Keep it secret. Keep it safe.
— Good Advice
If you follow the instructions on this page, you'll have better security than most Bitcoin holders. Your Bitcoin will be secure. And if anything goes wrong, you'll know how to recover it.
Five easy steps:
1. Get a hardware wallet. If you're buying one, get it direct from the manufacturer. Not sure which to choose? Trezor is my recommendation for a first hardware wallet. Trezors are easy to use and open source. ShieldSigner is my recommendation for those who are ready for something advanced. ShieldSigner is a fork of SeedSigner which adds advanced security features. It is free and open source. Never use a hardware wallet that isn't open source. Bitcoin is open source. Your hardware wallet should be, too.
2. Generate a random seed phrase. Your hardware wallet can do this for you, but the best way is to manually do it by rolling dice or using another method to get random seed words. The words are used as entropy, which means, they're your unique part of the math that generates your Bitcoin wallet. This is why you can restore your wallet on any device or app using the same seed words.
3. Write your seed phrase on paper. This is the backup of your wallet. Make a copy of your seed phrase using metal, in case the paper gets damaged. Never type the words on your computer or phone, no matter what. Never type your words in an app, no matter what. This keeps you safe from hackers.
4. Store the paper and metal backups of your seed phrase somewhere only you have access to. A thief can't use your seed phrase to rob you if the thief can't find it.
5. Before sending Bitcoin to a new wallet, save a copy of the wallet's first address on your computer or phone. Then, wipe out the wallet and restore it from scratch using the seed phrase you wrote down. If you got the same first address, you proved you know how to restore your wallet if anything goes wrong. Hooray!
P.S. Don't tell anyone you own Bitcoin. Keeping it secret helps keep it safe.
Hodl!