This week is the 4 year anniversary of The College Investor! I didn’t really figure out this whole blogging and website thing until 2011, but this blog has been in existence since September 2009. It’s amazing to be able to celebrate this blog’s 4th birthday.
I can’t believe how far we’ve come as a community. I remember it like yesterday when this place was a ghost town and only 4 people would come and visit per day. Now, we regularly get about 1,500 visitors per day. 2013 has been the best year for visitors yet, with our best day ever on March 11, when we had 6,047 unique visitors on one single day! Amazing.
I also thought it would be fun to go back in time and see how we’ve evolved here. Check out our old logos:
Our First Logo
When I first started this site, I used a free design that I modified myself. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I put the website up!
Our Second Logo
I remember in about 2011 (2 years after I started blogging) that I felt that my theme was dark and scary. This was my first attempt to lighten things up.
Our Third Logo
If you don’t know me by now, I like to tinker with things (sometimes in a bad way). This was a change I made in 2012 to try and improve the speed of the site. The logo looks worse, not better…
Our Logo Today
Finally, we created the site at the end of 2012 that you know and love today. Thank you to Nuts and Bolts Media for creating an amazing design that is clean and functional.
Motif Investing is Throwing Us a Birthday Party!
The great thing about having a birthday is having a birthday party. The great folks over at Motif Investing wanted to throw us a birthday party for our amazing 4th birthday. What I love about Motif Investing is their theme: Stop Picking Stocks, Start Picking Ideas.
If you don’t know about Motif, they are focused on letting you buy a “motif” of stocks – or a group of stocks that are based around a specific theme. For example, we highlighted the Obamacare Motif last week when we discussed profiting from healthcare changes. You can even build your own Motif of stock from scratch.
The cool thing about Motif is the pricing. You can have up to 30 stocks in a motif, and each motif only costs you $9.95 to invest. If you went with another brokerage firm, you would have to pay a commission for each stock – so you could literally spend $210 ($7 trades x 30 stocks) to do the exact same portfolio.
Second, Motif is offering a great deal right now – $150 free when you open an account and start investing with them. To qualify for the $150 offer, you simply have to open an account with at least $2,000 and make 5 Motif trades. The account must also be open for at least 45 days. That’s pretty easy money – just open an account and make 5 different trades – buy, sell, or rebalance. Simple!
To make things even more fun – Motif is giving away birthday presents. It’s no fun for us to get presents for our birthday – it’s better to give our readers birthday presents for hanging out with us. Here’s what Motif is giving away for our birthday.
Motif Investing Prize Pack Birthday Giveaway
To celebrate, Motif Investing is giving away five (5) different Motif themed Prize Packs. Each gift is based around a different Motif. Here are the prizes:
Couch Commerce Prize Pack
The Couch Commerce Motif is based around companies that you can buy stuff from your couch. One of the biggest players is Amazon, but you also get exposure to companies like Priceline and eBay.
$25 Amazon Gift Card based on the Couch Commerce Motif
Motif Branded Hat
Digital Dollars Prize Pack
The Digital Dollars Motif is based around companies that are involved in the new way we pay – digitally. The biggest players in this Motif are payment processors like Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, but it also gets you exposure to payment solution systems and payment processors.
$25 Visa Gift Card based on the Digital Dollar Motif
Motif Branded Hat
Caffeine Fix Prize Pack
The Caffeine Fix Motif is based around beverage companies, since the world loves caffeine. The biggest players in this Motif are Starbucks and Coca-Cola, but it also includes companies like Monster and McDonalds.
$25 Starbucks Gift Card based on the Caffeine Fix Motif
Motif Branded Hat
Healthy and Tasty Prize Pack
The Healthy and Tasty Motif is based around the trends towards healthy and organic eating. This Motif includes a variety of food producers, like Del Monte foods, as well as grocery stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts. This Motif also includes nutritional supplement brands as well, such as GNC Holdings and Herbalife.
$25 Whole Foods Gift Card based on the Healthy and Tasty Motif
Motif Branded Hat
Home Improvement Prize Pack
The Home Improvement Motif is based around the fact that many Americans still prefer to do it themselves when it comes to working on their homes. This Motif includes the major home improvement players like Home Depot and Lowes, but also home goods companies like Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and even appliance companies like Whirlpool.
$25 Home Depot Gift Card based on the Home Improvement Motif
Motif Branded Hat
To enter for your chance to win one of the five Prize Packs, simply enter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Please promote the giveaway at Online-Sweepstakes.com and ContestGirl.
Happy 4th Birthday Giveaway from Motif Investing is a post from: The College Investor. Please check out the site at http://thecollegeinvestor.com or follow him on Twitter @CollegeInvestin. Thanks!