2013 in Review – A Year of Success!

Wow – what a year!  2013 was a very transformative year here at The College Investor.  I can't believe how far this site has come since I started it out of boredom after college.  It's now transformed into a completely unique resource!

We had a few major milestones this year that I wanted to highlight:

1. We launched our Investing 101 Course to help new investors learn how to invest
2. We launched our Premier Investing Forums to help experienced investors and traders gain more insights and share what they've learned
3. We had our 4 Year Anniversary that was sponsored by our friends at Motif Investing (and shared some rare looks back at our previous designs)
4. We had our busiest day ever on March 10, 2013 with 8,000 visitors coming to the site to check out our article on The 19 Best Investing Blogs To Learn From (hopefully we're #20)
5. Last week we published our 1,000th article on the site!  Crazy to have over 1,000 articles now published here!

In good blogger tradition, I wanted to highlight some of the most popular articles from 2013 for you to enjoy (in case you haven't already):

 

Most Read Articles Written in 2013

1. The 19 Best Investment Blogs You Can Learn From – I'm the first to admit that I'm not the best of anything out there.  There are a lot of other great sites that have a lot of investing content to offer.  I tried to put together this list of “big names” and hopefully a few lesser known bloggers in order to highlight some great investing resources that readers could actually use and learn from.  In the end, it turned out to be a big hit.

2. 5 Things Your Millionaire Neighbor Isn't Telling You – Money always seems to be a taboo topic, even though it shouldn't.  So, it may come as a surprise that about 1 in 100 people in the United States are millionaires – and chances are you live next to one.  So what are their secrets?  Here are some things that your millionaire neighbors are probably doing, but aren't sharing.

3. IRS Where's My Refund Reference Codes – The IRS screwed up big time in 2013, even though it was really Congress' fault.  As a result of the debacle, pretty much everyone's tax refunds were delayed because the IRS started processing everything so late.  To make matters worse, companies like H&R Block were having transmission issues, resulting in people getting odd codes on their tax returns.  This handy guide helps solve that problem.

4. Marijuana Stocks and How to Invest in Cannabis – With states around the country starting to legalize marijuana, it's only a matter of time before more and more people want to start investing in companies that deal with marijuana.  This is a comprehensive guide on what you can invest in, and the companies in the space.  It was also extremely popular on Reddit/trees, which is a first for this site!

5. Fannie and Freddie Shareholders: Hedge Funds vs. The Government – The legislation surrounding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will have profound impact on these companies, and there are two sides to the story: the hedge funds that are betting the government will free these companies from bondage, and the government hawks that want to end them.  Who will win, and what happens to the share price in the mean time is anybody's guess.

6. 101 Essential Tips and Resources for College Freshmen – I wanted to put together a great resource for college freshmen going to school for the first time, and it ended up turning into a huge list with 101 different resources.  The timing of this post was right on, and it turned into a big hit.

7. Starting a Million Dollar Business at 14 with Ava Anderson – I love this story – Ava Anderson is the founder of Ava Anderson Non-Toxic, a company that she started at 14.  She's now a millionaire, and her company is extremely successful, and she is still a teenager!  This is an inspiring story, and something that I hope every teenager that wants to start a business reads.

8. Top 10 Female Investors to Follow Right Now – When putting together my list posts of top investing blogs, I didn't want to shun the females, and so I put together this post that highlights great female investors that are making things happen in what has traditionally been a man's world.  There are some feisty and fun females on this list, so check it out if you want some personality with your money.

9. Better Know a Millionaire Investor: Jonathan Goldman – Jonathan Goldman was one of the first millionaires I interviewed in my Young Millionaire series.  At 20 years old, he is already the president of a multi-million dollar company.  He shares some great insights about starting early, and I totally share his manta in this quote: Working hard may not guarantee success, but not working hard will virtually always guarantee failure.

10. My Conversation with a Delusional College Student – Finally, this post ended up being a bit controversial this year.  At 42 comments, it was one of my most commented on articles of the year – and most of the comments stemmed from disbelief or from sharing a similar story.  The bottom line is that many college students have a sense of entitlement that is a bit frustrating, and this story illustrates it at its worst.

 

What To Look Forward to in 2014

Thank you for your constant support.  Without you, the readers, this site wouldn't be successful in the least.  Hopefully my articles provide a little investing insight, common sense personal finance tidbits, and some fun every now and then.  Even better, hopefully you can make some money (or save some money) from what you read here.

In 2014, we are going to be expanding a bit in both the Forums and with our classes.  I have another class coming soon, which I'm very excited about.  We also have some great add-ons coming to the forum.  On top of that, we will still be continuing our content schedule and focusing on delivering value everyday.

If there is anything that you specifically want to see or read, leave a comment below!  It can be a question, comment, concern, or even criticism of me!  Share it with me!