This is a guide for the 2022 newbies, and folk who tried it once years back and would like to make 2022 their #52WeekChallenge year.

What is the #52WeekChallenge?

This is an incremental weekly savings challenge where you start off with an amount, and every week, you increase your savings target by that amount. The basic #52WeekChallenge starts off at KES 50 ( approximately US 5 cents), and every week the target increases by that amount such that by the 52nd week of the year, the savings target is KES 2,600. The chart below demonstrates how you grow from total savings of KES 50 on Week 1, to KES 68,900 by the end of the year. A good amount to spend on a short holiday, pay school fees, or get you started on that emergency fund.

You may customize the target depending on your goal by playing around with some numbers on the MoneyBox App, or this customizable Excel sheet. The beauty of using the app is that you are able to set up reminders, set up a fixed savings plan, track bulk savings etc. The app does not take deposits though, read on if you are wondering where to save your #52WeekChallenge cash.

Where will I save the cash?

This is entirely up to you, but I recommend to go with a savings option that is low-friction i.e. one that will not take much thinking or effort on your side. Since the #52WeekChallenge started, I have encouraged that folk start off with the M-Shwari Lock Savings account (in Kenya) or a mobile savings solution (Piggyvest in Nigeria for example), because a mobile solution will have all the features you need:

• It is right on our phones and we are ALWAYS on our phones. This means you do not need to do much to save for the week.
• It locks up the funds, and gives you a 48-hour withdrawal timeline, which means you won’t withdraw your savings on a whim.
• It allows you to set a target, and sends you reminders of how far along you are on your target. Just what we need.
• The money earns some interest. While the goal of the #52WeekChallenge is not to invest, but to accumulate funds that one may invest, a little extra cash does not hurt.

Other savings alternatives include setting up a standing order to a limited-withdrawals savings account, opening a money market account, or using a physical piggy bank.

What strategies can I use to fail-proof the challenge?

Many people who start the Challenge do not finish it for many reasons. There are however some tricks you can use to make sure you take it to the end:

• Set a motivating goal. The goal should not be to just save a certain amount, but should be linked to something you want to achieve this year. It could be your springboard to building a savings havit, a vacation, new computer, a deposit on a piece of land, or higher education. Higher education was my goal for the #52WeekChallenge 2018 edition, and last year I graduated with my Masters in Development Finance. Heck, it can even be a house!
• While you are still motivated, start from Week 52, and save the larger amounts first. This way, as the year goes by, the Challenge gets easier.
• Commit to save any unexpected income you receive until you meet your #52WeekChallenge goal.
• Link the #52WeekChallenge to a reward e.g committing to not go out on Friday evening unless you are up to date with your #52WeekChallenge savings.
• Do it as a community. I have had people join the Challenge with family members, colleagues, or even as an investment club. This builds accountability.
• Should life happen and you are compelled to withdraw your savings mid-challenge, do not consider this as failure. The money was available when you needed it, and this is what we are trying to accomplish. Start once more to build your savings either by completing the Challenge, or starting from Week 1.

I wish you all the best as you start off on this exciting journey. Remember to tweet me updates, and also follow the Money Reflections Instagram page for daily money reflections

I am however a resolutions optimist, because the new year is one of the many temporal landmarks – days or moments that give us that fresh start, or fresh slate feeling, and the motivation to want to change our lives.

While there is nothing magical about the new year, you can use the fresh start feeling as a springboard from which you start to change certain things about your life.

A resolution is often stated as a goal, an end-point. I look at a resolution as the human-equivalent of a company vision. It is an aspiration, and not necessarily something you will achieve in 365 days. Some resolutions may be achievable in 365 day or less, but most take longer and several tries to get there.

Your resolutions may look like this:

“Be more disciplined about money”

“Make exercise a habit”

“Stop smoking”

“Quit drinking”

As you can see, they describe an outcome, or an aspiration. Which is ok. But they also set you up to feel like a failure if you take actions that are anti your resolutions. E.g if you resolved to stop smoking in 2022, but then one stressful Friday evening you smoke a cigarette, you will feel like you have failed. Then you will give up, right?

I want us to take a step further, and convert this vision into a format that does not set us up for failure.

