Cool Life Planning Websites to Explore
Life planning is the intentional development and pursuit of goals, activities, and relationships that bring meaning and joy to our lives. Contrast this with traditional financial planning that tends to focus more on monetary goals. In other words, life planning is the ends to the means. And, we believe we all need to more fully formulate and pursue the ends a bit more.
While we have discussions with our clients on life planning topics, we will continue to bring ideas and have conversations around these meaningful issues. In the meantime, we are providing a list of some neat websites that are related to life planning in one way or another. We have broken down the sites in the following categories: general life planning, pursuits in retirement, bucket lists, and minimalism. Let us know if you enjoy these or if you stumble across other sites.
It’s interesting to note that my search for life planning produced more websites about end of life planning than present life planning. That begs the question of whether we plan the “end of our lives” more than we plan the rest of our lives.
General Life Planning
Kinder's Money and Meandering Site. A blog from George Kinder’s site on life planning. Kinder is arguably the leading proponent of life planning. While we have not taken all of his life planning courses, we have read many of his books!
Kinder's Life Planning for Consumers. The consumer section by Kinder for those that want to do life planning on their own. We obviously encourage you to seek an advisor (like Oasis Wealth) but some consumers may find this valuable.
Self Author Your Life!. These Canadian creators describe their tool as a series of online writing programs that collectively help you explore your past, present and future. While the past, present and future are tied together, the Future Authoring is of particular interest as the founders indicate that it helps “you envision a meaningful, healthy and productive future, three to five years down the road, and to develop a detailed, implementable plan to make that future a reality.” Each version costs about $15, but it does look interesting.
Lifetick. A site that helps you record goals and dreams, track those goals and dreams, and create a journal. Well-laid out website. It has a more basic free version and more advanced paid versions. I’m trying it out now, and it looks easy to navigate. Will it produce results? I’ll find out.
Goalscape. Its tagline is “visual goal setting software for success”. It has various templates from life goals, to health, to business. Has free and paid versions. Looks fairly advanced and may be a bit tedious, but it generally has good reviews.
Life Goals Mag. Blog that is targeted towards millennial females that touches on self-improvement and goal setting.
Retirement Passion Article. A brief article that provides food for thought on pursuing activities in retirement.
https://encore.org/. Provides resources and encouragement for “second acts” for those over 50.
Passionate Pursuits in Retirement
While the following sites or articles do not address life planning in the broad sense, they do discuss goals that many of our clients have mentioned to us. These aren’t right for everyone, but the key is to explore what that authentic life may look like for you.
Traveling. National Park Service; Road Scholar.
Teaching as a second career: We Are Teachers; Teaching Abroad; High School Teaching as a Second Career.
Boat Adventures: Sailing the Caribbean on the Cheap; Boater Havens in Retirement; Boat Cruising in Retirement.
Retire Overseas. Retired Brains; European Retirement; South America Retirement.
Camping, RVing: The Dyrt; Mobile RV Living; Seniors and the RV; Tennessee RV Camping.
Missions in retirement. IMB's Missions in Retirement; Mission Next.
Starting a Non-profit and Volunteering. Kiplinger's Article; Council for Nonprofits - Wealth of Info; AARP - Nonprofits as a Second Career; Non-Profit Pro; Places for Retirees to Volunteer.
Starting a business. USA Today - Why Start a Business in Retirement?; Guide to Starting a Business in Retirement; Forbes - Baby Boomers Starting Businesses.
Various recreation. Golf Advisor Golf Destinations; Cool Golf Trips Rates; MORE?
Crafts and Trades. Woodworking as a Business?; Benefits of Gardening in Retirement; http://www.retirementhobbies.com/retirementgardening.html; ; Joys of Painting in Retirement; Painting in Retirement;
Writing and Research. Writing in Retirement; Being a Writer in Retirement. Genealogy Blog.
Bucket Lists
While I am providing a list of “Bucket Lists” site, know that Bucket Lists aren’t truly life planning, but they may help us expand our horizons and rekindle certain goals. There are dangers in bucket lists as author Joe Queenan humorously observed in the Wall Street Journal. As Queenan observed, “too many are [bucket list seekers are] trying to have experiences they should have had…in a more authentic form.”
BucketList.net. Their lag line is Bucket List Ideas, Advice, and Support to Live Life to the Fullest. Sharing Life Goals. Swapping Favors. There’s also a neat place to join your “tribe” and interact with others in that tribe.
Lifelisted.com . As they state, this is “a blog and community that freely shares strategies and actionable guides on how to complete a Life List, a self-composed list of personal goals with a self-imposed deadline.”
Bucket List Journey.Part travel blog, part bucket list, this blog is nicely done by a first generation Italian-American. May appeal to more Millennials, but you can find inspiration here. Don’t get too caught up in checking off tasks.
Minimalism
Minimalism is the concept of living with less in a way that helps you experience life more and avoid the trappings of consumerism. I think it also means that you have to produce a blog. (Without blogs, would minimalism exist?) There are many sites out there, but here are a few:
Becomingminimalist.com. As the creator Josh Becker said, this blog site revolves around the theme that “the first step in crafting a life you want is to get rid of everything you don