Chapter 1

Scott was gazing at the shoreline as he was sitting at the back of his sixteen-foot boat tiller controlling it as he was trolling. He was fishing for what he jokingly referred to it as the “elusive hybrid striper.” That it was going to be a nice day was one of the thoughts running through Scott Martin’s mind this early morning. He had expected that there would be more cars with their empty boat trailers in the parking lot than there were because of what the nice weather was forecast to be.

He had installed two non-electric downriggers on his boat and was somewhat anxious to see if trolling the spoons he was using for lures at specific depths would produce fishing success. So far his fish locator had indicated there weren’t any hybrid stripers or any other schools of fish below him. Belton Lake had a variety of game fish and the hybrids were his favorite fish to fish for. These hybrids were of a good size and offered a respectable fight.

A few other thoughts were running through his mind with the main one being how his life had evolved to its present state. In being honest about it, he thought while there had been some bumps along the way, he had been very fortunate and he didn’t have any major complaints. That is not to say he didn’t at times wonder about what might have been.

Scott was born and raised in Belton, Texas. He was a good athlete in all sports but football was where he excelled. He played quarterback on his high school football team. His running and passing ability had the team advance far in the State’s high school playoffs but they were defeated in the quarter-finals. His playing ability did not go unnoticed since he was recruited by several colleges. The University of Texas at Austin, UT, offered him a scholarship which he accepted.

While in high school, he also didn’t go unnoticed by members of the opposite sex. His athletic ability and his good looks made him quite popular. Scott didn’t have trouble developing relationships with his fellow female students. He lost his virginity to Kim Stevens a cheerleader in his junior year.

Kim was an attractive five-foot-four-inch tall girl with a mature body. Scott frequently had intimate relations with her. She seemed to enjoy making love and was never hesitant to do it. In a way, she was like the Eveready bunny. The problem that developed was that she wanted to limit Scott’s socializing to it being just her as she was pressuring him to go steady with her.

Scott was enjoying his popularity too much for him to do that and that caused this relationship he had with her to come to an end. He wasn’t overly disappointed as he thought there were more young ladies out there he could socialize with and it turned out that there were. He didn’t have problems finding replacements for Kim. He was surprised at how easy it was to talk some girls out of their panties.

At UT, the football team had several quarterback candidates that were taller, weighed more, and were just as fast as Scott. That resulted in the coaches converting Scott to a cornerback. During the third game of the season when a starting cornerback was injured, Scott was inserted into the game. His performance in that game made him a starter. He did well in playing this position during the remaining of the season. Besides breaking up pass plays he intercepted three passes and was able to run one back for a touchdown.

After the season was over because of him having some hearing complaints he had a physical exam. It was determined that he was starting to lose his hearing in one ear. The assumption was that the physical contact in playing football was causing this hearing loss and because of that Scott’s days of playing football were over. The coach and the school were a class act when they were informed of Scott’s condition. Scott was told he had his four-year ride even though he wouldn’t be playing football anymore.

Scott’s popularity with the ladies continued in college. Several ladies took a fancy to him and he took a fancy to them. For some reason that he didn’t understand it seemed that the college coeds had changed their attitude from what it was in high school regarding sex. It went from the “not until I am married” to one of either “be careful and don’t cum in me” or “I am protected.”

Scott would hear over time people making remarks that athletes were dumb jocks. It was partly him hearing that along with him realizing that in the not-to-distant future his schooling would be over and he would need to find a job to make a living. With that in mind, he applied himself as a student and graduated from the school of business majoring in finance. He was in the top ten percent of his class and was immensely proud of being able to achieve that ranking.

He thought from what he was told and read that being a financial advisor was a good and monetarily rewarding career. With that in mind, he applied for a position with a large investment firm in Dallas, Texas. After they interviewed him and did a background check he was hired. His position was to be that of a combination researcher and co-manager of a mid-cap mutual fund. His fund co-manager Walter Cranton who was ten years older took Scott under his wing and taught him several things about investing. As an investment team, they were fairly successful which resulted in a good size paycheck as well as a sizeable bonus.

While there were benefits to working for this large investment firm, Scott wanted to have his own business. To reach that goal he took the required courses and after three years took the test to receive the designation of a Certified Financial Advisor. A smile came to his face when he opened the envelope and read that he was now a CFA.

How to use that designation wasn’t that difficult to decide since he had been thinking about doing that for a while. He would resign his position with this investment firm after he received his bonus money and would open up an office back in his hometown of Belton, Texas. He knew that initially, it was going to involve some hard work on his part let alone require a significant expense until he was established and had a solid book of business.

One of the first things he needed to do was to find a location where he would open his office. He phoned Sadie Downers who was a realtor in Belton and the mother of a high school friend of his. He swore her to secrecy for now when he told her of his tentative plans to open an office. He described in general the type of location he was looking for. He asked her to keep her eyes open and if she comes across a location she thinks he would be interested in to let him know.