The 6 Skills Everyone Needs to Be Financially Successful

We know that skills like budgeting and smart spending play an important role in financial success. Without them, you can easily make critical mistakes that derail your finances. But budgeting will only take you so far. Here are six life skills you need to have to be financially successful.

The ability to prioritize

At any given time, you’ll have competing financial needs. While you may feel like they are all equally important – like saving money and paying off debt, for example – your income and expenses will keep you from doing everything at once. You must be able to decide what’s most important and what should wait. You need to be able to separate wants from needs. If you have debts to pay, you have to figure out which you need to pay off first.

Self-discipline

Self-discipline is the ability to pursue what’s right despite any temptation to do otherwise. You need a healthy amount of self-discipline to pay your bills and living expenses instead of blowing it on material things. Self-discipline is particularly important when you have credit cards and access to debt. You'll need the discipline to borrow only what you can afford to pay.

Good research skills

Making the right financial decisions depends on you having access to the right information. You need to know how to use the resources available to you – the internet or your network, for example – to learn as much as you can so you can make good choices.

Critical thinking

Not only do you need to have good research skills, you need the ability to think critically about the information you’ve gathered. You have to be able to evaluate the information, decide what’s correct, valuable and most relevant to your goals, and then use it to make the best choice.

The ability to set goals

You can’t achieve financial success without having goals that you’re constantly working toward. Emergency and retirement savings, debt payoff, and passive income are just a few goals that will help you reach financial success. Not only do you need to set goals, you also have to make sure your goals are specific, attainable, and realistic.

Effective time management

Time management affects your financial success in ways you may not immediately realize. You need to continuously make time for managing your money – for paying your bills, reviewing your accounts, tracking your spending, and monitoring your progress for goals. Mismanaging your time makes you too rushed to think through your choices. You could end up making mistakes that cost you big time and push you off the course of financial success.