One of the things which we will commonly ask new clients is whether they have a ‘bucket list’ of experiences they would like to have during their lifetime and if so what they are. Where possible we try to incorporate this within their planning and if necessary give them a nudge to get started.
Over the past few years there have been lengthy periods where we have been unable to do what we might have wanted due to restrictions by governments across the world due to the pandemic. This led to people adopting a much more short-term outlook on things, understandably so.
Without wanting to curse things, hopefully the days of restrictions are behind us and we can consider things in the long term again. However, from the conversations that I have had, this has made many more people think in the short term and abandoning making long term plans and goals which led to the question:
Should still bother with ‘bucket lists’?
Probably unsurprisingly my opinion is absolutely yes! Having goals, dreams and aspirations to work towards and make your lifetime one of fulfilment and new experiences can only be a good thing.
However, I do believe that listed should be personalised to you rather than a list of items which everyone has. They should be a list of experiences that you really want to experience and I would advocate an approach of having fewer items which are more meaningful rather than big list which are generic.
They should also be realistic both in terms of the ability to do this but also in terms of potential budget. There is no point having something on the list that you would never realistically be able to afford or that is so difficult or unattainable to do.
Finally they shouldn’t just sit in a drawer or just in your head. They should be accessible and somewhere that you can look at and consider regularly with the aim to actually undertaking these experiences and ticking them off one by one on a regular basis rather than storing them up.
I would love to know what is on your bucket list if we haven’t discussed this or it has been a while since we did.