Grigsby & Co.

SO LET'S SEE, QUARTER 4, Spemtermber through December. After 7 long months of pain, hurt, and struggling, (and I'm only counting this year alone), including 2 months of joy and being with my family once again, I now find myself talking about the time from October through December.

Well, I raised money for investments and savings and I try hard to build up my financial status. At this time, I have already set in my head that it would take a few years to be where I want to be. That means as far as no more debt or any other financial troubles. At this point, I know that I will have to continue to struggle in order to make things right. Even though I know I don't have to. Even now I could go out on a shopping splurge and get all of my wants. But the problem is just that, they are WANTS. And before I can satisfy myself with those WANTS, I would rather take care of all of the NEEDS first. And right now, those needs consists of all the financial trouble that has held me down for so long.

Late October, I moved in with my family and we currently stay in a nice townhome in a much better neighborhood than I lived in previously. I take an active role in my childrens' lives, but at times, it's hard when you have to work at night and sleep during the day. I get to see them before I rush to work, but on weekends I give them my time. Well, most of the times, a hard work week requires rest, and I hope they understand. That's how it's been. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, I was there and happy to be there. During the holiday time it was hard for me to save, due to gifts that needed to be purchased. Plus, I wasn't living as frugally, so I had to re-evaluate my spendings, but in the end I did and am still doing all that I can out of a father, and my intentions are to keep continuing down that route.

For 2007, I am on a mission to continue to build my net worht. Not to build myself up to a millionaire status, but all just to accomplish my sense and state of financial freedom. Once accomplished, then I will re-evaluate my life and set new goals to improve upon whatever attained status that I achieve.

But 2007 is only a preparation year. I research the stock market, I research spending, and am even researching the many ways and processes to where I can take care of past and long-term debt within a responsible and reasonalbe amount of time. 2008, is where I am expecting for a lot of action. 2005 & 2006 were rougth and emotional years for me. Even with all the information I gave, I still withheld a lot mainly to protect and defend the people names to which I did not want to expose. I wanted to focus much of this past writing onto myself without having to mention others.

If I never looked at my 2006 bank statements, I probably wouldn've never even bothered to type everything that I have presented over the past few days. But with all of those feelings reincarnated, I had to kill them off again. Honestly, writing didn't help, but it is a start.. All I can do is continue on with my life and hope that all of my goals and future expectations are met.

THERE'S A LOT THAT I need to cover and record, which is primarily the reason why I haven't posted over the past few days. Below I'm going to go over a few short-term goals I have set for myself.

Credit Cards
First, I'm upset that I wasn't approved for a "Bad Credit" unsecured credit card. Yeah, I suppose that it is really that bad at the moment. But I'm still determined to have it repaired. Even if it means, getting a high interest rate secured credit card. I guess I will have to go through the bank to get it. I plan to dedicate this card only towards my cheapest bill, which in this case will be my cellular bill. After a 6 month period from the time I get the card, I'll check on my credit report to see what type of repairs have been done.

Debt
Attaining a credit card is only the start of my credit repairing. A few weeks back, I received my credit report and is that a low number of 562 (I consider that good news since I actually thought it was lower than that). Looking over outstanding debts, I see that I have small amounts that equals to a high debt, though a large portion belongs to student loans. I have an estimated $1K in revolving acccounts; $4K in collection accounts; and $13K in educational account. Take a few dollars away from here and there, and I sit at a bit over $18K total debt. I took some time to reflect over how my debt will be handled. Starting the third quarter, I will be including all liabilities but I will be taking an early start by paying off my first debt next month. I received a letter in the mail from a collection agency that is reducing an estimated $420 pay down 40% to $250. I feel it would be a good idea to take advantage of that. From there, I will try to take care of at least one debt payment per month.

Banks
With my new bank account now available to me, I can begin earning more interest on spending money. Also, I will be cancelling reward plans via Wells Fargo. The way I see it, I would rather be rewarded for holding and saving money via an interest rate checking account, as opposed to being rewarded for spending money. ING will soon become a primary holding account. Also, I will be upgrading my savings plan from $100/mo. to $200/mo. More goals will be listed in the June 2007 Outlook.

