While there’s no doubt that Sarah Billington’s The Ultimate Retirement Bucket List is well-written, it has a feature that few other books on the topic have. With this book, you are essentially a co-author, and it’s you who fleshes out the details on your own retirement bucket list.

Billington starts by noting that while retirement does indeed mean you are getting older, “don’t let it hold you back. Age is just a number if you take care of your body and mind.”

Then the co-authoring begins – a little questionnaire asks about your passions, your skills, and new things you’d like to learn. It asks you what you’d like to do more, and importantly, what you’d like to do less.

The Fun and Leisure chapter asks you to list books you’d like to read, movies and TV shows you want to “see or binge-watch,” recipes to cook and new pursuits to try.

The Travel Adventures Near and Far section sets out local attractions you’d like to see, restaurants you’d like to dine at, festivals and events to attend, and day trips to take.

The Common Deathbed Regrets chapter asks you to list any “relationships to repair,” and people you’ve lost touch with, folks you should visit and birthday cards you should send. We liked the advice in the Relationships chapter to jot down people “to spend more time with” and “people to spend less time with.”

On that latter group, Billington notes that “if there are people you find drain you, or bring you down, or take up too much of your time or emotional space, write their names down here. Silently thank them for the memories you shared together, wish them well, and mentally let them go to make room for those who fulfill you.” A wise sentiment, that.

Other chapters cover Healthy Habits – those to change, and those to adopt. There’s advice on Mental Health including the need to let regrets go and practice mindfulness. There’s a chapter on Creating Purpose.

At the end of this interactive book you will have created a handy list of all the things you want to do, plus a few you don’t want to do. It’s a reference manual – rather than thinking up new things to do with all the extra time you’ll have, you capture the ideas once and then can add/review/amend them going forward.

At the end, writes Billington, you have a bucket list “for a healthy and strong, adventurous, mind-expanding, fulfilling, playful, meditative, and meaningful retirement to help you expand your comfort zone so you can focus on and live the life you truly desire for the decades to come. Your retirement years are going to be your best ones yet.”

Those best years, of course, will be even better if you’ve saved for retirement along the way. If you don’t have a pension plan at work (or you do, but want to build additional savings) the Saskatchewan Pension Plan (SPP) may be just the ticket. It’s your personal retirement system – you contribute some cash during your working years, that money is invested and grown on your behalf, and at retirement, SPP provides you with options on how to turn the invested savings into a lifetime income stream. Why not check out SPP today?

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