For more information and a complete list of our advertising partners, please check out our full Advertising Disclosure . TheCollegeInvestor.com strives to keep its information accurate and up to date. The information in our reviews could be different from what you find when visiting a financial institution, service provider or a specific product's website. All products and services are presented without warranty.

But we do have to make money to pay our team and keep this website running! Our partners compensate us. TheCollegeInvestor.com has an advertising relationship with some or all of the offers included on this page, which may impact how, where, and in what order products and services may appear. The College Investor does not include all companies or offers available in the marketplace. And our partners can never pay us to guarantee favorable reviews (or even pay for a review of their product to begin with).

There are thousands of financial products and services out there, and we believe in helping you understand which is best for you, how it works, and will it actually help you achieve your financial goals. We're proud of our content and guidance, and the information we provide is objective, independent, and free.

At The College Investor, we want to help you navigate your finances. To do this, many or all of the products featured here may be from our partners. This doesn’t influence our evaluations or reviews. Our opinions are our own.

Do you ever wonder what separates those who are financially intelligent from those who are financially negligent?

After studying personal finance for the last eight years it seems that those who have their finances under control possess a set of core traits that escalates them into financial superstardom.

Want to pick up some of those characteristics yourself? Here are seven traits of money smart people.

The Ability to Delay Gratification

I went back and forth as to whether name this one sacrifice or delayed gratification. I ultimately decided that delayed gratification was hands down the clear winner.

Money smart people don’t make sacrifices for the sake of making sacrifices. The better way to look at is “pay-offs.” For instance, not eating out for a year, even though you love the Mexican restaurant down the street, so that you can save that extra cash for a down payment isn’t really a sacrifice when you know you’ll be getting something so much better.

Those trade-offs like living on a budget, driving at ten year old car, and not shopping for clothes are all for the greater good of what you’ll eventually be getting.

In a world of instant gratification being able to delay that gratification is one of the best traits you can have.

Patience

This goes hand in hand with delayed gratification. Money smart people are patient enough to see their goals through.

They believe anything worth having is worth working for.

Confidence

Financially intelligent people, for the most part, don’t care what other people think.

While their peers might be taking out debt to buy fancy homes, top of the line cars, and tuition for Ivy League preschool they can handle the fact that they don’t fit in. They have enough confidence to know that what they’re doing is the right thing for them.

It’s important to note that while they have high self-esteem they are not in the least bit arrogant.

Open Thinking

Money Smart people do not claim to know everything. They understand that they aren’t always the smartest people in the room and are eager to learn from those who have done better than themselves.

Modesty

While managing your money well is definitely a great trait to have you wouldn’t be able to look at most of these type of people and know that they are, to some degree, wealthy.

Money smart people normally keep a modest lifestyle.

Future Oriented Thinking

Money smart people think about the future and plan accordingly.

Their financial plans go far beyond how they’re going to spend this week’s paycheck. They know they need to aggressively save and invest for the future while still enjoying today.

Responsibility

All of these traits without responsibility wouldn’t mean much of anything. Those who do well with their finances are responsible – plain and simple.

They know that it makes much more sense to be the odd one out and not have to stress about money than to fit in and worry about paying back ridiculous amounts of debt.

What else would you add to the list?