The 52 Week Savings Challenge!

I often recall as a child in elementary school the times some of my teachers would tell me that “if you took a penny, doubled it for the next 30 days, by the end of the month, you will be a millionaire.” From all indications, this seems to be a true statement. In fact, the math works out something like this:

Day 0 .01 

Day 1 .02 

Day 2 .04 

Day 3 .08 

Day 4 .16 

Day 5 .32 

Day 6 .64 

Day 7 1.28 

Day 8 2.56 

Day 9 5.12 

Day 10 10.24 

Day 11 20.48 

Day 12 40.96 

Day 13 81.92 

Day 14 163.84 

Day 15 327.68 

Day 16 655.36 

Day 17 1,310.72 

Day 18 2,621.44 

Day 19 5,242.88 

Day 20 10,485.76 

Day 21 20,971.52 

Day 22 41,943.04 

Day 23 83,886.08 

Day 24 167,772.16 

Day 25 335,544.32 

Day 26 671,088.64 

Day 27 1,342,177.28 

Day 28 2,684,354.56 

Day 29 5,368,709.12 

Day 30 10,737,418.24 

Sadly though, I don’t know of anyone who has successfully proven this in the real world (rather than the mathematical abstract world). And unless you are able to find a well-heeled sponsor, I wouldn’t make book on seeing it in action in the near future. However, I recently received a similar, much more possible proposition (via our Facebook page) that could go a long ways toward helping the daring save money, especially as this is the start of a new year. Let this proposition be your New Year’s budget resolution. You wont be a millionaire at the end of the year, but you will be a few pennies wiser, and on your way to developing the discipline to engage in an even more aggressive savings regiment.

 

Click on the chart to enlarge