In 2007, the movie The Bucket List was a big hit, tapping into the universal feeling of getting the most out of life, even if you think you’re too old to do all the things you’ve dreamed of doing. And while the movie itself may have faded somewhat from public consciousness, the idea of writing down all the things you’ve never gotten around to experiencing and then setting your mind to doing so is a powerful one that has stuck with many of us.
In a way, planning your estate presents a perfect opportunity to write your own bucket list. An estate plan involves thinking years ahead about many things—how to protect the assets you want to pass on to your surviving family members, how to make sure the process of settling your estate is a smooth one for them, and how to ensure that you get the late-in-life care you desire without inconvenience, among many other elements.
Thinking specifically about that last element, there are a lot of factors to consider. Can you get the benefits you need from programs like MassHealth by placing your assets in a trust? What are your instructions for family members should you not be able to make decisions about life-prolonging care? Questions like these can get you thinking about enjoying and taking advantage of the rest of your time on earth.
Making a bucket list is about personal fulfillment and is a good way to fit your personal happiness into the context of end-of-life planning. Have you never been to Paris but have always wanted to go? Put it on your bucket list. Did your professional life get in the way of other opportunities like, say, being a board member on a nonprofit organization? Make it a post-retirement goal. You never bought a boat? Maybe that’s your first big purchase after post-career downsizing. No matter what your unrealized dreams are, writing them in a list gives you a set of concrete motivations after you’re no longer bound by a regular 9-to-5.
While your bucket list gives you direction on how to spend your days during retirement, it also provides an additional blueprint for planning your estate. Family Estate Planning Law Group works with clients to keep all their assets aligned with their estate plan and trust. When you go after items on your bucket list, Family Estate Planning Law Group will be there to help you achieve your goals while also recalibrating your plan to make sure everything meant for your family after you’ve gone is protected. That can entail making purchases like once-in-a-lifetime vacations without hurting the nest egg you’ve set aside for your heirs or integrating a new large purchase into the assets you’ll pass down to your children.
After all, what good is a bucket list if you’re afraid to work toward the goals on it? At Family Estate Planning Law Group, our ongoing client care program is about removing all the worry and uncertainty from estate planning. So when you take that big trip or make that big purchase, you’ll know that the estate plan you’ve made with our team is rock-solid.
To learn more about how you can incorporate the life decisions of a buck-list into your estate plan, and other estate planning topics, visit our website, explore our blog, and schedule your complimentary consultation today!
