FAQ
Retirement coaching questions, answered
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What should I know before working with a retirement coach?
Know what you want help with, what format suits you, and what you will have at the end.
Rarified Life has answered 45 common questions below about retirement coaches, retirement life coaching, transition coaching, the Preferment framework and the 8-week course. Each answer starts with the direct answer, then the supporting facts.
What a retirement coach does
What is a retirement coach?
A retirement coach helps you plan the non-financial side of leaving work: identity, purpose, structure, relationships and how you will spend your time. A financial planner looks after the money; a retirement coach focuses on the life that money will fund. Rarified Life approaches this through its Preferment framework, which treats life after work as an active new chapter.
What does a retirement life coach do?
A retirement life coach works with you on who you are once your job title is gone. Typical topics include separating identity from career, finding new sources of motivation, matching daily life to your values and building routines that last. The Preferment course from Rarified Life covers these topics across six modules over eight weeks.
Do I really need a retirement coach?
Not everyone does, but people whose identity was closely tied to their work often benefit from structured help. A meta-analysis cited by lifecoachingcertification.net found 28% of retirees experience depression, with a 40% spike in self-reported depression during the first years after retiring. A coach or course gives the transition a plan instead of leaving it to chance.
What is retirement transition coaching?
Retirement transition coaching is support for the move from full-time work into what comes next, ideally starting before your last day. It focuses on the shift in identity, routine and purpose rather than money. The Rarified Life Preferment course is built for this transition, and Rarified Life says you can begin even if your last day at work is still years away.
Is life coaching for retirement the same as therapy?
No. Life coaching for retirement looks forward and focuses on goals, structure and purpose, while therapy treats mental health conditions. If you are experiencing depression or anxiety after retiring, a licensed mental health professional is the right first call. Coaching, including the Preferment course, can sit alongside that care but does not replace it.
What is a certified professional retirement coach?
A certified professional retirement coach has completed a training program in retirement coaching, usually through a coaching organization. Certification shows training, not results, so ask who issued it and what it required. Rarified Life presents its founder’s lived experience rather than a certification: Anne van Leynseele built Preferment from her own career reinventions.
How do I become a retirement life coach?
Most people who become a retirement life coach complete a general coaching training, then a specialized retirement coaching program, then practice with clients. Requirements vary by program, so compare the curriculum, supervised practice hours and the body that issues the credential. This site covers Preferment for people redesigning their own life after work, not coach training.
Cost and pricing
How much does a retirement coach cost?
Retirement coaches typically charge $150-$300 per session, according to lifecoachingcertification.net, with group workshops as another common format. Your total depends on how many sessions you need. For comparison, the Rarified Life Preferment course bundles eight weekly live sessions, the Preferment book and guided homework into a single course fee.
How much is the Preferment 8-week course?
The course description on rarifiedlife.com lists the investment as $3,000 for eight weekly live sessions with Anne van Leynseele, the book and guided homework. The same product page also displays a price of $6000.00, so confirm the current price on rarifiedlife.com before you decide.
What is included in the course price?
The course includes eight weekly live sessions with Anne van Leynseele, the Preferment book as companion text and workbook, homework built into the book, and a structured path in which each week builds on the last. It is organized into six modules, from Introduction through Launch.
Is a retirement coach worth the money?
It depends on what is holding you back. If your finances are settled but the question of what comes next is not, coaching addresses the part a financial plan leaves open. Published figures on depression after retirement suggest the non-financial side deserves real attention. Judge any program by whether it leaves you with a concrete plan.
Does insurance cover retirement coaching?
Generally no. Retirement and life coaching are usually treated as personal development rather than medical care, so insurance plans rarely cover them. Some employers fund pre-retirement programs, so it is worth asking your HR team. Check with your own insurer or employer to confirm what applies to you.
How Preferment works
What is Preferment?
Preferment is a research-informed framework from Rarified Life for redesigning life after work around your values, purpose and meaningful activities. It is presented as an active alternative to conventional retirement: instead of treating the end of a career as an ending, it treats it as a deliberate next chapter you design.
How is Preferment different from retirement?