Investing
Starting to rebuild my portfolio with quality businesses that I believe will benefit me years from now. I haven't been too focused on the market lately, because I have been stressing on how I plan to deal with my life at hand. Debts, credit, personal finance. And am even making adjustments to spend more time at work to assits in quicker and possibly larger debt payments. There are a few other businesses that I want to purchase for long-term hold and am currently raising the money to future purchases. This money is also being held in HSBC earning interest as I prepare for some large purchases.

Future Outlook Reports
I created an excel file that will explain in further detail how I am progressing as months passes by. I have not decided if or not these reports will be published. After seeing current progress with a mid-month report, I am still progressing positively and inching closer and closer to my $10,000 total net worth goal. Actually, I have been presenting it all wrong. The net worth I have been presenting is actually my assets, not including liabilities. My net worth would actually be in the negatives considering that I have over $18K in debt which is undoubtedly greater than my assets. My goal is by 2008, move out of the negative, and move into the postive territory, by decreasing liabilities and increasing assets. These new reports will also come with a set of monthly goals that I hope to attain for the month and a also a report on what goals were or were not achieved.

So I'm taking on some new planned directions in my life that is going to help brighten the path in my future. Debt will soon be exterminated, Credit will be rebuilt, assets & net worth will stay on a continuous growth and financial freedom is only a few miles away.

THE BAD NEWS IS THAT yesterday it looked as if I made a wrong call on CSCO. After they reported their earnings, after-hours trading dropped over 5%.

The good news is that "looks" will go only so far in this case. Why did the stock fall? Two reasons:
1. They only reported 30 cents per share compared to analyst's estimates at 33 cents per share.
2. Investors and analysts were expecting too much out of the company. Which brings me to my point of the company being overvalued as I mentioned in the last post. Overexpectations bring about overvaluation.

John Slack, equity analyst with Morningstar Inc., said Cisco posted a solid quarter and has enough breadth to offset weakness in one area with expansion in others. He said the stock fell victim Tuesday to overeager investors who have run up the stock price and expected higher guidance.

NOW THAT I HAVE A MINDSET that I will not see myself fall the failures any longer. When July rolled around, I have begun investing, saving, and immediately began seeing more money saved than I have in my entire life. I was around $2,000 during Mid-July. I purchased more SIRI(dumbly; I was looking at the PRICE of the stock rather than the true VALUE), and using my savings account and as a temporary hold until I was ready to buy more businesses.

Now remember when I told you I was on a one-year probation? Well, during this time I was still on probation. I forgot to mention that it was one of the things that I yelled at myself about as well. But July 15, 2006, I was officially released. No more visits, no more community service, no more unnecessary payments. It was all finally over. So I celebrated. How?

Well, remember when I told you I lost my family. I have daughters and a girlfriend, and through the probation stipulations, I was not allowed to see them. Long story, I don't want to get into, but believe me it's a heart-breaker. Well, the very first thing I did was call them. Not seeing your kids for a year isn't exactly something that you want to do frequently. In fact, it's not something that you want to do rarely. But I saw them for the first time in a long time on that day. And while I was happy, ecstatic, and overwhelmed again. I felt distraught, angry, it was as if all of those emotions came back. Why? Simply put, I haven't seen them for a year! I wasn't there for their school functions and programs. I wasn't there for their "Donuts for Dads" as to which even today they won't let me forget. I wasn't their for their birthday nor Christmas. I wasn't there for any of it. All so I could keep myself from going to jail and not seeing them for God knows how long. Even as I type this those feelings are coming back. So not only did I feel like a failure to myself back in mid-April. I felt like a failure as a father to them. And there was nothing that I could say or do to make it up to them.

