20 in 2020 Challenge: Save $20,000 in 2020

Challenges
,
1

2020 - a new decade - is almost here.

It’s time to get ambitious about savings goals. So I present the 20 in 2020 challenge. The goal is simple, but not easy: save $20,000 this year.

*If saving $20,000 of your salary isn’t practical - or if you make less than, say, $80,000 - consider the alternative 20 in 2020 Challenge: Save 20% in 2020. Both get the same sticker, but the threads will have people at similar income/challenge levels.

Basic rules:

  • The goal is to save $20,000 of your pre-tax income in 2020. If you make $60,000 per year, that’s 30% of your overall income.
  • If your income is not in USD, you can choose to save 20K in your currency (i.e. $15,042 USD for Canadians or $13,593 USD for Aussies) OR save the equivalent to $20,000 USD (i.e. currently $26,591 CAD or $29,425 AUD). Just state the path and exchange rate you’re choosing.
  • You can combine any type of savings: emergency fund, 401K, Super, IRA, taxable investments, buffer, house down payment fund, student loan payments - to reach your goal.
  • You can choose household or individual savings, whichever you prefer.

What Counts

  • Debt repayment counts towards your savings total!
  • Mortgage principal (but not interest or escrow) counts.
  • Only savings that occurs between 1/1/2020 and 12/31/2020 count.
  • You can use tax refund or any other windfall money towards your total savings.

What do you get:

  • Support on this thread as you go along - post monthly or quarterly check-ins as appropriate
  • A forum badge when you are halfway - at your $10,000 goal - for the year
  • A forum badge when you complete your $20,000 goal for the year
  • A sticker mailed to you when you complete your $20,000 goal for the year
  • A shoutout on the podcast when you reach your goal

Here’s all the 20 in 2020 Challenges:

7 Likes
2

I’m in!

1 Like
3

Just fixed it to add the addendum for non-USD folk, too! Feel free to choose if you want to do AUD $20,000 or the US equivalent (~$29,000 AUD right now). Either are fine!

2 Likes
4

I’m doing this one :slight_smile: I’ll set it at $29,425 now, so that currency fluctuations during the year don’t affect my goal.

3 Likes
5

Even though my income is more in line with the Save 20% in 2020, I’m double dipping as my goal for 2020 is to save $20,000 USD. This will be a combination of retirement investments and cash savings. My income is unstable, but is likely to be somewhere around $35,000-$40,000 for 2020.

Please don’t use me as example for which thread :wink: If I get frustrated with high income people I’ll hang out on the 20% thread :wink:

4 Likes
7

I’m in. I’ll check the numbers but we pay a chunk more each fortnight to our mortgage above the minimum P&I required and that should exceed the $20k figure.

2 Likes
8

I’m in, I’m going to leave it at $20k AUD and myself only, not husband. I’m foreseeing my income to drop at some point next year due to taking some time off so this will be a good stretch milestone to work towards for the year. We’ll see :woman_shrugging:

2 Likes
9

I’m in over here as well (also double dipping).
Will copy/link to my post over there when not on a phone which makes it impossible.

Edit: post in the other challenge: 20 in 2020 Challenge: Save 20% of your income in 2020

1 Like
10

Well Lily double dipped so I’m going to double dip too. But where the 20% will the debt payoff, the 20k will be savings in post tax investments and will begin once the debt payoff is complete. So my progress on this will be minimal until about mid-year.

2 Likes
11

What the heck, I’m in. :grimacing: That’s a big, scary number, but I’ll be stoked if I can hit that target.

3 Likes
12

I’m in for this!

1 Like
13

I’m in!

I don’t actually earn any money though so I guess my household is in.

I’ll need to check some numbers and decide which currency to go in for.

5 Likes
14

I’m here coz we earn lots. Household is gonna save $20k AUD in paying off our mortgage and Fuck You money. Retirement contributions don’t count unless we make bonus ones. All other money is going to our renovations. I would really love to end the year with a higher net worth and pay cash for all our renovations, but if we build upwards that is going to require a loan, so eh. We’ll see how it goes.

2 Likes
15

I’m in! Going for $20000 = £15552. This might be a bit of a stretch as my current income is £40000 (so there’s a possibility I might sneak over to the other thread if this is looking too impossible!), but I like a challenge.

1 Like
16

This is going to be difficult but I will try this one too, with 20000$ = 18160€.
Not sure what to count as savings though, need to think about it.

3 Likes
17

I’m in for both, but I’ll track over here.

looks around sheepishly

My Retirement savings get me to both on auto-pilot since my company does to magic with mandatory contributions to 401k which don’t count against max that I can put into tax deferred investments.

5% mandatory + 7% base salary match + 10% voluntary to 403b -> $38.5k / 22%

I’ll include a stretch goal of an additional 20% savings for myself into post tax investments or debt repay for the vehicle I bought to replace the one I just literally drove into the ground.

9 Likes
18

I’m in, but I will find a second stretch target, as we’re playing on easy mode right now with the mortgage paid off.

2 Likes
19

This is what I did for my goal for basically the same reason.

3 Likes
20

I’m in, but might be looking for an alternative stretch goal. Our gross income is around $135,000 and we’ve got auto deductions set up for maxing out our 401ks/ IRAs. Will need to play around with our numbers and see what would work for us.

4 Likes
21

Ok. I can do this. I can do this. It’s doable. It will just take some discipline.

ETA: where do I buy discipline

12 Likes