7 ways to make investing part of your financial plan, from personal finance professionals who know

Successful investing doesn't happen in a vacuum. Other aspects of your financial plan — including how much you save and how much debt you have — work in concert with your investment strategy.

"I think the No. 1 thing is sometimes when people hear that term 'plan,' it can be a really scary thing for them even to hear that," Kelly Lannan, the vice president of young investors at Fidelity Investments, says.

"We plan for emergencies, we plan our weddings. We plan different things, and that's the same thing when it comes to your money, because at the end of the day our money touches everything."

A plan has multiple steps — and there are four you should take when getting started as an investor, Lannan says.

1. Fund your emergency savings.
2. Contribute to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, no matter how young you are.
3. Pay off any high-interest debt.
4. Consider whether your extra income is better spent increasing your retirement contribution or putting more money toward any low-interest debt.

One of the most popular ways to start investing is through a workplace retirement plan, and the main reason is convenience.

"Millennials realize that they're ready to at least think about investing and perhaps start doing it when somebody forces them to think about it," Scott Pedvis, a financial adviser at Wells Fargo, says.

Usually, this happens at your first job when you're offered a 401(k), 403(b), or another type of retirement plan for the first time.

Young people get hung up on how much they're investing, thinking the amount is too small to make a difference. But that couldn't be further from the truth — especially for those who have access to a 401(k) match.

"You don't want to be silly about how you invest and incur costs that are perhaps not necessary, but I don't think there's any amount that's too small," Pedvis says.

"I'd rather you do something than nothing, especially with a 401(k) when your employer will match whatever you put in. That's basically a 100% guaranteed return. You don't get a lot of free lunches, as we say in finance. That might be one of the few, and you're giving up on an incredible opportunity if you don't put any money away at all."

Millennials who aren't investing aren't screwing up their financial life, but they might be making the future a little harder for themselves, Eric Roberge, a certified financial planner and the founder of Beyond Your Hammock, says.

"Nobody is going to force you to invest, and you don't absolutely need to invest," Roberge says.

"However, if you're not investing — and therefore not getting to participate in long-term compounding gains — you're going to have to make that up through your savings. And that means the more you save, the less you can spend today.

"So if you're not investing, then you are forcing yourself to save more and therefore live a little bit less now. If that doesn't sound great to you, then it's time to start investing, right?"

Robo-advisers — the nickname for a type of investing app — are popular for passive investing. Instead of picking individual stocks or funds, an algorithm will choose them for you based on your risk tolerance and goals.

"A lot of the robo-advice solutions actually give you a diversified portfolio," Cynthia Loh, vice president of Digital Advice at Charles Schwab, says.

And they're often low cost and offer automatic rebalancing, so you don't have to worry about getting back to the right mix of stocks and bonds when the market changes, Loh says.

Pedvis adds: "I'm all for them. I think for a segment of the population and the investing population, they're fantastic,"

But a robo-adviser can't do all the work.

"It's a great tool and a great way for people to start and to get exposure to the market," Pedvis says. "But you need to combine robo-advising with some small — it doesn't have to be a lot — amount of homework on your part, just so there are no unhappy surprises."

Whether you use an automated investing platform or not, there's value in meeting with a human financial adviser to guide you beyond the numbers.

One of the best ways to organize your investment strategy is to work with a professional, Kristi Rodriguez, vice president of Thought Leadership at Nationwide Financial, says. Not only can they help you prioritize short- and long-term goals, but they'll help you make sense of changes in the market and let you know when it's time to react — or to do nothing.

Joseph Edmondson, a certified financial planner at Equitable Advisors, says his own experience as a young investor was misinformed. He initially thought you needed to have a lot of money.

"Now there are so many options for individuals to talk to someone just to help them to provide clarity around the decisions that they're going to make around their investments and what might hurt them and what might benefit them," Edmondson says.

You should know exactly what's driving you to invest so that you can fill in key details of your plan, Rodriguez says.

"When I think about millennials, the first question we want to make sure we ask and they're asking themselves is, what am I saving this money for? Because there will be longer-term investments, and that's something they have to think about, whether it's a 401(k) or an IRA. They need to think about the risks, duration, and fees," Rodriguez says.

Goals are the backbone of your investment strategy, financial coach Katie Oelker says. Without a clear goal for your money, it's too easy to abandon your plan when things get rough.

"Keeping your investments in for the long term, versus selling out when things look scary, is a better approach," Oelker adds. "In terms of safeguarding, it goes back to having a why and revisiting why you're investing in the first place."

The stock market really is like a rollercoaster — twists and turns are a given. It's the price you pay to accumulate wealth.

"Particularly now, market volatility can be nerve-racking, and we understand that and that's OK. People have the right to be a little bit nervous, but the important thing is not to panic," Lannan says.

"Uncertainty is always a constant and downturns are going to happen, but it's important to know that with market setbacks, that's typically been followed by recoveries, and we never want anyone to try to time the market."

Even if you feel confident in where the market is going, there's a chance you'll be wrong — a lot. Instead, develop an investment strategy that matches your goals, and put your confidence in that.

"It's very important to stick to your game plan, to understand what you're going to be using the money for, and really know that there are going to be points where the market is not doing so great," Edmondson says.

"But if you have a long-term game plan that you want to stay in with a risk associated with your investment portfolio, it's best to stay the course," he says. "And if you can't stomach the risk the portfolio you're in might be subject to, then reevaluate and determine whether it makes sense to scale that risk down."

• Read more from Master Your Money:
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• How to make a plan for your goals, no matter how big or small
• How the American millennial is overcoming debt, the dollar, and the economy they were handed
• How to pay back your student-loan debt, no matter where you start or what type of loans you have