And as I just typed this, I'm beginning to feel like I'm still a failure to them. I can even begin to tell you people the person I used to be compared to the person that I am now. I was a horrible person. It's not even something I feel comfortable speaking upon. Well, not yet. Who knows, maybe later if I feel like having another "Letting It All Out" session. But before anyone gets the wrong idea, I didn't abuse them nor harm them in any fashion. That's the last thing I would do to my own children. But, in short, I did neglect them. Not for good reasons, but selfish ones.

As I grow older, I've matured and since I've been back in their lives, it just seems right. But now when I type this, I feel like a complete failure as a Dad again.

Wow, I truly hope I don't get many readers here, because I'm laying out some pretty sensitive stuff and letting some hurtful emotions re-visit me. But I want to post the truth. I want to put it all out. Everything that's inside of me. But to continue.

So now, I see my kids for the first time, I see my girl for the first time. And I guess it's not hard to guess the first I did with her when we met up again (wink, wink). But then we had a conversation. It wasn't a long one, because it was something that I really didn't want to talk about. My past. The past year that I've been away. To this day, she still doesn't understand the hurt I've been through and I don't think she will. I can't blame her, it's one of those things that you actually have to be there to see. But the conversation led to trust. Remember what I said in my past posts? I told her the same thing. I didn't trust anyone. She asked, "what about her?" And I didn't even open my mouth to answer back.

I have my reasons, good reasons, that I will not explain. This time, out of respect for her. She knows what happens, and I don't want to put out sensitive information like that at this time. But after what did happen, and honestly speaking, I couldn't trust a single soul, including her.

But yet and still, we both, were bound to make it work, and we have been for almost a year now. And I'm proud to say, I've been a good boy. Now I trust her.

There's not much story afterwards. June, I continued saving and investing, and studying what needs to be learned about the market. July, I was reunited with my family. And August, I continued saving only this time with my family by my side.

SOME GOOD NEWS FOR THE DAY:

1. Sold CROX at a small +2% gain, but after studying the company, I can see myself buying and holding after their split. Can't wait to see the future opportunities this company will provide to its consumers and shareholders.
Here's why I like it:

REMEMBER THAT SONG I told you about? Z-Ro's "Help Me Please". There are a lot of quotes that I feel that represented me and in a lot of ways still represent me until this day.

I listened to that song again and another one of my favorite quotes stood out.

Fancy cars and a mansion? That ain't never been my goal

A hooptie would be fine, plus somewhere warm when it's cold.

BEFORE YOU START READING, just know that I typed a lot. I probably could've kept it shorter, but all of the memories started coming back. Just be forewarned, that this is a pretty lengthy post.

Before I speak on how the 2006 Quarter 2 went, let me tell you a little bit more about Quarter 1. I have to or what I have to say won't make sense.

Let's take it month by month:
January 2006 - I received the announcement that by April 24, 2006, my employment position would be no more and they have no intentions of making me permanent.
February 2006 - My car dies, looking for jobs has gotten that much harder.
March 2006 - Having to deal with this and that, and past events that have not yet settled in 2005, I became an emotional wreck. Plus the progress, I've been making as far as job hunting wasn't going well.

Well, when April rolls around, I was still nearly jobless, my position was drawing close to an end in less than a month, and frankly I didn't know what I was going to do. I don't remember too much of this because I always fight to try to forget it. But what I do remember was that I began working for this small computer shop (a second job). Basically, this leverage in case I was not able to find a job by the time I was released.

So I began working two jobs, not to make ends meet, just to make sure I was still employed by somebody, somewhere.

Luckily, I gave myself the leverage, but now I was working two jobs about to lose one, and the pay at the new jobs was much, much less lower than my intentions.

At this point, things were getting worse. It may have looked good on the outside with me doing what I can to ensure employement. But after a man loses so much in so little time and things are only getting worse, something snaps within him. That's what happened with me. I went home from work one weekend and everything just came out.

I yelled at myself for being a failure. I yelled at myself for being smart but being so stupid. For not finishing school. For not getting an education. Placing priorities ahead of things that should have never been. Always trying to "get-rick-quick" rather than working. For being a waste. For not standing up to responsibilities. For failing at things I should've excelled at. For letting people use me. For letting people influence me and convince me. For wanting to walk the right paths but purposely going the wrong directions.

