Calling all Bitcoin and Tesla groupies! This one is for you!
A Rebel was the child who said, “You’re not the boss of me,” to his parents and the adult who says, “You’re not the boss of me,” to, well, his boss. Think of Elon musk thumbing his nose in Congressional hearings, but letting his imagination create such mind-blowing transportation.
Another quote attributable to Rebels is “I’m happy to do this if I don’t have to.” Rebels resist inner and outer expectations. Reminding, cajoling, asking nicely, asking meanly, none of that works for a Rebel.
Rebels enjoy meeting challenges, but only those they set for themselves. As a financial advisor, advising a Rebel to save for her children’s college because they are counting on her would be counterproductive. However, but saying, “I bet you can’t save $6,000/year in a Roth IRA plus $50/month in a 529 account,” would be just the thing to get a Rebel moving.
As a professional, that seems pretty manipulative, and I probably wouldn’t do it unless I really knew the client well and had built a level of trust.
Rebels and Upholders make up the smallest portion of the population. That’s probably a good thing because there is only so much of those tendencies the world can handle.
If I am working with a Rebel client, I need to make room for his need to day trade, buy risky investments, and generally ignore my vanilla-ice-cream, slow and steady advice. I might suggest he carve out 10% of his investments to get his thrills with and leave the rest in a more diversified portfolio.
My goal should be to get a Rebel to make changes right there in the appointment. Let’s log in together and increase that 401(k) contribution! There, doesn’t that feel great?!? Now, go reward yourself with a shot of Jägermeister!
I hope this series on the Four Tendencies has been interesting and insightful. For more resources or to buy the book, check out: https://gretchenrubin.com/the-four-tendencies
