter of trying to do too much at once.With this in mind, we created The 5% Challenge.The goal of the challenge is to help you save 5% of your take home pay by this time next year and to achieve this goal in baby steps.Begin the challenge right now by calculating what 1% of your paycheck is and set up an automatic transfer of that amount. To give you an example, if your take home pay is $2,000, then 1% is just $20. That's the equivalent of a pizza!The next step of the challenge happens in March when you'll increase the amount going into savings by 1/2%. If your take home pay is $2,000, 1/2% is just $10. The total amount being saved each paycheck is $30.Following the chart below, every other month you'll increase your savings by an additional 1% or 1/2%. Again, the idea is to ease you into the 5% goal.The 5% Challenge Based on a $2,000 per Month Salary
| Month | % | Increase | Total Saved |
| January | 1% | $20 | $20 |
| March | .05% | $10 | $30 |
| May | .05% | $10 | $40 |
| July | 1% | $20 | $60 |
| September | .05% | $10 | $70 |
| November | .05% | $10 | $80 |
| January | 1% | $20 | $100 |
To join the challenge is simple.
- Click here to send an email letting me know you’re in: Melissa@TheSavvyLife.com.
- Set up an automatic transfer of 1% of you paycheck to your savings account of choice.
- Every other month, you’ll receive an email letting you know it’s time to increase your savings by ½%.
That’s it! Easy to start and easy to maintain.Get started now!