Step-by-step guide to investing has the potential to be one of the best ways to grow your wealth over time. However, investing can feel intimidating for those new to it. There are a lot of options, terms and concepts to learn, and, because it involves risking your hard-earned money, it can also be stressful.

The key to successful investing is understanding your financial situation and goals, then balancing those with the risks and returns of different investments. For example, if you’re investing for retirement, you want to ensure your savings are growing enough to outpace inflation over the long term and give you the income you need in later life. That means you need to save regularly and take steps to invest your savings in mainstream investments like stocks, bonds and mutual funds.

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You also need to be aware that markets can go up and down, so a sensible approach is to stick with low-cost, diversified investment vehicles to help smooth out the bumps on the road to your goals. Finally, you need to make sure your emergency fund and debts are under control so you can ride out any market dips without putting yourself in a vulnerable position.

Taking these steps — and sticking to them, even when markets are volatile — is the key to successfully building your wealth over the long term. To help you along your journey, we’ve put together a Step-by-Step guide to investing that takes your unique financial situation into account and includes supporting resources.