That is one thing I remember clearly, I got out of the shower, looked at myself in the mirror, and with disgust on my face, I openly said to myself, "You seriously fucked up!"

Well after I argued with myself for over a day, I played video games yet again, and when I cooled down, I said to myself, "Something has to change. I deserve more than this."

That's when it was all born. This was still around mid-April and I began to do a lot of writing. Sketching, goal-planning. Something was going to have to change. I didn't know what it was going to be but it was going to be something. Anything.

I almost ran into some other "get rich quick" schemes. I had to force myself to stare away from it. Be patient. Take my time. You see, my focus was to never actually get rich. But just to get some type of revenue in to pay back past debts and amounts that was actually hurting my career and even my emotional state.

My primary job was drawing to a close, and as hard as it was to stay positive, I did everything I could to maintain. Then you'll never believe what happens. I remember this clearly as well. I receive a call on April 17, 2007, stating that a position as a Help Desk/Computer Operator was available. That's the good news. The bad news was that it was another temporary position. To try to sprinkle that good news, I was told that the position was temp-to-hire, if they like me. I needed this job, and I knew I could do it.

So to be honest, I gave the greatest performance that I knew how. I presented resumes, letter of recommendations, documentation, I researched and studied this company. I wanted to walk into that interview room, knowing the company, the people, the job, everything. I wanted to answer all the questions before they even asked them and wanted to quiz them on things just to pretend like I had an interested. I wanted to impress them like no other interviewer impressed them.

April 20, 2007, I got the job. And my first day was to start the night of April 23, 2007 (just one day before I was supposed to be released from Hewlett Packard).

If I was homeless my story would probably be an exact replica of Chris Gardner's, but that was one route that I refused to go to. Much respect to Chris Gardner, but I'm frightened to even vision how my life would've been like homeless.

So now, new job but same pay and don't forget I'm also still working at the small computer store. I could've quit but I felt like I owed them. They were there for me when I almost lost my position at Hewlett-Packard. I couldn't just step out like that, so I stayed as long as I could, but it was sometime in August when I eventually left. Working nights and days with no transportation other than the bus route was beginning to take a huge toll on my body. They understood and we mutually agreed for the time to end. I still go by as frequent as I can when I need a computer parts, and I still refer family and friends to his shop for all of their computer parts and repair needs. By the way, visit Tom Tech PC and tell them Tony sent you.

But rewinding back to late-April, early May, though I had a new job, I still felt as if I wasn't moving anywhere. The pay wasn't higher, but the second check from the other job was a big help. I still didn't decide on how I would turn my life around. It was until May when I figured it out.

I always wanted to get into the stock market. Two things kept me back:
1. I didn't know the first step.
2. I didn't have the money.

Bringing in two checks, I was beginning to get the money. So now all I need was to find out that first step. So I went to Amazon and wanted to find a book that would show it to me. I wanted to find the right book that would be highly recommended and would show beginners the right steps. That's when I found Jason Kelly's "The Neatest Little Guide To Stock Market Investing".

When I got that book, I immediately read as much as I could and finished the book in two (maybe three) weeks. Then I was ready to launch. I opened up a brokerage account through ShareBuilder, and I opened up a savings account through HSBC, both in June 2006.

Then I started to save, and purchased one of the dumbest stock I could have ever put my money into. SIRI. No need to say any more than that. I wasn't upset, I didn't let it get me down, but actually I was proud.

Finally, for once in my life I was actually doing something with it. Though I was still an amateur, here I am saving money and investing in stock. Where I'm from, you don't hear that too often. But I was actually starting to do it. May and June were head turning months. I had to keep a lot of emotions under control, things weren't looking up just yet, but, I can say that I was beginning to make right steps to bring about a more secured life.

