~ Introduction ~

I have been a practicing CPA since 1976 and started my career as an auditor for Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in San Francisco. After ten years of working for Coopers, I left and cofounded my first firm, Burr Pilger & Mayer (BPM), which we started with a small group of five people. By the time I left, 25 years later, BPM had grown into a large regional firm with over 400 people and multiple offices around the globe. In early 2013, I started a new firm, SD Mayer & Associates, focused not just on accounting, but on an individual’s complete financial secu rity. Within five years, SD Mayer had grown from a core group of seven people to nearly 40 individuals focused on providing accounting, business advisory, outsourcing, wealth management and retirement plans services.

I have always considered myself to be more than just a CPA. It was extremely important to me, as a professional, to become a “trusted advisor” for my clients. I pushed myself to be more than an auditor, and over the years I added tax, consulting, technology, wealth management, bankruptcy and turnaround work, along with mergers and acquisitions, to my skill set. This experience gave me many of the tools needed to best serve clients, but I’ve always felt that something was missing.

As I watched my clients grow older, I noticed that they were more and more focused on their financial security and often wondered if they had enough money to retire and enjoy life. They were also confused about where to start, the right type of insurance to purchase, how to invest their money wisely, how to create the right estate plan, as well as other related issues. If they were wealthy, and had substantial liquid assets, they often had many profession als available to help them manage their money and handle their financial needs. However, for those without a lot of wealth, they often struggled to assemble the right team of experts to help them figure out their financial future and plan for their retirement.

Over a two-year period, I asked about 1000 people, over the age of 30, the following question, “At least every 48 hours, do you wonder if you will have enough money for retirement and/or are your financial affairs organized cor rectly?” It turned out that over 80% of the people had wondered about this every couple of days. Even more eye opening, though, was that if the person was over the age of 40, the number grew to over 90%.

As an accountant and advisor, I found this striking and thought if I could develop a simple solution to help people manage their finances in a comprehensive manner it could make a meaningful impact on their lives.

I also thought most professionals who were helping their clients with overall wealth management were one di mensional. The accounting firms focused on tax returns and year-end tax planning. The estate-planning attorneys focused their energy on the estate plan. For insurance professionals, their focus was solely on insurance, while the investment advisors focused mostly on asset allocation. I felt that no one was taking a holistic approach and direct ing their efforts on helping the client achieve financial security. For me, financial security was a combination of tax and tax planning, investment advice, insurance, estate planning, retirement planning, and budgeting cash flow on an annual basis. Not taking a complete approach in helping their clients was neglectful by these professionals.

However, the profession was only half the problem. The other half of the problem—the people who knew they should do something but could not get started. Most individuals had a hard time deciding to move forward with almost anything other than getting their tax returns done because the process seemed so complicated.

As I was preparing to launch SD Mayer & Associates, I vowed to “change the status quo” and create something unique, easy to understand, and simple to use to help people set goals to reach their financial security using all of the tools and knowledge I had gained over my career.

Early in my career, I had developed the framework for a financial strategy called “The Five Buckets” and used it in my personal life, in addition to utilizing it with a couple of clients.

While on a backpacking trip, where I do some of my best thinking, I put together an outline for this book. I ex panded the concept of “Five Buckets” to include advisors that I called “Four Shovels” and a metaphor for one’s life, which I called “The Beach”, and a road map I called “The Map”. Finally, I threw in “Sand” to represent money.

I spent the next two years working with clients to test and improve the concepts. While at lunch with a long-term friend, John Legnitto, I explained the entire concept of “Five Buckets” and he encouraged me to write a book.* From that day on, I was committed to putting the concept into a book that was easy to read and understand, but had powerful concepts that could change someone’s life and get them motivated enough to focus on their financial security. I wanted the book to be visual, with illustrations and charts that would not intimidate those who are unfa miliar or uncomfortable with financial planning. I also wanted the book to be a tool that parents and even grandparents could use to help the next generation start their financial plan at an early age.

With help from my family, friends and Rich Sigberman, an artist, “Five Buckets, Four Shovels, a Beach and a Map: A Guide to Financial Security” was created.

As I was developing the concepts for the book, I reached out to my friends and colleagues in the financial planning world to ask for their help and guidance. The people I chose to help were picked because of their practical experi ence and their ability to explain difficult concepts in easy to understand language. I also asked my children, who are

*Unfortunately, John recently passed away from pancreatic cancer, but I am grateful for his encouragement. I shared an early draft of this book with his family and they told me that, “John would have been proud.”

21 and 24, to help edit and make sure the concepts were easy for a 20- to 25-year-old to understand.

I asked for help from people that I have known for more than 20 years, mainly because we have all shared life experiences together. I also chose professionals whose target market is middle class Americans, mainly because it is that market that has the most difficult time finding help, since most professionals are looking for larger, wealthier clients who can pay larger fees. I also wanted to reach out to clients that I have helped over the years to see if the practical advice that I gave them paid off. I hired an artist, Rich Sigberman, to do the illustrations and make them fun and easy to understand. Though I like to write, my grammar and sentence structure is not the best, so I have worked with a team of editors to advise and proofread as necessary. Finally, I wanted those professionals who, over the years, have helped my family and I achieve our goals.

Therefore, I would like to thank two of my own shovels, Bill Weseloh and Rick Hillsbery; my family, Dylan, Kenzie, Nicola and Patty Mayer; and many others, including Therese Hjelm, Adam Herrera, Kathy Wright, Jeff Stephens, Lloyd Wiborg, Michael Mayer, Michael Tucker, Rich Sigberman, along with too many others to mention. If any of you are reading this book, please know that you were instrumental in helping me solidify the content of this book.

Speaking of financial security, 100% of the profits from this book will be contributed to “The 5 Buckets, 4 Shovels Foundation” which will distribute the book to high schools and colleges to invest in the financial literacy for the younger generation. The Foundation will also be contributing to benefit medical research and youth activities. As I have been lucky in creating my financial security, I want to pass on my knowledge and expertise and make sure the financial profit is used to help others achieve their own financial security.