Trinity Financial, Sports & Entertainment Co. opens in Millstone.
By: Scott Morgan
MILLSTONE There are bull markets and bear markets, stock markets and futures markets, supermarkets and market prices.
But not much has been said about God markets. And that’s surprising, because in the financial universe, where dreamers of glory often speak of cornering markets, most don’t realize their futures often fly on little more than a wing and a prayer.
At least that’s what Peter Grandich is saying.
What is probably more surprising is that Peter Grandich made his fortune believing he could see the future through his Wall Street crystal ball. Despite having dropped out of high school in the 10th grade, Mr. Grandich hit it financially big through the 1980s and 1990s after a "lucky accident" and part of a wedding dowry changed his $7,000 stock market investment into a multi-million-dollar lifestyle.
Five horses, a couple of race cars and an American dream of a home in Millstone later, Mr. Grandich was on top of the financial world. He was "half famous on Wall Street" as a rags-to-riches guy who just knew how to make money. Self-described as "arrogant, abrasive and egotistical," he made the rounds on talk shows and news channels nationwide before he realized something important.
The financial consulting game, with its predictions and plans and hopes for the best, was a farce. He eventually became bed-ridden with panic attacks and a crippling depression.
If you suspect at this point that Mr. Grandich’s story will take the standard boy-meets-God turn, you’re only half right. Mr. Grandich did find God, but he found Him in a patently unique way by thumbing through the financial information in the Bible.
That’s right, the Bible. In the fog of his depression, Mr. Grandich said, he one day managed to drive to the Barnes & Noble in Freehold, where he sought answers to dealing with his condition. How many books, he wondered, spoke of mental health? The sales assistant told him something in the neighborhood of 2,000.
But how many books on finance and wealth and dealing with the market? Somewhere in the neighborhood of 436, the validity and usefulness of which overturned every 18 months on average.
When he read the Bible, though, he discovered an interesting tidbit: "Just about every fourth line had something to do with money or possessions," he said. A full 25 percent, at least, which dealt in some way with finance and money a much larger portion than even that dealing with salvation. And the Bible, he said, has not lost its validity in the last 2,000 years.
In the meantime, he had become good friends with Lee Rouson, former New York Giants running back and speaker for the sports World Ministries in Flanders. Mr. Grandich said Mr. Rouson, a devout Christian minister, spoke of the toll the National Football League takes on its players.
Armed with the word of God and a desire to help athletes from losing their money, Mr. Grandich and Mr. Rouson have taken on a fairly unique enterprise. Last week, the doors of the Trinity Financial, Sports & Entertainment Co. opened in Millstone. To the best of Mr. Grandich’s knowledge (and he’s searched long and hard for this), it is the first financial firm ever to open in Millstone Township and could be the first Christian-oriented financial company in the country. Trinity Financial is located on Millstone Road, in the offices of Blue Horizon Realty.
Despite the way it may sound at first, Trinity is not exclusively for athletes and entertainment figures. Nor is it just for Christians.
"I’m not trying to sell religion," Mr. Grandich said.
In fact, though he calls himself a "born-again Catholic," he admits "no religion even Christian has a lock on God." Instead, he said, the firm seeks to help the general public manage its money in the best way it can and that includes those who sometimes make many millions of dollars.
Though the mixture of sports, money and God may seem a strange one, Mr. Grandich said it makes perfect sense. He said he and Mr. Rouson are selling the idea that money is a needed thing it even says so in the Bible. It’s just the love of that money that gets people into trouble. Just like it did to him.
Mr. Grandich admitted he did not go broke when the markets began heading south a couple of years ago, but he and his wife did downsize a bit. He sold the horses, traded his Millstone dream house for a more manageable abode in Manalapan, and ditched the race cars.
Mr. Grandich said he is grateful for the hardships that have taught him how to better manage his money and his life. Rather than trying to score ever bigger, these days his message, tempered with a little help from the Good Book, is less about reaching for brass rings and more about living well, spiritually and financially. And in case he forgets, there’s a picture of God on the front door to his firm.
For more information on Trinity Financial, Sports & Entertainment Co., call (732) 642-3992.