Well, that's all that happened to me during the second Quarter of 2006. This is probably the longest since this was the actual turning point. But the whole argument with myself made me realize the position that I was TRULY in. I wanted more for myself. I felt that I deserved more. As time progresses, I began building a broader and larger mindset along with a great number of goals to ultimately help me reach the pinnacle that I'm looking for. I haven't reached it yet, but I do have full intentions to in the months (maybe years) to come.

Keep reading, I'll go over Quarter 3. Don't worry things get better from here on out.

WELL, REFER TO A PREVIOUS POST and I tell you that I was able to get the numbers from my 2006 bank statements, since then I've been studying what I've been doing from 2006 compared to what I'm doing in 2007, and then comparing goals and aspirations in 2008 and beyond.

Looking only at the numbers in 2006 brought about a reminiscent of depression as memories clouded my mind of thoughts I so long wanted to forget. I thought that maybe it would be good to just speak on what happened to why I have developed such a strong drive and hunger towards reaching financial freedom.

The end of the year of 2005 was very rough for me, I lost my family, I, then, lost someone close to me. My grandmother pass away that summer, and at this point everyone was cut from my life. I went to jail and was placed under a one-year probation for a year. I stayed to myself and communicated with no one. Because everyone I loved cut me off, so I decided to do the same with everyone else. I even have a friend named Josh, he would try to communicate with me, but his calls were never answered. But it was just the lack of companionship and love that drove me to this state.

Though I had a great job, I was limited due to being a temporary employee. I worked for Hewlett-Packard for two years. And for two years, I would hear the same story that they would hire me before the "expiration date". Well, two years later, the expiration date came, and they let me go in April 2007. Just like that.

Yeah, it was a great job, I won't deny, but aside from being temporary, there was another problem. The pay. Actually, the pay was good, but with me not knowing how to handle my finances, I always found myself with much less than I had. Take a look at the 2006 numbers for yourself.

I got this icebox where my heart used to be...I'm so cold.

Brothers and sisters holla if you feel this, if hurt and misery is who you chill with.

ALREADY, IT'S TIME for a couple of updates.

First off, we finally got news from ATVI as far as their stock option have been going and I'm getting some growing interest to get back in again, but not just yet. First, I want to see the options deal settled once and for all so the business can get back to business. In order to do this there will be an estimated $67 million dollar charge to take care of the past. Afterwards, then there's a good chance that I will get back in, but first I want to see where the price goes to. Future expectations are still high, so I don't see myself losing out too much, but I would like to see myself get in at a lower price, hopefully under $21 or lower $21s. I really like the business, being a heavy video gamer, and familiar with the industry from a consumer and a business standpoint, I like how the company is beginning to take the lead over ERTS. I can see this happening. It was a mistake for me to leave, but I was very uncomfortable with the whole options thing going on, so I don't regret. After all I cashed a 60+% gain. A couple of good things about this whole ordeal is that the CEO wasn't involve and he wasn't going to let it get involved with the business. Stock continues to push forward and quality games are continued being presented to their customer. Just recently, Guitar Hero 2 was released for the XBox360, and tomorrow Spiderman 3 will be released in both theaters and consoles. Technicals show a sell mode, but I think this will change if not today (due to the Spiderman 3 hype) it will definitely have an effect over the next few days. And I do feel the earnings report after the restatements will be very satisfying.

Second, I'm considering a risky portfolio. Nothing to where I'll be putting money into penny stocks (no, no, no, never that). But there are businesses out there that may not meet low-cost value standards, but overall businesses are too beautiful to pass up. One good example is VDSI that I missed out on. I want to reserve a small amount for business that I have confidence even when valuations may say otherwise. Right now, I have my sights set on CROX. As of valuations, 0.94 PEG, 2.7 Ratio, 0.003 Debt/Equity, 26% insiders, 18% Profit Margin. There are three valuations that would cause me to reconsider, 35 PE, 10 PB, heavy insider trading, and being a fairly new company there is no 5-Year ROIC. But their 1 year ROIC exceeds 50%. Normally, I wouldn't take this company, because I'm so stubborn as to where, I wouldn't even allow this company to meet screening criteria. But they have shown optimal growth over the time they have become public. From 2002 to 2004 they have inch their way from a negative EPS & Income to positive standings since 2005 & 2006. So I see the potential growth. Plus I've been seeing more and more of their products, especially their holy shoes (and I don't mean the church type of "holy", lol) all over the place, so I do see a fashion trend growing. So I'm taking a risky chance and placing only $1,000 into the company. Once all portfolios are settled, I'll devote more money to value businesses that may not meet all the criteria but are subject for risk management. Wish me luck!

