The 5-Year Dream Plan

Budgeting for Memories, Not Just Retirement

A warm welcome to all my recent subscribers. Thank you for signing up. If you don’t already have the Substack app, please consider downloading it, as I regularly post short notes there in addition to these weekly newsletters. In fact, one such note led to this week’s post.

A few days ago, I left a quick comment on a fellow Substack writer’s post about future planning. I wrote:

“My wife and I did something similar recently. We wrote down a big and small dream adventure list for the next five years and planned a budget for each activity. Already been for a Lighthouse Keeper’s cottage stay.”

To my surprise, that simple note quickly became my most-liked comment on the platform. It clearly struck a chord. It seems many of us are hungry for a different way to think about our futures, one that isn’t just about pensions and traditional retirement.

For many, the prospect of either a pension or the financial ability to retire seems like a distant, unachievable concept. And deferring our joy while we spend decades earning increasingly seems out of kilter with the volatility and uncertainty in the world right now, not to mention the sheer cost of living.

My work in older adult mental health settings has led me down a path in life where I have seen many planned retirements and dreams scrapped in the face of dementia, cancer, or other illnesses. As I have edged into my fifties, I have become more interested in alternative views on positive ageing that challenge our normal notions of wealth.

In recent years, two books have profoundly shifted my thinking on this subject: The 100-Year Life by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott, and Die with Zero by Bill Perkins.

Traditional financial advice tells us to hoard our money for a rainy day or some ever-distant retirement. But Perkins argues that we should focus on maximising our life experiences rather than our bank balances. As we age, our wealth might grow, but our health and physical ability to enjoy that wealth can often decline sooner than we might like. Both books give very practical advice about how to plan financially for the long term and how to transfer wealth across generations.

The Big and Small Dream List

I read Die with Zero during the Christmas period and was inspired to create our own ‘Joyful Adventures List.’ Over a glass of wine one night, with a special new notebook in hand, my wife Lucy and I sat down and created our 5-Year Dream Adventure Plan.

At the top of our notebook, I wrote the heading: ‘Life experiences: positive + joy.’ We then started a list with two columns on the right-hand side: one for the amount we would need to budget for that adventure, and one for the year in which it could happen. Broadly, these adventure experiences fell into two categories. Below are a few examples of our “Big Dreams” (the larger, perhaps international adventures that require significant saving) and our “Small Dreams” (accessible, local experiences we can budget for in the near term, or that might even be free).

Big Dreams:

• Visit Mark, Sam and the kids in New Zealand (2030): Realistically need to save £5k - £10k.

• Campervan trip from Barcelona to Bilbao (2028): £5k.

• Swimming holiday around the Isles of Scilly (2027): £2k.

Small Dreams:

• Stay at Noss Head Lighthouse cottage for the weekend (2026): £300.

• Walk stages of the Speyside Way (2026): £100.

• Host family and friends for the Nairn Highland Games in the summer (2026): Free.

You get the idea. Some of the expensive items were pushed towards the end of the plan to give ourselves more time to save. The free things or cheaper dreams we scheduled for this year.

We currently have 34 dreams in our five-year plan, with 7 of these already marked as DONE. So far this year, we have already ticked off a stay in a Lighthouse Keeper’s cottage at Noss Head, running the Moray Marathon, white water kayaking at Pinkston Watersports Centre, skiing in the Cairngorm Mountains, and many more free and smaller running and cycling adventures, which get put into the diary at the start of every month.

Ticking off a "Small Dream" at Noss Head Lighthouse. All smiles and sea breezes, completely unaware of the six-hour hospital visit waiting for us just around the corner! Image by author.

The Messy Reality of Ticking the List

But if you read my recent post about the Moray Marathon, you might remember that Lucy broke her leg just two days before my race.

What I didn’t tell you was where that happened. She broke her leg right there at Noss Head, during our dream lighthouse stay. One minute, we were enjoying a coastal retreat, and the next, we were navigating a six-hour stay in Caithness General Hospital.

I have been reflecting on that frustrating episode since then, and it has made me more determined than ever to keep ticking off our dream list. Lucy and I may not be walking the Speyside Way (the long-distance walk on our list) this year, but there are many other things we can and will do while she rehabs her leg.

Life is entirely unpredictable. You cannot wait for the “perfect time” to take the trip, walk the trail, or book the cottage, because the perfect time doesn’t exist. Our health is fragile, and our circumstances can change in a split second. The resilience we need to navigate life’s sudden storms is built, in part, by the rest, the positivity, and the joy we bank during these life experiences.

The True Meaning of Intergenerational Wealth

This brings me back to my late friend Derek, whom I wrote about last week. Amongst other things, Derek left a legacy of outdoor adventure, and with it, numerous happy, positive life experiences.

A lot is written about wealth transfer, but for me, that is true intergenerational wealth. It is not about the money you leave behind; it is about the shared memories you create and enjoy while you still can.

I am sure you have your stories, like us, with friends and family members suddenly taken from us, like Derek, or struck down by some major illness. We can take our health for granted, and we are certainly not guaranteed tomorrow. So, rather than endlessly saving for a rainy day, maybe it is time to start budgeting for a sunny one.

Or perhaps it is raining in your world just now. In what way can you find support to plan and deliver a small dream? What would bring you joy amid the current chaos?

What would be on your 5-Year Dream List? What is one “Small Dream” you could either budget for (or enjoy for free) and book this year? Let me know in the comments below.

Dream on, friends.

Neil

The ruined castle Sinclair Girnigoe near Noss Head at sunset. A beautiful reminder to bank the peaceful moments and the positive memories while we can. Image by author.