How it works
One number makes it fair: your Stack Rate.
Stack Rate is the share of your take-home money that you saved during a Challenge. Not the dollars. The share. That's why anyone in the group can win, and why you can keep your amounts to yourself.
The formula
Points
from what you logged
÷
Pool
your take-home
= Stack Rate
- Your take-home pool
- Every paycheck in your household, minus your expenses and your debt minimums. It's the money you could have saved.
- Points
- Every dollar you log earns points. The weights favor the pots that matter most: holes and retirement.
- The rank
- Everyone in the Challenge is ranked by Stack Rate, so Ryan and Joey are on the same trail, whatever they earn.
Worked example
Say your take-home pool for the month is $4,000. You log $400 extra on a credit card (600 points), $300 into your 401(k) (450 points) and $200 into savings (250 points). That's 1,300 points ÷ 4,000 = a 32.5% Stack Rate.
Reading the board
- 1Ryan logged less money than half the group, but the biggest share of his take-home. That's why he's on top.
- 3The podium is the top three. Win a Challenge and it goes on your competition record.
- 12Joey saved plenty of dollars, but a small share of a big paycheck. Next month is a new climb.
Awards along the way are just for fun: they have no cash value.
A week in a Challenge called The Stack Pack
- 1Ryan W.42%
- 2Matthew N.38%
- 3Jon B.35%
- 4Heber V.33%
- 5Paris P.31%
- 6Alec T.29%
- 7Chris A.27%
- 8Hayden F.26%
- 9Jose V.24%
- 10Rob B.22%
- 11Marsails S.19%
- 12Joey O.17%
Demo data. Amounts never appear here unless a member chooses to share them.
Holes first
You can't stack on top of a hole.
While you have debt, your extra savings go to a $1,000 starter emergency fund first. Then to your holes, smallest balance first, so you feel a hole close early and keep going.
- Sacks (goals) open up once your holes are filled.
- Retirement contributions are always open, so you never miss an employer match.
- You make the payment with your lender, then come back and log it. StackUpp never moves money.
0% filled
Points
Every dollar earns points. Some earn more.
The weights nudge you toward the order that works: fill holes, protect retirement, then build flexible savings and goals.
1.5 pts/$
Holes
Extra payments on debt
1.5 pts/$
Vault
Retirement savings, including employer match
1.25 pts/$
Stacks
Savings and brokerage accounts
1 pts/$
Sacks
Short-term savings for something specific
Do the work
You enter your own numbers. That's the point.
Pen and paper worked because you wrote every dollar down. StackUpp is that notebook in your pocket: your paychecks, your expenses, your debt minimums, the payments you log. It takes seconds, and every entry is a small act of paying attention and a step up the trail. Nothing syncs from a bank, because nothing needs to.