Three, I'm working on restating the 1st Quarter Overview that will compare results from this year and the past 2006 year of the numbers that I was able to accumlate. I have created a very emotional automated post that will be published later today, that goes over how my life was during the year of 2006 (well, at least the first 3 months anyway). You will see a very low net worth, gradually working its way up to. When you read, you'll only get a small sense of what I've been through, I didn't go into a lot of detail, but yet and still it ended up being a lot of typing.

Well, that's all I have to say for now. Good luck today, and I'll report back later.

April 2007 HIGHLIGHTS

EDGING CLOSER AND CLOSER to our first short-term goal. Things are growing brighter and, as time progresses, more is becoming clearer. First off let me say, that the May 2007 Outlook is looking particularly great. The numbers look great, but just to ensure everything stays accurate, I'm awaiting for the close of the market today to configure all the numbers to see where we officially stand for May 2007.

Also, there may be a great chance that I may restate the 1st Quarter Overview. I managed to get my hands on my entire 2006 bank statements online. It was quite simple, I just spent some time browsing the Wells Fargo website and managed to stumble upon it. I did the basic calculations for some pretty good estimates, but I want to be more accurate. Refer to a previous post I made, I really didn't start actively manage my accounts until the January of this year. If I can get more accurate numbers, then that means, I'll be able to restate my previous quarter with more accurate results in comparison to the 1st quarter of 2006 as well as a continuance with future quarterly reports throughout 2007 and beyond. So I have a lot of work to do on that hand.

From what I can tell you is that, from the basic shell of it, I'm still spending more than what I did a year ago (based on one quarter), which is driving me to study my 2006 records. Though my Operating Income, Gross Profit, and Net Income is much larger than the 2006 statements, I would like to see expenses as low as the 2006 expenses. This may have incurred due to more money being placed into investments; this I will only be sure of when I restate the 1st quarter with full numbers and hopefully a more accurate precision. If that's the case, I will ensure that personal expenses are lower than investment expenses (transfers).

Tomorrow I'll go more into detail on the exciting month of April as well as more into future goals on a 5-year plan to $100,000. Also I'll speak on my most active month, new brokerages, and rebuilding of new portfolios. Plus, future expectations for May 2007. Stay tuned tomorrow for more.

WELCOME TO A NEW DAY as we draw closer and closer to the end of the month. I'm already composing my figures and so far, this month I have put away more money into investments than I have since this year. I'll be composing a brief illustration on how the month has went this upcoming Tuesday (May 1st, 2007).


There's not much to say except to let you know that I have "FORCED" myself to cool down a bit after missing out on hefty gains on VDSI. I'm okay with it (a bit) to move on and continue what I have been doing for almost a year now, and that's attempting to continue to make money on top of money. That's what it's all about right?

So I'll move on and I am continuing to research companies for future investments. I have a few picked winners but haven't given them the thorough run through before I come to a calm decision. I also still need to find a way to put a little bit more money away. I'm gaining in closer and closer to my short-term goal and I'm confident that once achieved, I will be able to perform more actively. Even though, April was probably my most active month ever.

Also before I bring this to a close, I would like to thank Trading Goddess. Without me knowing, she placed a link on her site directing it to mine. I would like to thank her and let her know that I've done the same, but also wanted to give this special recognition to let her know that I truly do appreciate it. I'm not sure if my blog would drive a lot of traffic to her site, as I know I usually like to keep this as a journal for myself, but I can't let it go without just the mention of her site.