Can I really afford my bucket list?

Jessica is like many older ladies who has come to see me after a lifetime when their husband has been the one worrying about the finances in the family… but he, sadly, is no longer there to do that.

It can be the result of bereavement, as in Jessica’s case, but it also often happens when someone has taken over the financial reins when a partner has become too ill to manage their own affairs.

In Jessica’s case, her husband had been very canny during his lifetime and had left her well provided for after his death. But – like many people who haven’t had to deal with the nitty gritty of managing money – she was concerned about what she would and wouldn’t be able to afford during the years to come.

So we sat down, looked at her assets and income, and talked through what she still wanted to achieve – for herself as well as other members of her family. We ended up what can best be described as a “bucket list” – a dozen targets which she would ideally love to happen… some large ones, such as financing her future care needs, others relatively modest.

One was a city break with a friend of many years’ standing to whom she just wanted to say “thank you” for their support. A few days away in a city they had always talked about visiting was her way of doing that.

I’m delighted to say that I was able to reassure Jessica that she would be able to tick all of the boxes on that list over the coming years, and this was the reassurance she needed to relax and enjoy herself – confident that the resources were in place to do that.

She phones me from time to time to tell me how that list is going – but best of all was receiving her postcard from Edinburgh.