Conventional retirement is usually defined by stopping: leaving work and filling time. Preferment, as Rarified Life frames it, is defined by choosing: deciding who you want to be next and organizing your days around values and purpose. The course describes the next chapter as an ascension rather than an ending.
What are the six modules of the Preferment course?
The six modules are Introduction, Identity, Motivation, Alignment, Accountability and Launch. They move from understanding where you are now, to separating who you are from what you did, finding what moves you, matching values to daily life, building structure, and finally naming your mission for the next chapter.
Is the Preferment course live or self-paced?
The Preferment course is live. It runs as eight weekly live sessions with founder Anne van Leynseele, working through the Preferment book chapter by chapter, with homework done between sessions. Rarified Life does not describe it as a self-paced video course.
What happens in each weekly session?
Each week works through a chapter of the Preferment book with Anne van Leynseele, and you complete the homework built into the book before the next session. The course page describes this as a structured path rather than a self-help pep talk, with each week building on the last.
Is there a Preferment book?
Yes. The Preferment book is the companion text and workbook for the course, and it is included when you enroll. Rarified Life lists standalone books as coming soon, so check rarifiedlife.com for availability. Its site also shares a book excerpt titled “Embracing the Currents of Change.”
What does research-informed mean for Preferment?
Rarified Life describes Preferment as a research-informed framework, meaning it draws on research about life after work rather than opinion alone. This site does not republish the underlying studies. Where it cites numbers, such as on the By the Numbers page, each statistic is quoted with its original source.
Who it is for
Who is the Preferment course for?
The course is for driven people approaching or in retirement who are done treating it as an ending, especially high achievers whose identity has been tied to their work. Rarified Life also runs a free presentation aimed at accomplished women in their 50s and 60s who are nearing or in retirement.
Is Preferment only for women?
No. The course is described for driven people in general. Rarified Life does offer a free presentation specifically for accomplished women in their 50s and 60s who are nearing or in retirement, which is one entry point, but the Preferment framework addresses anyone redesigning life after a demanding career.
Can I start before I retire?
Yes. Rarified Life says you can begin even if your last day at work is still years away, and without waiting for retirement day. Starting early lets you test new interests and routines while you still have the structure of work, which can make the eventual change less abrupt.
I retired years ago. Is it too late?
No. The Preferment course is written for people approaching or already in retirement. A testimonial on rarifiedlife.com describes spending a few years “wandering around like a goldfish in a bowl” before Preferment. If your days feel full of errands but short on purpose, the framework is designed for exactly that point.
What if my whole identity was my job?
That is the core problem Preferment is built for. The Identity module focuses on separating who you are from what you did for a living, and Rarified Life promises a real answer to “So, what do you do?” that does not begin with “I used to.” For many high achievers this is the hardest and most useful step.
Is retirement coaching useful for executives and professionals?
Often, yes. Executives, attorneys, founders and other professionals tend to have strong work identities and structured days that disappear on retirement. Preferment is aimed at high achievers, and its founder’s own path spans film and television production, digital strategy for Fortune 100 companies, government legal work and farming.
Compared to alternatives
Retirement coach or financial planner: which do I need?
Many people need both, for different jobs. A financial planner answers whether you can afford to retire; a retirement coach answers what you will do with the time. Rarified Life argues that a financial plan alone does not prepare you for the rest of your life, because money does not answer the question of purpose.
How is a course different from 1:1 retirement coaching?
One-to-one coaching is tailored to you and is usually billed per session; a course follows a set curriculum with a defined start and end. The Preferment course gives eight weekly live sessions on a fixed path through six modules. Rarified Life lists 1:1 coaching as coming soon, so the course is its current live format.
Can I just read books on retirement instead?
You can, and books are a good start. The difference is structure and accountability: reading gives you ideas, while a guided program asks you to act on them each week. The Preferment course combines both, with the Preferment book as its text and weekly homework worked through alongside live sessions.
Is Preferment the same as an encore career program?
Not exactly. Encore career programs focus on finding new paid work after a first career. Preferment is broader: it helps you choose how to spend your time based on values and purpose, which may include paid work, service, creative projects or learning. Work is one possible outcome, not the assumed one.
How does Preferment compare with retirement community lifestyle programs?
