The Bucket List

Prior to aligning my plans with my finances, I need to understand if there are any items on my bucket list that could de-rail or significantly change plans or finance.

According to Cambridge Dictionary a bucket list is a list of the things that a person would like to do or achieve before they die. Some of the items on my list will not have an impact on my plans or my financial planning, however some of them most definitely will.  What I needed to do is go down the list and identify any items that I would need to incorporate into my planning or finances and items that I could just do without having an impact.  Some of the items I may not have time to do when I am working so I may have to do them in retirement and I also need to account for these in my plans.

My bucket list is as follows:

• Learn to play an instrument – No impact to planning
• Learn a different language – No impact to planning
• See The Great Wall of China – May have financial impact.
• Ride a bull – May have financial impact.
• Go on Safari again – May have financial impact.
• Spend a week on a dude ranch – May have financial impact.
• Stay in an over ocean room – May have financial impact.
• Play in a poker tournament in Vegas – May have financial impact.





As you can see my list is not the most dynamic; I have been fortunate in that after 24 years in the Army I have done a lot of what I would have had on a bucket list.  Most of my items revolve around travel and I will ensure that I include enough funding in my plan going forward to account for this.  If I had something on here such as rear an animal, this would have a major impact on my plans and would have to be included in the retirement plan.

Now that I have reviewed my bucket list, I need to go back to my plan and review the plan to align to my bucket list.

Then comes the exciting or depressing part, finding out how much I need to retire and when I can retire.