• Write down one action that will contribute to you reaching your end point.  If your New Year resolution is to be more disciplined about money, decide just one thing you will do/stop doing, and write it down. Make this action as simple as possible. It also helps to make short-term rolling actions. For example, you can resolve to not order take out in January, then at the end of the month, you reflect on this, and take the next action etc.
• Act. I once read an IG Q&A that made me so happy. The person was asked what one can do to change their lives. His response “just change your life”. I liked this, because often when we get the motivation change something in our lives, the next thing we do is to to read up as much as we can, on the thing we want to change. This is a form of resistance to action. It is easier to convince yourself that you do not have enough information and getting that information is contributing to the change you want to make. But because information is endless, you get stuck in the “forever learner” mode.  Do not Google “How to..”. Do not even finish reading this post. You have enough information – you know what you want to change, and you have the one action to start with. Start doing something, then fill in the blanks as you go.
• Unless you are super-human, you will fail. You will forget to act, be too demotivated for it, relapse, binge eat/spend, have a week of no exercise etc, depending on what your action is. Failing to act does not make you a failure, this happens to every human being, even those super disciplined people. Wake up the next day, and make another fresh start. It took me over a decade of resolutions and clean starts to make regular exercise a habit, but each clean start was easier than the last, then it stuck. Each fresh start gets you closer to the change you need, as long as you do not give up.

I love this article on how to use temporal landmarks to achieve your goals.

Have a fantastic 2022!

https://twitter.com/Wahinya_Charlie/status/1346052814741626883

Reading the posts, some of which I responded to, I thought to share a couple of things that will encourage the newly minted 30-year-olds, and also help you set yourself up for success this decade.

First, it is a birthday like any other

You do not magically age when you turn 30. Your knees do not start to hurt right the day after, and this is not the end of life like you knew it. Those of us who are later into our 30s can attest to the fact that in many ways, life really began in our 30s. The 20s are often tumultuous. You are trying to figure who you really are, and there is loads of change happening. This can rob you of self confidence. With the 30s comes a kind of settling down. You won’t figure it all out in your 30s (I doubt anybody ever figures it all out), but there are truths you will settle into about yourself that will give you stability. This all however, does not happen automatically, as I shared with Kaluhi. It comes as a consolidation of the work you have been doing on yourself till now, and what you continue to do.  The 30s can be crisis years if you do not take time to introspect and determine who you really are and what you stand for.

There's nothing scary, earth-shattering really, it is a birthday like any other. The growth and benefits (or the crisis and anxiety) are just a culmination of the work one does on self (or neglects to do) over the years.

Karibu to the 3rd floor.

— Elsa Majimbo stan account (@RookieKE) January 4, 2021

An aside, my knees would hurt really badly when I turned 30, but they no longer hurt – I had been treating them badly by running tens of kms per week. The 30s can be the years you get into your best physical shape too, you just need to make up your mind and work for it.

Do not be too hard on yourself if you are not earning what you thought you would be earning by the time you turned 30

When I finished university many years ago, I had one goal – to be CEO by 27, and to be my own boss before 30. I did make CEO by 28. My 30th birthday however found me burnt out and on temporary heart meds. After that, I was away from work, earning zero and burning through my savings as I tried to be a farmer. While I had done well for myself in my 20s, my 30th birthday found me far far away from where I thought I would be. I was my own boss of losing money   After a couple of years of trying, I got back into employment with no savings, and a child who needed school fees. I am still employed today. I have no plans of being my boss, unless in the business of rest and enjoyment. My goal has changed from running my business, to retirement i.e to work for other reasons but money.

All this is to say, be alert to the opportunities that are around you, and seek to do your best at your work or business today. Keep learning, and adjusting your goals to your reality.

Finally, we are operating in truly shitty times. If you are in Africa, our economies are taking additional beating from COVID and poor governance. So do not look at your parents as the metric for living a successful life – if they had achieved more than you have financially, it is probably because those were better times for them. If you have gotten into your 30s without a steady income, be kind to yourself.

Always remember that personal finance is personal. It is about your habits, but also the circumstances you find yourself in, some of which you cannot control. Realize early that you are running a race that is like nobody else’s. All you need to do is to make it your best race.

It's important to realize that:
1. The personal finance journey is PERSONAL. Run your own race, but also run at your very best pace. If you have an income, realize that investments come from consistently saving small amounts over a long time
2. Our economy is a mess. https://t.co/WwJLQtlk2y

— Elsa Majimbo stan account (@RookieKE) January 4, 2021

Consolidate your learnings and know what you are really good at

Your 30s in many instances are the years that come with the most opportunities to earn money. But for you to take advantage of those opportunities, you have to be confident about what you are really good at, and put yourself out there.

Take some time to do an inventory of all the things you tried out in your 20s and the skills you have accumulated:

• What did you most enjoy doing?
• Which of your skills can make you the most money?
• Which areas have most potential for growth?

