What’s On Your Bucket List?

While recently exploring through The Carmel Valley Life I realized it’s been a year since I have been involved with this wonderful community website.  It occurred to me how quickly this past year has gone by, and almost gave me a strange feeling because I can perfectly remember writing my first article about the holidays last December.  Every year time seems to go by faster.  Yes, I realize that’s what happens as we get older!  But it still amazes me.

Take a minute to think about your past year.  Did you accomplish something you always wanted to accomplish?  Did you travel somewhere wonderful?  Did any life changing events occur?  Surely in this past year there was an unexpected or unplanned occurrence, good or bad, in your life.  We cannot predict our future.  We cannot predict if we will face an illness, accident, or when we will face death.  However, we can plan for it.

It’s the holiday season; it should be a happy time of year.  You probably don’t want to read about planning for incapacity or death right now.  So instead, I encourage you to think about it in a fun and enjoyable way.  Make your bucket list (yes, like in the movie The Bucket List)!  A bucket list is a list of things you would like to do before you die. This might include travelling, skydiving, mending a broken relationship, trying new and exotic foods, etc.  Put a few things on that list that can be achievable in this next year.  And, as a professional, I encourage you to put estate planning on that list.  Time is going to continue to fly by, so start working on that list!
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Christine Ellingsen is a Northern California native now practicing law as an estate planning attorney in Carmel Valley San Diego at the Barger Law Group, APC.  She spent a year in New York working in the business sector before moving to Southern California to attend law school at the University of San Diego.  She is happy to have started her law career in San Diego and to now call Encinitas home, where she keeps busy between exploring Coastal North County and training her new puppy.