Lifestyle programs in retirement communities usually offer activities, clubs and classes on site. They supply things to do. Preferment focuses on deciding which things are worth doing for you and building a structure around them. The two can work together, since a clear purpose makes it easier to choose activities that matter.
Why choose Preferment over a general life coach?
A general life coach covers any area of life; Preferment is built specifically for the shift out of a demanding career. Its modules address identity, motivation, alignment and accountability in that context. If your main question is life after work, a specialized framework is focused on it; if it is something else, a general coach may fit better.
Practical details
Is there a retirement coach near me?
Location may matter less than you expect, since many retirement coaches work by video. Rarified Life lists Edmonds, Washington, and a mailing address in Captain Cook, Hawaii. Check rarifiedlife.com for how the live Preferment sessions are delivered before assuming you need someone local.
How long does the Preferment course take?
Eight weeks. The Preferment course runs as eight weekly live sessions, with homework from the book completed between them. Plan for the session itself plus time each week for the exercises, which Rarified Life describes as real exercises rather than busywork.
Where is Rarified Life based?
Rarified Life LLC lists Edmonds, Washington, and a mailing address of PO Box 1174, Captain Cook, Hawaii 96704. Its founder, Anne van Leynseele, co-owns an award-winning chocolate farm on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Does Rarified Life offer 1:1 coaching?
Not yet. Rarified Life lists 1:1 coaching as coming soon. The live 8-week Preferment course is the current way to work through the framework with Anne van Leynseele. Check rarifiedlife.com for updates on new formats.
Who teaches the Preferment course?
Anne van Leynseele, the founder of Rarified Life and author of the Preferment book, leads the live sessions. Her background includes building and selling a Los Angeles film and television production company, advising Fortune 100 companies on digital strategy across three continents, and serving as an Attorney Advisor in the Obama Administration.
Getting started
How do I start exploring Preferment?
Start with the free material. Read the Preferment framework page on this site, then the guides on life after retirement and lifestyle planning. When you want more, rarifiedlife.com hosts a free presentation for accomplished women in their 50s and 60s and the full details of the 8-week course.
What should I do in the first month of retirement?
Resist filling every hour right away. Keep a light daily structure, notice which activities give you energy, and write down what you miss about work: often it is people, challenge or purpose rather than the job itself. Those notes become raw material for the Alignment stage of Preferment.
What should I ask before hiring a retirement coach?
Ask what format they use, how many sessions a typical engagement takes, the total cost, what training they have, and what you will have at the end. That last answer matters most. For the Preferment course, the stated end point is naming your mission for the next chapter and stepping into it.
How do I enroll in the Preferment course?
Enrollment happens on rarifiedlife.com, where the Preferment course page lists what is included and the price. This site is informational and does not take enrollments. Read the course overview here first so you know what the eight weeks involve.
Common problems
Why do I feel lost after retiring?
Work quietly supplies identity, structure, social contact and a sense of being needed, and when it stops all of those can vanish at once. Rarified Life describes this as standing in a room nobody prepared you for, with more time than ever and no idea what it is for. It is common, and it can be worked through.
Is it normal to feel depressed after retirement?
It is common. A meta-analysis cited by lifecoachingcertification.net found 28% of retirees experience depression, with a 40% spike in self-reported depression during the first years after retiring. If low mood persists, speak with a doctor or licensed therapist; coaching is not a substitute for clinical care.
My spouse isn’t retiring at the same time. What now?
Staggered retirement is common and calls for an honest conversation about time, space and expectations. The partner at home usually needs routines that do not depend on the working partner’s schedule. The Alignment and Accountability stages of Preferment help you build a personal structure, which eases the pressure on a partner to fill every hour.
I am bored in retirement. How do I fix it?
Boredom usually signals a lack of challenge or meaning, not a lack of activities. Rather than adding errands, identify what used to motivate you at work, such as solving problems, leading people or creating something, and find a new outlet for it. That is the focus of the Motivation module in Preferment.
What if I start and lose momentum?
Losing momentum is exactly why structure matters, because intention fades without routines, deadlines and someone expecting progress. The Preferment course addresses this with an Accountability module and weekly live sessions, so each week of homework has a natural checkpoint before the next session.
Return to the retirement coach guide to Preferment.