As important as it is to earn money, it is also important to ensure your money works for you. Money should be available and be able to meet your needs. To ensure such a thing, it is necessary to manage money efficiently, save and invest. Investing your money, rather than keeping it idle generates substantial returns and help meet your various goals. Prudent investing is the way to reap benefits for the future days ahead. Here are some practical tips to help you invest right.
1. What are your life goals: It is important to clearly define what you want to achieve or fulfill in life. Being aware of your goals gives you an idea of what exactly you would have to invest for. Clearly differentiate between short term and long term goals. This would help you decide where to invest and for how long the investment should be. 
2. Having a plan : Once your goals our well defined having a tangible financial step is the next important. A financial plan is like a road map that helps you decide your investment and financial activities and there is a smooth flow towards achieving your goals.  A financial plan should typically make provisions towards wealth creation, tax saving, life & health insurance and retirement planning. You may seek the help of a Certified Financial Planner to guide through the entire process.
3. Start investing early: he earlier you start investing in your career, the greater are the benefits. Time gives you the ability take risks, thus giving you an additional opportunity to generate higher returns. Also, money compounds over time. Continuous reinvestment of money earns returns on your returns making your investment grow exponentially.
4.Your risk appetite: Understand what your risk taking ability is before making any investment. Where some of us may be in a better position to take risks, few of us may be totally averse to risk. Your risk profile is based on certain factors such as family conditions, commitments, age and available liquidity. For example a young unmarried individual may be in a better position to accept risk in comparison to a mid career professional at the brink of fulfilling family commitments. You need to figure out what your own risk profile is and how much risk is comfortable to you.
5. Know your options : The market is flooded with numerous investment options. From the low risk bank deposits to the highly volatile stocks, the options are many. Be aware and update your knowledge with regards to what the market has in store. Choices to suit different risk profiles, liquidity and across different assets are available. Educate yourself about the various options to be able to invest appropriately, to suit your individual needs.
6. Diversify : Diversify your investments across different asset classes. By spreading your investments spanning debt, equity, gold, real estate and fixed income, the overall risk in your portfolio is greatly reduced. If at any point, an asset class isn’t really working for you, another could be at its peak generating returns. So you would still be able to generate some returns from your portfolio.  To get the most out of your portfolio, try investing in asset classes whose results are not correlated.  
7. By systematic and regular: Invest systematically and regularly. Having such a disciplined approach gives you advantages across market cycles. From beating market volatility to averaging cost price, being systematic in your investment lets you effectively build wealth for the long term. Opt for systematic investment plans as they are excellent tools to mitigate risk, and create wealth for the long term. 
8. Protect yourself: Have adequate insurance. Where health insurance is vital to take care of unexpected medical expenses for yourself and your family, life insurance policies protect your family against your untimely death. A life insurance policy ensures your life’s goals are met and your family is able to sustain the same standard of living even if you are not around. It is thus important to incorporate insurance in to your investment plan to ensure future financial safety.
9. Review periodically: Markets see a lit of volatilty and changes. These changes reflect on investment instruments. As we move from one life stage to another, our priorities change and so do our financial situations and commitments. Be open to such changes and periodically review your investments so that they are in tune with your current needs and goals.