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Albert Einstein has often referred to compounding as the 8th wonder of the world. Indeed, the power of compounding is astonishing. The only problem is that at the beginning you won't see much of a reward. Yet this is the key to winning in the stock market: over the long term, you will make a lot of money because time is on your side. This article is not about get-rich-quick schemes involving the stock market. It's about setting up your plan so that you position yourself to be sitting pretty a couple of decades from now. Let's get started.

1. Be specific what your goal is. Want to retire comfortably in your own small house, doing what you enjoy? Want to put your kids through college first and foremost? Want to buy a boat and sail around the world? Decide what your primary goal is and fit various investment opportunities according to how well they match it. Having a laid out plan diminishes the risk of you reacting to market fluctuations and making irrational decisions. They are usually costly.

2. Choose a strategy. There are literally thousands of investment tactics and strategies out there, and an equally high number of books detailing each one of them. Trying to follow several is counter-productive, not to mention confusing. Your best bet is to pick one that's the best fit for your financial goals and stick to it. Sure, there will probably be moments where you have to do a little tweak here and there but or the most part, the simpler your playbook, the more smoothly the game plays out.

3. Assess possible risks. Your ability to assess the risks your investment carries will be critical to your success. The key here is to look at them realistically, not with wishful thinking. Your management plan must be as effective and practical as possible in order to minimize your losses and in turn maximize your profits. This step is to be completed BEFORE evaluating profit potential, to avoid you getting so excited about your potential profits that you fail to properly evaluate the risk you'll be taking.

4. Think about profit potential. One of the hardest parts about investing is knowing when to cash out once you're riding a winner. You should have a set threshold where you sell off enough to at least recoup your initial investment, and then ride the profits as long as you can. Know when and how to get out.

5. Keep an eye out for comparable opportunities. Do a little more research. Check to see if there are other investments that have fewer risks, a better profit potential, or if there are is another strategy that will make your life easier (or hopefully a little richer at the end of the day).

6. Evaluate the hurdles. This falls right in line with having an initial strategy that you follow from the beginning. Every time you consider an investment, it will bring about its very own unique characteristics, and its risks. If you have already gone through the process of anticipating those risks, you stand a much better chance of minimizing the risk of losing money.

7. Draw up your plan B. Your plan B should dictate what you do when things don't go exactly as planned (in either direction). You shouldn't have to be deciding on the fly when it's time to get out of an investment, it should all be laid out and you should be responding to certain criteria, not to panic or elation. This helps you avoid losing on potential returns or better yet, helps you avoid losing more money than you've already sunken in a losing investment.

8. Make the right choice. Investing is time-consuming, so before you jump in, take one good look at your overall investment plan. Hopefully, by then, you've been able to put together all the pieces of the puzzle and can see if the whole thing holds up and is worth pursuing. In case it isn't, you can take solace in the fact that it's easier drawing up a new plan than recouping thousands of dollars worth of losses in the stock market.

9. Reach for the stars. After you've made the decision to put money into such and such investment, it's time to stop over-analyzing and start taking action. As it turns out, even if you picked the absolute worse investment, you won't have lost everything you own because you did your homework and set limits to your losses. Your game plan, as long as it is sound, will produce solid returns in the long run if you stick to it.

10. Debrief. At set intervals, go over your plan. If a couple of missteps here and there cost you a lot of money, try to identify them and make sure that you don't keep repeating them. Don't give up: we learn more from our failures than from our successes. Hang in there, make small changes; keep what works and discard what doesn't until you all your personal success ingredients come together and you carve out your very own formula for stock market riches.