10 tips for successful investing

It's the time of the year where advertising shifts to the "use it or lose it" campaigns on ISAs and SIPPs, and investors are bombarded with different fund management group ads in train stations, telling everyone how wonderful their experts are.

It can be easy to ignore it all as part of the self serving finance industry but the reality is that investing is truly beneficial for your financial health and wealth.

So if you're finally going to start to invest, the following list will serve as a good starting point.

1. Work out how much you can afford to invest.

Even £100 a month over 20 years would be worth more than £41,000 if you achieved a net annual return of 5%; and the benefits of compound interest really do stack up if your investment horizon is even longer.

Over 30 years, your investment would be worth more than £83,500 and over 40 years its value would be more than £152,000.

2 Stretch yourself!

You won't regret putting in that little bit more - so if you think £100 is easily achievable, then think about whether £150 would make more sense. As the numbers above show, it really could be worth it. And don't forget to increase the amount you invest every year if possible, which is another great way to reach your investment goals.

3 Think tax-efficiently

No one wants to pay more than they have to - and with an ISA, there is no further income tax to pay and you don't have to worry about capital gains tax, either.

Pensions are an alternative and are even more tax efficient but if you're looking for easy access and a good place to start, then a stocks and shares ISA is perfect.

4 Don't put it off

We all have increasing time and money pressures but it really is in your interests to start investing as soon as you can. You might never be passionate about investing but thinking about all the practical (and sometimes not so practical) things you can do with the money you've saved should certainly help.

5 Invest regularly

People fall into the trap of worrying about whether they will lose money - and investing does, of course, come with risk.

However, if you are drip-feeding your money into the market then you benefit from the concept of pound-cost averaging. This is when you buy less shares if the market is high and more shares if the market is low, averaging out the overall cost of your investment and reducing your overall risk at the same time.

6 Diversify

Most investors are almost certainly better off investing in funds rather than individual shares. The returns may not be as great but neither is the risk and you're also getting the benefit of a fund manager doing the heavy lifting for you by managing the fund on your behalf. Of course, you still have to choose the right fund.

7 Decide on the right sector or country

This can be daunting but the first place to start is by working out whether you want to invest in UK stocks or further afield. Once you've decided on the country, then you have further choices to make as to whether smaller companies or large companies are of interest or even if it is bonds, commodities or property you prefer.

8 Choose the right fund

Once you've decided on the right sector, you need to look for funds that perform consistently, rather than funds that happen to have topped the table over a short period of time. Performance over at least three years is a good place to start and if that performance is consistently good then that demonstrates a fund manager who is actively managing the fund but isn't taking undue risk.

9 Don't make rash decisions to sell if the going gets tough

Most down days in the markets are followed by a rebound and it can be easy to overreact if your investment isn't going as well as hoped.

10 Reinvest your income

If you don't need it, don't take it. The beauty of reinvesting dividends and income you make is that the compound effect of this reinvestment will genuinely make a huge difference to your long-term wealth. So until you need to take an income, choose to reinvest what you earn.

I've yet to meet anyone who gets to retirement and wishes they had saved less. Start now and the chances are you won't regret it.