My Sharebuilder Update

The current "sale" that sharebuilder is offering has been good news for me. For some time I knew I should divest myself of some of the smaller holdings that I have been carrying in my sharebuilder portfolio. However, paying 12.95 for shares that only had $6-$12 was not worth it. So I held onto them. That is, until this past Friday. With a temporary offer of $4.95 sale price for partial shares partial share = any stock that you own less then one share of, and does not mean you can sell a partial if you own more then one share in a particular stock), I was able to sale my meager investments in BP (oil), Simon Property Group (malls), and Capital Federal Finance (bank) and still get some money back.

10/20/2006 SELL ORDER POSTING -0.1853 BP $7.61
10/20/2006 SELL ORDER POSTING -0.0796 SPG $2.68
10/20/2006 SELL ORDER POSTING -0.3019 CFFN $6.21

With these stocks sold, I am left with a trimmer portfolio of stocks that are in industries or products that, due to my background, I am more familiar with.

BRK B BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC CL B $3,328.00 0.0087 $28.95
KO COCA COLA CO $46.75 1.9051 $89.06
KR KROGER CO $22.28 5.0802 $113.19
PIR PIER 1 IMPORTS INC $7.08 0.2645 $1.87
WR WESTAR ENERGY INC $24.89 0.7258 $18.07

For example, I work retail, so owning a competitor like Kroger, is a natural. As is owning retailer Pier 1. As an avid Coke drinker as well as a collector, owning their stock makes since. Owning Westar, while the stock price plummeted a couple years ago, it's a utility and thus viewed as safe, and as such it returns consistent dividends, which are re-invested. Finally, Berkshire, I love reading Mr. Buffetts advice, and with my current finances, I could never own his class A shares (besides Sharebuilder won't trade them) at $27,000/share, I can occasionally put small amounts in the class B, like a mutual fund until I get a full B share at $3,000/share. Of course my investing is on the back burner for now until I get my debts paid off. There are of course, other retailers I would like to buy in time, but these are my focus group. One thing, I do look for Kroger (the largest grocery in the U.S.A.) to eventually be bought up by someone else and I would like to own every publicly traded grocery, so as the industry consolidates, I benefit financially from it.

Anyway, I am getting side tracked, after the sale I was able to add another $16.50 to my cash balance up to $20.96. So now my question is do I spend $4 of that to increase my holdings in one of my remaining stocks, or do I cash it out, and apply it towards on of my debts. I am thinking of buying more Pier 1 or Coca-cola, maybe Berkshire, to increase my stakes in one of those companies.