Take Part in the 52-Week IRA Challenge in 2019
Readers of Two Cents are probably familiar with the 52-week money challenge – you increase your savings by $ 1 every week for a year. The first week you save $ 1, the next week you save $ 2, and so on, until you save $ 1,378 by the end of the year.
Some people prefer to flip the task – start at $ 52 in the first week and gradually build up to $ 1, so you get the toughest weeks first and don’t put aside $ 200 in gift season. That’s all well and good, but if you are looking to boost your savings, I would try the 52-week trial option adapted to your IRA or Roth.
I came across this concept from a commenter while digging through old Lifehacker articles. And then lo and behold , he wrote this for Hackerspace , the old Lifehacker community. The idea is that you deposit $ 89 in your Roth or Traditional IRA in the first week and then increase $ 1 over the course of the year to $ 140 in the final week. You end up with a little less than $ 6,000, the donation limit for this year (I updated the numbers from the Hackerspace post to reflect the 2019 donation limit).
Given the low tax rates, this is a particularly good time to take advantage of your Roth if you have one, although with stock prices dropping, this is a good time to buy more shares from all sides . Saving is good, but investing is even better .
If this sounds too much and it is, play with the numbers. The old starting point was $ 80, which brought you closer to $ 5,500, the old IRA limit, after 52 weeks. It’s not easy , of course, it’s a challenge after all, so start at $ 89 and see if you keep adding up for the rest of the year. If you can’t, then set up automatic investments of a reasonable amount of money, even if it’s $ 10 every week or every month. Over time, everything will work out .