How can saving a penny a day make you £671.71 in just one year? Well, the save-a-penny-a-day challenge works on compounding/cumulative saving, meaning whatever day of the year it is, you’ll be saving the same number of pennies as the day number, so the saving amount increases each day. So 1st January is day 1, 31st December is day 366 (remembering that 2024 is a leap year).
As Albert Einstien said of compounding: “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it…he who doesn’t… pays it.” And it’s the same with a compound or ‘cumulative’ savings plan. Your balance will grow surprisingly quickly, as you’ll see on the image/spreadsheet we’ve provided.
It’s designed to start now but really you can do it anytime you like. Whenever you begin, at the end of 12 months you’ll have £671.71. All you have to remember is what number day you’re on … but you don’t really have to remember, as we have a chart for you.
We would suggest using a chart like the one below, easily created in *Excel, adding a column for the date and the cumulative amount saved. You could use a jotter if you prefer and just add it up manually, it’s your choice.
This is a great way to save money and if you continue this, come the end of the year you will a have accumulated a massive £671.71. Imagine what you could do with that lovely sum of money. You could also stop the challenge a month early and use the cash for your Christmas shopping, or perhaps a personal treat or mini break away. It’s entirely up to you how to do any savings/spending challenge.
How The Save A Penny A Day Challenge Works
- Start by saving one penny on the first day.
- Then, each day that follows, add one penny to the amount you saved the day before. For example, on day two, you’ll add £0.02, on day three you’ll add £0.03, and so on. But the most you’ll ever have to put in is £3.65 on day 365, obviously, or £3.66 in a leap year.
- Continue this pattern every day for an entire year.
When you save small but regular amounts, you get into the habit of saving. This means you can build up a savings pot without committing too much money to it. For new savers, or the undisciplined, it’s more effective than saving sporadically, and it teaches discipline.
If you stick to your daily savings challenge, you may find you enjoy it and start coming up with more creative ways to raise the money you need to save each day. And you will definitely enjoy seeing that balance growing – please let us know how you get on. You may also find that it spurs you on to set up more money-related challenges – we’ll be adding more of these in the future.
If you click on the image below you’ll be taken to the actual image page. Note this is for last year’s picture, when there were only 365 days, amounting to £667.95 in savings. By all means use it, but remember to add an extra day for 29 February.
Alternatively, you can click this link to our Google Drive and download a copy of our updated 366-day spreadsheet.
If you would like to find a licensed financial advisor in the UK, check out this website.
Please note we are not financial advisors. The information we provide is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please see our disclaimers for further information.