~ Format of the Book ~

The book is divided into three Parts that are woven together.

Part One explains the concepts behind the Five Buckets, the Four Shovels, a Beach and a Map. This includes many of the illustrations, charts and graphs meant to take a complex subject and simplify it.

Part Two is a quasi-real-life story of my family using the concepts in this book over our lifetime to build a financial plan. I’ve taken editorial license with a few minor details, like my job as an engineer instead of a CPA, or the fact that my wife doesn’t really own a design firm, and that we actually got married when I was 38, but most of the story is pretty much true and all of the financial planning ideas and tools that are discussed have been used in my own life. The changes to my life story were made in order to allow me to present examples of real life experiences many of our clients have experienced.

Part Three is a call to action with a practical approach to use the concepts and build your own plan depending on how old you are and the types of assets you already have accumulated.