Motivation Tips Based on Your Tendency
Why do you want to save money? What helps you stay motivated to stick to your savings goals?
One tool for finding your why and staying motivated is Gretchen Rubin’s The Four Tendencies. This book examines how people react to expectations and categorizes them into four groups. Upholders are able to easily meet both internal and external expectations. Obligers can meet outer expectations, but struggle with internal expectations. Questioners meet internal expectations but need to be convinced to follow external expectations. And rebels have trouble with both internal and external expectations. Rubin’s framework helps explain how different personalities face different struggles and require solutions to achieving goals. You can find out which category you belong to here: https://gretchenrubin.com/quiz/the-four-tendencies-quiz/
Upholders - Just Do It
If an upholder is not already in the habits of savings and investing, first, I'd be surprised! Second, here is your action plan. Save at least 3 months of expenses and invest at least 10% of your income in retirement accounts.
Questioners - Compound Interest
(Full disclosure, questioner is MY tendency, so I have a bit of special insight into this one.) Questioners are not going to do something just because someone told them to. They need to know why it works, what are the other options, then how can they make it their own and optimize the process. My advice to questioners who are having trouble staying motivated with their saving and investing goals is play with an investment calculator like this one: https://www.ramseysolutions.com/retirement/investment-calculator?srsltid=AfmBOop4nLuDvwgDhrslClRt745v2ghXsGYXb66cmI89jzG0P9Qkf5eL.
Hopefully it will help you see the power of compound interest and how investing today is more valuable than investing in the future.
Obligers - Accountability to Others
The most powerful why for an obliger is likely related to their responsibility or desires for other people. Obligers tend to be generous with others, possibly to their own detriment. I would encourage obligers to imagine how tough it would be to feel like a burden to others. Bad things happen. Jobs are lost. Health problems come up. And the vast majority of us are going to want to retire at some point. Having an emergency fund and retirement investments will be a wonderful gift to your loved ones, because it gives them the gift of not having to worry about you. And if there is an able adult in your life who is depending on you for money, the hard truth is you are not helping them. Teaching them how to earn and manage money on their own is way more valuable than handing them a check.
Rebels - F.U. Money
Nothing hurts a rebel more than being stuck and not having choices. The solution to this is F.U. Money. Popularized by JL Collins, author of the Simple Path to Wealth, F.U. Money is the savings cushion that gives you the option to leave situations that aren’t working for you. If you encounter a difficult boss, toxic partner, or unreasonable landlord, F.U. Money gives you the power to say, 'I'm out,' and walk away on your own terms.