Getting into investing can be highly daunting, as it requires you to outlay significant sums of money with no guarantee of return - however, with the right planning and research in place, you can improve your odds of your investments succeeding and your wealth growing over time.

Investments aren’t for everyone – we often hold excessive debt, our income may not be sufficient to support them, and your insurance may not be at a level you’re necessarily happy with. In these scenarios, you need to weigh up where your priorities lie, then choose whether you wish to invest, or to funnel the funds into another aspect of your life. It may also be important to talk with an industry professional at this point, as any decisions made may have long-term effects.

Investing is rarely something that one can go into blindly and achieve success – there is a lot of strategy, planning and complexities to the market – even learning the basics will help you to get a far more informed viewpoint when working on your plan.

With near limitless information held in books, articles and even this very site, expanding your knowledge-base is a move that will stay with you through the entire process and help influence you to make the right calls.

Creating a well thought-out plan is vital to ensure that you aren’t headed for financial strife. When creating your plan, it’s important to consider how much you aim to earn over what period of time, how much risk you are comfortable with, Following this, you will need to choose the style of investment that fits your criteria. At this point, it’s important to set your aims realistically – do your research and look at how other reliable case studies have performed in similar positions. Consider also whether borrowing to invest is the right option for you – while it does allow you greater options on the table, it also leaves you with debt to manage, and therefore interest that can detract from your returns.

While not a guarantee, diversifying is typically well-regarded practice to avoid relying on only one type of investment. Although returns may be lower than a single successful investment, diversified investments offer a greater chance of long-term stability and security in your investments, as well as a typically steady return.

The most important part of investing is to make sure you keep an eye on what you own – without ongoing management, your investments may fall dramatically, losing you large sums of money by remaining in the investment. However, it’s also important to stay calm and coolheaded about this – if you know that a drop in value is temporary, it’s typically not advised to sell at a loss, rather wait it out until the investment rights itself. Remember that if you are frequently changing investments, returns will typically remain low. As the market is constantly changing, there are no set-in-stone rules however, so it may be advised to seek help from a professional if you don’t feel confident in your investing decisions.