What is a Certified Retirement Life Coach?
Many people will be familiar with financial planning before retirement. Working with an independent financial advisor or wealth manager can help you ensure you are saving and investing effectively to provide for retirement.
And for many, that’s job done. But we know from research that there is much more than finances to a successful and fulfilling retirement. And that’s where retirement coaching comes in.
The transition from working to retiring brings many more challenges than having enough to live on. Some can’t wait for the free time to begin; for others the question is ‘What will I do?’ You may have some projects lined up – travel, moving house, a new skill to learn – but what comes after that? Will it give you the sense of purpose and structure that working does? Many are surprised at how their concept of self – and how others perceive them – changes too; work is a big part of our identity. And then there are the impacts on family and relationships, as well as the loss of the social network work often provides.
This is where a Certified Retirement Life Coach comes in, providing space to explore and consider non-financial factors known to impact psychological wellbeing in retirement. A Retirement Life Coach helps those approaching retirement to reflect on their working lives, actively design how they want their retirement to be, and put plans in place to achieve this. It could be about exploring a new part-time role, having conversations with partners or family about expectations and boundaries, becoming aware of what really motivates you, or even re-imagining a whole new lifestyle. Usually it’s a combination of these.
How is it different from Executive Coaching?
Executive coaching tends to focus on fulfilling the requirements of a current or future role. It is about performance, getting the best out of people, devising strategy and building confidence.
Certified Retirement Life Coaches bring specialized understanding and insights into this unique life transition, moving from the certainty of work to the uncertainty of a new phase of life. Certified Retirement Life Coaches deal with the psychological and emotional transition, such as feeling a loss of identity and creation of a new identity. It is also about looking to pursuits outside of work to provide the sense of satisfaction and fulfilment that we all long for–feelings that are often fulfilled through work.
How is it different from Life Coaching?
Retirement Life Coaches are similar to more general life coaches. Their goal is to enable individuals to forge their own path in life, a path that is aligned with their core values and sense of self. What sets Retirement Life Coaches apart from Life Coaches is the focus on retirement-specific changes and adjustments. Retirement involves the separation from something that has formed a large part of one’s life, and sense of self. So while Retirement Life Coaches consider the broader picture of life in general, they also focus more specifically on this shift, what it tends to involve, and what it means for each client, individually.
A Personalised and Evidence-Based Approach
Every coach, or planning professional, will have their own style and method for working with clients. In our Retirement Life Coach Certification, we encourage coaches to bring their own coaching style, previous training and experience, and other tools to blend with the insights the gain on retirement. Some will have more structured approaches to the coaching process while others allow the coaching process to unfold. What they all bring to the coaching process is deep understanding and insights into the retirement experience, based on research on retirement. They bring an awareness of how retirement varies from person to person, the factors that support wellbeing in retirement, and the adjustments and challenges that may come up along the way. With this awareness and understanding, Certified Retirement Life Coaches are able to provide more specialized support in this transition.
By Anne Cannings (Certified Retirement Life Coach) and Pauline Johnson-Zielonka, PhD (Founder of Retirement Life Plan)
Certified Retirement Life Coaches are experienced, with backgrounds and qualifications in coaching, as well as retirement specifically.
Our Retirement Life Coach Certification equips you with tools and knowledge to support retiring clients through a successful transition.
