Leslie W Merritt III

I have been a financial advisor for nearly twenty one years who has seen a lot of change in the industry during that time frame. When I began in the business, nothing could go wrong and then the recession hit in August of 2008 on through March of 2009. Real estate was a mess for years after this. The good news here was that I was too stupid to know what I did not know which kept me in financial planning which has now afforded me great time flexibility all these years later with my children.

During this time of "flexibility", I began to Coach as an assistant in Recreation leagues with my kids, then I accidentally accepted a head coaching job when I did not want a discouraging, demanding, overzealous Coach to continue coaching a young basketball team he had previously led to an 0-14 record with I believe 4 shutouts on the season. I never even knew that was possible. With the addition of a few girls and a new mindset under my guidance, we finished 7-7 the next season. From there, I have continued to Coach for the last three years with last season being my first year with Varsity girls. The team was previously 1-17 under the former Coach, I (and my assistant) led them to a 9-13 record this past season. The final loss was our first playoff appearance in school history, we lost 45-40, still irks me. We should have won.