Creating Your Retirement Bucket List

What do you want to do in your retirement? That might sound like a loaded question. However, your answer is important. Some people know exactly what they want to do. They’ve been thinking about it for years and they have it all written down and planned out. Other people might have a more general idea, but nothing specific. Maybe you just have some vague concepts like “relax,” “travel,” or “spend time with family.”

Each person’s retirement is unique and what you do when you retire is up to you. With that in mind though, if you don’t plan for what you’re going to do in retirement, it’s easy for the days to all blur into one another. Time passes quickly and, before you know it, you’re retired for years and you haven’t done any of the things you’ve always wanted to do.

That’s the idea behind a retirement bucket list. The goal is to list the things you’ve always wanted to do so that you can plan ways to achieve these dreams. You’ll turn concepts and ideas into concrete plans that will keep you motivated and on track to achieve your goals.

How to Set a Retirement Bucket List

The first thing to remember when you’re creating your retirement bucket list is that you don’t need to have the retirement that anyone else wants. Just because you read about people traveling the world or learning new languages or scaling Mount Everest, you don’t need to add these things to your list. On the same account, just because you don’t ever see any retirees doing the things that you want to do, it doesn’t mean you can make these things your goals.

Your retirement is for you, and you should do what you like.

Maybe you’ve always known what you wanted to do when you retired. You might have been thinking about it for years and counting down the days. If that’s the case, now’s the time to actually make it happen.

Your retirement bucket list doesn’t have to be overflowing with items. It can have just one or two big things on it. If you already know what you want, write those goals down. Then, break them into smaller goals. For example, if you’ve been dreaming of traveling to France, now’s the time to put some concrete steps alongside this goal. When do you want to travel? What will you need to do first? Sometimes that means save up money for the trip, other times it means getting some medical procedures out of the way first. Whatever steps you need to achieve before your trip, write those down too. Then put dates beside them. Making the steps explicit and adding details will help you achieve them.

You don’t need to be incredibly rigid with your timeframes, but even rough guidelines can be very help. 

Break your large bucket list items into smaller steps. For example, going back to the France trip, start filling in some details. What time of year do you want to travel? Where in France would you like to go? What do you hope to do while you’re there? Writing down the specifics won’t just help you plan, but it will probably also get you even more excited for your goal.

Ideas for your List

Lots of people know exactly what they want to do when they retire, but what is you don’t? That’s perfectly fine! 

Start by thinking of the things you’ve put off due to your work life. That doesn’t just mean the big things, like vacations and skills you’ve always wanted to learn (though you should definitely add those things too) but also think about what you didn’t have time for while you were working.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that every bucket list item has to be huge. Yes, learning a new language or traveling to the other side of the world can easily be bucket list items, but so can visiting all the coffee shops in your neighborhood or having dinner with a different friend each week.

A lot of people want to spend more time with their loved ones in retirement. Add this to  your bucket list, but instead of writing “spend time with grandchildren,” write the things that you’d like to do. For instance, maybe you want to teach your grandson to cook or see more of your granddaughter’s soccer games. Add these things to the list and plan for them just like any other goal.

Personal growth goals are also perfect items to add to your bucket list. Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn to play the guitar, for instance. Put that on your list and get specific about it. Don’t just write “Learn to play guitar”, make a plan for how you’re going to learn. Maybe you’ll take lessons or learn from the internet. Write down how you’re going to achieve that dream.

Volunteering and sharing what you’ve learned in your life are also great bucket list items. Spending time helping a cause, for example, is a very rewarding goal. Think about something that matters to you and find an organization that helps with it. Write down how you can help and add it to your bucket list. 

If you have a spouse or partner, it’s perfectly fine if the two of you have separate lists. A lot of couple each write their own list and then swap. Often, there are dreams that overlap or dreams that can be combined. For instance, if one partner has always wanted to take a road trip across the country and another has dreamed of visiting a new city, why not put those dreams together? You’ll probably find several opportunities like this.

For those items that don’t match, work something out with your partner. Maybe you’ll both do a few things from each other’s lists, or maybe you’ll decide to each do a few things separately. Either way, writing down your plans helps you turn them into reality. 

Your Bucket List is Alive

Don’t feel like you need to perfect your bucket list all in one shot. This isn’t a project that you do once and then laminate, never touching it again. Instead, your bucket list is a living document. It can and should change and grow as the years go by. Life is unpredictable and you never know when something new is going to strike your imagination or when circumstances will cause you to change your list. 

Try not to obsess over doing everything on your list exactly the way you wrote it down. There’s a chance you might add so much that it won’t be possible to do everything or that your budget or your health situation will change and you’ll need to revise your plans. That’s fine! It’s better to have too many dreams than to have none at all. 

Creating a retirement bucket list makes it more likely that you will achieve at least some of your dreams and putting one together can get you even more excited for the years to come. It’s common for retirees to feel aimless in retirement. For years you had goals and milestones dictated by work. Now that you’re no longer in the workforce, a bucket list can help you stay motivated and optimistic for the years ahead. You worked hard for this opportunity and now it’s here. Take advantage of it!