The intersection of these three things lies the things you should do that have the highest chance of maximising your earnings and growth opportunities. What if you have to choose? I want to say do not leave number 2 out. So either go with something you love to do that can make you good money; or something that has potential for growth and can make you good money.

Money is good, and it is also useful.

Work with the income you have today, not the income you hope to get

This is one piece of advice that young people hate to hear, but please keep reading. It is great to be ambitious about your potential to earn money. It is fantastic to work towards earning big and becoming a millionaire. Dedicate 99% of your brain capacity to these efforts. However, spare me 1% for some good old boring realism. Plan your finances for the income you have today, and not what you hope to get.  This will not stop you from becoming a millionaire, but it will be your safety net should your plans not work out.

Do not approach your finances with a big pay day in mind – there’s a chance this pay day will not come. Instead, learn from primary school teachers who earn really little, but by thinking long-term are often able to accumulate assets many times more than their income, and retire comfortably.

Plan for a comfortable retirement, while working to be a millionaire.

Final thought:

If you are a salaried person, that primary school teacher who lives in a stone house they built, owns a couple of cows and is done educating kids, is a better investments teacher than Chris Kirubi/your favorite billionaire.

— Elsa Majimbo stan account (@RookieKE) December 15, 2020

It is not too late to start

Life does not end at 30. If you have never saved money, if you have not invested a single cent, start today. Don’t read another blog post, do not say you will start at the end of the month. Start today. Put aside some money in your M-Shwari Lock Savings account. Do not stress about where you will invest it and what not. Just set it aside first. Then start thinking about your goals. A good one to start with is to build an emergency fund. Another good one is to draw a “get out of debt” plan. I have written about these things, but I have deliberately not added the links here because I do not want you to click on them and get lost in the links.

Like I said before, be kind to yourself.

Now, shut the browser, turn on your mobile banking / M-Pesa app and save some money.

Photo by Robin C Samuel from StockSnap 

I am not a fan of willpower. Much has been written about how willpower often gets depleted (something smarter people call ego depletion),  and in our busy lives, we often suffer from decision fatigue. Decision fatigue is why it is easier to dig into that tub of ice cream when you have had a long day. It is also why it’s easy to throw caution in the wind financially in these last two weeks of the year. Your brain is tired and easily convinced that you’ve done enough for the year and you deserve a little spoiling.

For the record, there’s nothing wrong with a little spoiling of oneself, but we want to avoid the regrets that come when we unintentionally overspend and end up struggling later.

This is why I would like you to do the following in regards to your holiday spending. It should take just a couple of minutes:

1. Set the budget for your holiday spending. Determine how much you want to spend. While you are still thinking straight before the holiday spirit takes over, look at your bank balance and set an amount.
2. Decide the activities you want to undertake between now and the 2nd of January 2021. These could include Christmas lunches/dinners, hosting, ordering take out because you don’t want to cook, extra alcoholic drinks, some travel etc. All within reason of course, and within that budget you have set.
3. The third step will feel scary if you like to be spontaneous during this period. Transfer all the other money you have to a savings account, leaving only your holiday spending money in your main account. Keep your savings account debit card and credit cards, if you have some, away until next year.  Alternatively, move your holiday spending to your mobile money account and put all your debit and credit cards away until next year. This way, you have an automatic stop-spending signal. The holiday ends when money ends.
4. Plan to be present and to fully enjoy your holiday moments. You deserve joy

The purpose of this post, as the title states is to make it easier for you to achieve your money goals in 2021. I want to be ambitious and say that if you read this post carefully and action on the tips I share, you will no longer resolve “to be better at managing my money in the coming year”.

Why resolutions to be better at managing money rarely work

Whenever the topic of personal finance comes up with friends, and even acquaintances (this will happen often if you write about money), most people will say this:

” I would like to be better at managing my money”

“I really should be better at managing my money”

“I will reach out to you so you can teach me how to be better at managing my money”

The above and other similar sentiments are a good starting point. Knowing that you need to get better at something is good. But the sentiment is not enough, and expressing this sometimes can get in the way of actually doing something about it. When you tell me (or your friends) that you want to get better at managing your money, we will congratulate you, affirm you, and encourage you. This feels great, and it often will trick your brain out of actually doing anything substantial about your intentions.  Social psychologists call this social reality. This 3-minute video by Derek Silvers explains it further and has references to research done on this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHopJHSlVo4[/embedyt

So there you have the first step. If you intend to do something about your money, keep it to yourself especially at the beginning.  There is a time to share your goals, keep reading and we will get there.

Intentions are good, but what do they really mean?

