The most financially successful people achieve wealth in different ways. Warren Buffet is excellent at long-term investing, while Jeff Bezos became a billionaire by building a business. Despite the differences in their Financial paths, these people share common characteristics and skills that have allowed them to achieve abundant wealth. Find out seven critical skills that create a pattern of financially empowered individuals.

1. Self-Awareness

All financially successful people have a high level of self-awareness, empowering them to recognize where they fall short in managing their cash flow. They know their spending weaknesses and understand under what circumstances they’re likely to hit the checkout button impulsively.

Since they know themselves well, they can avoid situations that feed their negative spending habits. Self-monitoring and employing strategies like turning off one-click ordering online and delaying a purchase decision for days help them avoid making financial decisions they’ll regret. 

2. Self-Discipline

Self-discipline is a fundamental skill to succeed in all life domains, including finance. It’s an underrated ability, but no one has achieved financial freedom without delaying instant gratification for long-term benefits. It requires iron-like self-discipline and a good relationship with Money.

When you have money, you instinctively think about where to spend it or when you’re stressed, you splurge. Recognizing your money habits, which goes back to self-awareness, and having the discipline to change them is the key to improving your financial state and relationship with money. 

3. Money Management

The third skill you need is money management, an area where many people stumble. You must know where and how much to allocate for necessities, financial obligations, long-term investments and insurance. To achieve financial freedom, creating a budget, setting financial goals and paying down your debts are all money management concepts and strategies you must understand. 

4. Managerial Accounting

Financially literate people know basic managerial accounting that supports their money decisions. You must track, update, monitor and report your cash activities at the end of the week, month or year. With this, you have the data and a baseline to use when making a substantial financial decision. 

Business owners have an accountant to do this task. If they decide to hire more employees, they first look at the financial reports and see if their capital can sustain the future expense. It’s the same for personal finance. If you plan to purchase a car or get a mortgage, examine your records to determine if it’s financially sound and sustainable. 

5. Investing Skills

They also let their money work for them by investing it in various financial vehicles or using it as capital to build their own businesses. They understand besides the bank, they can transfer their cash to other places for it to grow and gain profits.

Part of their daily routine is learning about mutual funds, bonds, insurance and other investment opportunities for earning passive income. They take the time to learn communication skills, develop capabilities and get feedback from others to hone their investing skills. They also read business newspapers and update themselves on the happenings in the financial world. 

6. Organization

There’s a reason financially stable people have excellent credit scores — they don’t miss payments. Organization skill is the ability to streamline your finances, from bills to taxes, mortgage and investments and ensure they’re taken care of before their due dates. 

Late payment fees on credit cards can range from $29-$40, depending on the bank. If you have three accounts and missed the deadline for all, you could be paying over a hundred dollars penalty in a month, which you could have avoided.  

Thankfully, several online tools allow you to set up auto-debit on your bills and investments. For every transaction, you get a notification so you can manually track your account activities. 

7. Critical Thinking

It’s a huge advantage that people nowadays have access to several money products that can change their financial situation. But on the other side of the coin — fraud is also flourishing. People are scammed to invest in stocks or businesses that promise suspicious high returns with no risk. Vulnerable investors find themselves in devastating financial states, losing their hard-earned money on top of piling debts.

Critical thinking is a crucial skill to avoid making bad money decisions. Financially successful people take the time to research and rethink an investment opportunity brought to them before agreeing to put up any amount of money. 

Financial Skills Empower You to Achieve Financial Success

Improving your financial circumstances begins with equipping yourself with the knowledge and skills to build wealth. Self-discipline and awareness are crucial as it sets your mindset and behaviors to let go of instant gratification for long-term rewards. 

You must also develop money management, organization and accounting skills to stay on top of your bills and investments. Finally, be critical about investment schemes by honing your investing skills. 

This article 7 Essential Skills for Financially Empowered Individuals originally appeared on Rick Orford - Helping You Invest In Yourself.