Getting started with investing needn't be as daunting as you might think. We're here to help make the whole business rewarding and straightforward, from cautious start to confident finish.

You'll appreciate that investing has its risks, the value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back what you originally invested, so the more you know the better you're able to balance the risks with the potential returns.  So follow our five step plan to get you started.

1. Be informed with our Learn section.

Start out by using our Learn section to help guide your development from novice to seasoned investor. As well as our free guidebooks: 'about investing', 'about the stock market' and 'about trading', you'll find handy calculators to help work out how much you want to put aside, and much more.

2. Be confident with our investor profiles.

Whether you're just thinking about making your first investment, or want a better idea of which types of investments might suit you next, our investor profiles will help. Use them to help you match different types of investments to your appetite for risk, your level of knowledge and experience - and the time you want to spend looking after them.

3. Get the right investments with our research tools.

Once you know which types you're after, use our free research tools to help you find the individual investments that could suit your aims and criteria. Whether funds, shares, ETFs or a mix of all three, our FundPicker, SharePicker and ETFPicker tools will help you track them down.

4. Practice, risk-free.

Get a feel for investing, risk-free, with our Practice Account. Use it to try out your ideas, build your confidence and learn the ropes with £15,000 of fantasy money and an account that looks and works much like the real thing.

Then, once you're ready to invest for real, choose the type of account you want (you'll find all the options in our services for investors), open it online, and by paying in money via your debit card you can be trading in minutes.

5. Keep an eye on your investments with our monitoring tools

Every investment portfolio needs a bit of tlc to get the most from it. From your account you can track performance, get advice and support from our in-house experts, keep in touch with the market and much more - and it's all at your fingertips. Plus if there's anything you're not sure about or just want an opinion on, you can chat to our advisers too. Their advice is free: all you need do is complete a registration form that provides us with a more rounded picture of your circumstances so we can ensure our advice is relevant and appropriate.

Where we've a published view on shares you hold, we'll show this with a buy, sell or hold symbol next to the share name in your account.  Click on a company name to review the latest summary page for that company. And use the Advice tab in your account to get an at-a-glance analysis of your holdings by market sector, and to read our latest view on those sectors too.

We'll also help keep you up to date with market commentary, comment and business news online, and by sending you our regular customer magazine, The Shareholder, packed with topical comment, tips and more.