Once you realize you intend to change something about the way you manage your money, you need to set a vision. The word vision may sound lofty and intimidating, but it does not need to be. To me, your vision states where you want to end up at. If you are starting out on this, keep your vision simple and clear. Here are some examples of a vision:

• I would like to have an emergency fund in place so I can stop feeling anxious about money
• I would like to start off on the path to save up for retirement
• I want to buy some agricultural land

Think about 2021, and state the one thing you would like to achieve money-wise. Keep your vision positive. “I want to stop xyz” is not a good vision statement, as it focuses on the negative, as opposed to envisioning a positive thing you want to achieve. This kind of statement comes in handy further down on this guide.

Quantify your vision into a goal

So far, we have intentions, we have a vision, but we do not know exactly how much it will take to make our intentions become our reality. Converting our vision into a measurable goal gives us a clear and defined target to work towards. I like the timeless acronym SMART that is used to what a good goal should look like:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Timely

Let us take the emergency fund example. How do you convert this vision into a goal? By;

1. Being specific: My goal is to have an emergency fund in place; then
2. Making your goal measurable: In the next 12 months, I would want to have set aside 3 months worth of my basic living expenses as an emergency fund. Note the words I have highlighted. The sentence highlights the quantum of my goal (3 months worth of living expenses), and the time it will take. You can even get a bit more specific and state how much in total you want to have set aside by the end of the period.
3. Ensuring that your goal is achievable. This means making sure you have the capability and/or the skill to do this successfully. Do you know how to set money aside? This is not an inane question. The ability to set money aside and watch it grow does not come naturally to most of us. If you are not one to do this, then what do you need to put in place to make this goal achievable? We will talk about this in the next step.
4. Checking to make sure your goal is realistic. Can you achieve the goal you have set for yourself, or is it too lofty, similar to my new year resolution to get abs that I am yet to achieve 10 years after I made it? Can you realistically save 3 months worth of living expenses in a year? How much do you need to set aside every month. Is this amount achievable? Are you clear what you need to change about your current lifestyle to achieve it?
5. Timely: This is about ensuring that the goal aligns with your reality. For example, if you are struggling with debt and can barely make ends meet, then maybe a more timely goal would be towards paying off a specific debt, to free up the repayment amount so you can start setting up an emergency fund. Yes, I believe you should have an emergency fund even when you have debts. This post explains why.

Decide what needs to change

Money habits are a lot like healthy eating, or exercise habits. When you resolve to start exercising and set a goal, it does not end there. You have to change things, for you to move from the non-exercising you, to the exercising you. There is something exercise has to replace in your life. Money habits are the same. You have failed to achieve your goals before because there is stuff you are doing with your money (or time) that you need to stop doing, so you can start doing the things you need to do, to achieve your goals.

This can be changing your spending habits. For example if you order food a lot because you hate cooking, it could mean setting time every Sunday to cook for the week, so that you are not tempted to order food during the week. It could be that your choice of socialisation involves overspending on your entertainment budget, in which case you have to think of alternatives that do not cost as much.

If your goal is to earn more money, it could mean hiving off some time off your Netflix time to work on a new art, or to build something. It could be being more deliberate in looking for job options out there, if you have been saying you need a better paying job but have not done much about it because you are comfortable at your current job. It could mean setting a calendar appointment with your boss to discuss a plan to promotion.

Something has to change.

Set yourself up for success

This is the final step, and it involves removing decision making, and willpower from the equation. Why? Because willpower is not reliable when it comes to building habits and achieving goals. Motivation is great to get us started. For example, it is motivation that has gotten you this far on this post. But it will not keep you going.  What keeps you going is having systems that remove motivation from the equation, such that every day, you do not have to make a decision for you to work towards your goal. There are a number of ways you can do this:

• If your goal is to save KES xxxx off your pay cheque every month, set up a standing order of that amount to either a limited-access savings account or a money market fund account. This standing order should go out as soon as your salary checks in.
• If your goal is to meet with your boss and discuss a pay rise, right after this set a calendar date and email them to set up an appointment, even if this date is six months from now. This means that when the day comes, your feelings will not matter, you will get it done.
• If your goal is to stop overspending, open a spending account, and convert your income account into a limited-access savings account. Set up a standing order of only what your spending amount is per month, from your income account to this spending account and stick to the budget.

Those are some of the ways you automate your goals. If you have some goals but cannot think of how to automate them, email me to set up a 30-minute session where I can help you think through your 2021 goals. I charge a small fee for this (KES 2,500 or $25) and at the end of the session you can expect to have an actionable way forward in achieving the goals you have for the year.