Get Out of Debt – Master Your Finances – Start Investing

Hi! I’m Robert Farrington, and I’m a MBA graduate who has always had a passion for investing and personal finance.

I’m not uber rich, I don’t run a hedge fund, and I’m not a millionaire (yet!).  What I do have is a beautiful wife, a loving family, great friends, and a passion for helping others with their personal finance.  I’ve been writing about personal finance and investing at The College Investor since 2009, and I thoroughly enjoy it!  My goal is to provide solid financial advice so that young adults can stay out of debt so that they can have money to save and invest.

My Story

Since I can remember, I have had a passion for investing and all things related to personal finance. Honestly, when I was about 13, I wanted to do my own taxes. Yes, taxes. But what I really liked about it was that I had even made income to pay taxes on. I thought that was so cool. Throughout my teens, I focused my attention on ways to make money. I sold stuff on eBay, and took my earnings and saved and invested. I made more money than I lost, and I was hooked.

Once got to college, I soon realized that most people were oblivious to investing and personal finance.  However, there was a small group that really found it interesting, but they we’re quite my style.  This group was investing and doing some crazy stuff (penny stocks, etc.) and it didn’t really suite me. So, I went my own direction with a mix of common sense personal finance and investing ideas.

It turns out, when I went to graduate school, this is what most of my peers were looking for. Even though this was a class of MBA students, many people were unaware of the basics of personal finance and investing.  I ended up helping many of my peers, and have since been helping people here.

The College Investor Blog

I started this blog to showcase my common sense thoughts and ideas with younger adults.  At work and school, I heard some pretty scary advice, and I hope that I don’t become anything like that.  With this site, I want to be as transparent as possible and highlight both the good and the bad.  I also want to make sure that I’m helping and not hurting.

That is where student loan debt came in. I have showcased my battle with my student loan servicer, and it has provided my readers with a lot of insight into the student loan market.  It also led me to write my first eBook, Student Loan Debt: Getting in Smart, Getting out Painlessly.  I’m giving it away for free, all you have to do is sign up.

I don’t consider myself some sort of investing “guru”, my ideas are not necessarily new, and my techniques aren’t secret. There are no “get-rich-quick” schemes here. Making money through investing takes hard work, patience, and time.   My goal is to showcase a variety of personal finance and investing ideas, and hopefully some prove useful to you.

Through my years of writing here, I’ve come to the conclusion that developing multiple income streams, including from investment income, is the key to personal finance success during your “accruing” stage of life.  If you want to read more about my thoughts on multiple income strategies, please check out My Multiple Incomes.

Supporting Writers

I’m not alone in my journey to improve personal finances for young adults and college students.  I have supporting help from two other great personal finance bloggers.

Kathleen from Frugal Portland

Kathleen joins us here at The College Investor from her regular blog at Frugal Portland. She writes about how she has been focusing on improving her personal finances.  She started with massive debts, loans to friends, and more.  All of these used to keep her up at night.

Now, she has started to take control of her finances by focusing on being frugal and working hard.  She shares her stories about debt, losing sleep, and more in her weekly column.

JT from Money Mamba

JT is our in-house investing guru, and blogs each week here at The College Investor about an interesting investing related topic – whether about a specific company or industry, to larger trends in the stock market.  He also blogs at his own site, Money Mamba, which focuses on economics, finance, business, and personal money management.

We hope that you continue to join us here at The College Investor to get out of student loan debt, master your personal finances, and get started investing.