2024 is almost here and we’re continuing the HARD challenge of saving 24% of your income.
We are continuing the 23 in 2023 challenges but have slightly adjusted the goal post for a new year - by 1%!
It’s simple but not easy: save 24% of your income in 2024!
If saving 24% of your income is easy for you (or if your income is over 100K) - please use the alternative 24 in 2024 Challenge: Save $20,240 Both get the same sticker, but the threads will have people at similar income/challenge levels.*
Basic rules:
The goal is to save 24% of your pre-tax income in 2024. If you make $40,000 per year, that’s $9,600 or $800 per month.
DEBT REPAYMENT COUNTS
You can combine any type of savings: emergency fund, 401K, Super, IRA, ISA, taxable
investments, buffer, house down payment fund, student loan payments - to reach your goal.
You can choose household or individual salary, whichever you prefer.
What Counts
Debt repayment counts towards your savings rate!
Mortgage principal (but not interest or escrow) counts.
Only savings that occurs between 1/1/2024 and 12/31/2024 count.
You can use tax refund or any other windfall money towards your savings percentage, but you then must count that windfall towards your overall income.
You can count your income and savings jointly with a partner or separately - up to you!
Student loan forgiveness counts (either PSLF or workplace), but only if you also count it in your gross income.
What do you get:
Support on this thread as you go along - post monthly or quarterly check-ins as appropriate
A forum badge after you complete your 24% goal for the year
A sticker mailed to you for free anywhere in the world!
A shoutout on the livestream for reaching your goal
Woah-- I thought I posted for February and am now realizing I definitely did not. Quick update for my February progress, and then I’ll hop back on here for March!
In February I saved $1,664.62.
$4,884.79 / $12,720. 38% of the way to my goal. If I keep this level of progress up, I can see myself heading over to the other challenge!
Numbers through March. This includes my tax refund, so savings will be smaller now. As always I am hoping to move to the other challenge but as always it depends on sales and commission checks. It is too early in the year to have a good grasp on that.
Ok I just saw this challenge. I will save as much as I can and hopefully reach the 24% My salary is about 52000$ and there is 6% of my gross pay that goes towards retirement. I am currently saving a “jobloss fund” using around 9% of my gross pay and when that will be saved, I will invest that 9%, so that I invest 15% for my retirement. I plan to save also for a downpayment and take advantage of the FHSA tax advantages.
Edit to add: I am also building an emergency fund.
I seem to be averaging a post every 2 months… here’s my numbers for March and April.
In March, I saved $1700.24
In April, I saved $1300.96
I decided instead of counting my tax return towards my savings, I’d use it to refill some of my sinking funds instead, and prepare for some upcoming travel/vacation.
Overall, I’m at $7,885.99 / $12,720. That’s 62% of the way to my goal!
Even though I started the Challenge only at the end of April, I still wanted to make a little report for Jan- April so that I know where I stand.
I need to save: 12480$
Total money saved from January to April : 1028.04 $ (the total amount that is taken directly in my gross pay that goes towards my retirement plan). This is 8% saved in total
It seems low, but I wasn’t buffered until May, and I had some important bills that I had to pay in that period, but this month is the first month that I start to save more - plus it’s a 3 paycheck month!
Oh, I meant to sign up for this!! In non-spendy years, I’m usually closer to a 50% savings rate, but this year I’m spending a big chunk of home repair/improvement. My I’ve gamed it out on my savings rate spreadsheet, and if I stick to my plan, I’ll hit a 25-30% savings rate!! But that does mean not splurging on some other stuff that’s incoming.
I think I’m dropping of this challenge and will do a modified version of the 24$/week. In September I had a 17,75% savings rate (had a big Bill that I had to pay) and that put me further. Also my salary went up, so 24% isn’t 12480$ anymore, it’s a higher amount. Even if this month is a 3 paycheck month, and I will have a very good savings rate, I still won’t be on track. I MAY succeed in this challenge, but I will know only at the end of December. Since I know me and I tend to have an all or nothing mentality, I prefer to drop out of this challenge to keep my momentum and my motivation to save. I will still calculate the % at the end of every month so I will have my savings rate for the year when the challenge will end.
So… it’s been a while. But that’s okay! I’ve still been keeping track, just not posting. So here’s a quick summary of May through October.
May - saved $1,468.56
June - saved $146.74
July - saved $2,455.97
August - saved $1,464.20
September - saved $1,634.04
October - saved $1,060.87
This puts me overall at $14,567.37 / $12,720, past my original goal!!!
I’m in a kind of weird spot though-- I’ve started a new job but don’t necessarily want to recalculate my goal for the last two months of the year. And I know it’s not feasible to jump to the next level of the challenge at this point with what I expect to make / save. So I guess I’ll celebrate my successes now and save as much as I can in the next 2 months? I’ll check in during December as well to see how much more progress I’ve made.
If saving 24% of your income is easy for you (or if your income is over 100K) - please use the alternative 24 in 2024 Challenge: Save $20,240
My salary is about 52000$ and there is 6% of my gross pay that goes towards retirement. I am currently saving a “jobloss fund” using around 9% of my gross pay and when that will be saved, I will invest that 9%, so that I invest 15% for my retirement. I plan to save also for a downpayment and take advantage of the FHSA tax advantages.
So here’s the updated report… it didn’t change much.
