Coaches offer instrumental training, guidance, support, and encouragement, to the people they serve. No matter the type of coaching, they push you to be the best version of yourself—whether in the boardroom, on the field, or in your personal life.
Nearly every industry has coaches—business, fitness, personal/life, sports, etc.—and the demand for coaches is only rising. The estimated market value for life coaches has steadily increased and is projected to top $1.34 billion by 2022. There are also over 56,000 business coaches in the U.S, a 2.8% increase from 2020.
While you may be familiar with the types of coaches listed above, did you know that you can work with a coach specifically for retirement?
A retirement coach can help you build a framework for your retirement that centers around non-financial elements, such as your goals, values, lifestyle, community, experiences, and more.
Retirement marks a monumental and coveted life transition, and you deserve to find the confidence and clarity to enter it with joy and excitement.
Today, we’ll explore what a retirement coach is and how they can help you retire to a fulfilled life.
What’s A Retirement Coach?
Retiring with inspiration, promise, and fulfillment is perhaps one of the most sought-after phases in your life, yet it’s often quite misunderstood. Far too often, conversations around retirement only focus on the dollars and cents from projections to assets to insurance and more, leaving everything else blurred in the background.
But retirement coaching and focuses on the non-financial aspects of retirement people often take for granted.
Retirement coaching flips the script and brings attention to the most rewarding (and challenging) aspect of retirement: crafting, nurturing, and fully living a life you love.
And purpose in retirement is not something to take lightly. In fact, research from the London Institute of Economic Affairs uncovered that the likelihood of someone developing clinical depression goes up by roughly 40% after retiring, and it’s not too hard to see why.
Work provides a deep sense of purpose and meaning to many people’s lives. It can be a source of growth, fulfillment, and passion, and leaving it behind can leave many people with a lack of direction and purpose in a traditional retirement.
A retirement coach brings unique perspectives and expertise to help you create this phase of your life with deep thought and intention.
What Would A Retirement Coach Help You Accomplish?
Retirement coaching isn’t a cookie-cutter, one-time experience that leaves you with a dose of ambition, a copy of a motivational speech, and a dream.
It’s a structured, disciplined practice that provides a written plan of action to help you navigate your life.
The basis for retirement coaching is grounded in several fields like positive psychology, behavioral finance, human behavior, and other research. It transforms how people approach the non-financial elements of their retirement life, like:
- Mental
- Social
- Physical
- Spiritual
Each of these areas has a powerful influence on your happiness and overall satisfaction. When one area is out of balance, the others follow.
Think about it using the example of stress. Being stressed out doesn’t just impact your mental wellbeing. It can also affect your physical wellbeing, like not getting enough sleep or exercising regularly. Moreover, stress may lead you to isolate yourself, curbing social connections and leaving less time for spiritual work.
Retirement coaching helps strengthen each of those areas to keep you balanced throughout this transition.
This process can help you answer essential questions like,
- How will you fill your time in “retirement”?
- How can you build an intentional routine that lets your goals and values shine?
- Where will you find meaning and fulfillment in everyday life?
- In what ways can you stay mentally and physically healthy, active, and engaged?
- How will you form and maintain social connections and relationships?
- Are you prioritizing your spiritual well-being? What does that mean to you?
- What do you want your legacy to be? This is a two-pronged question that contains a financial and personal component.
Knowing the answers to these (and more) questions will help you find confidence in your retirement plan. Retirement coaching offers a structured way to form the next few decades of your life and do so in ways that are profound and meaningful to you.
Here’s another tool that can help you self-evaluate your balance: The Retirement Transition Wheel. This tool can help you determine how satisfied you are in the 12 key areas of a successful retirement transition.
Retirement Isn’t An Ending; It’s A New Beginning.
For decades, society has shaped retirement as the ultimate ending. Even the official definition calls it “the act of ending your professional career.”
In all of the various definitions and connotations, people frame retirement as a conclusion or finale, and not just that, but more alarmingly, as a state of permanence. The idea that retirement is a permanent ending is stagnant and can leave people listless and depressed as they move through what was supposed to be their golden years.
But here’s the thing: retirement isn’t as simple as leaving the workforce and riding off into the sunset with the credits rolling aimlessly in the background. It’s an active, dynamic, and critical point in your life that requires thoughtful direction, attention, and care to make it what you want it to be.
We’re constantly fed the idea that you work hard throughout your career so you won’t have to work one day. But again, that story is too simple to capture the nuance of your life and experience. Given increased longevity, it’s not uncommon for retirement to last 20+ years—that’s an incredible gift and an important responsibility.
The following decades of your life should be marked with more than simply “not working.” You should have something you’re working towards; a new set of goals that influence your habits and decisions.
It’s your time to write your life’s story—don’t go in without an outline, or things will likely end up jumbled, messy, and incomplete.
The reality is that your ideal retirement life won’t simply fall into place—you have to create the pieces and put them into your life every day. A retirement coach can help you think critically about what you want from your life in retirement and ways you can add meaning and value to this next season.
Form Your Retirement Identity
Up until this point, you’ve found motivation and drive from various goals—building a career you love, finding a life partner, raising a family, traveling the world, etc. You have the opportunity to do the same thing for retirement.
What new goals will drive you to live an inspired life in retirement? What “title” or focus do you want to bring to this phase? Perhaps you want to pursue an encore career, earn a new designation or certification, go back to school, embark on a passion project, open a business, volunteer, etc.
The options are endless; you just have to find the ones that work for you.
TFS Values Retirement Coaching and Life Planning
Here at TFS, we want to see you use your money in ways that add meaning, value, and inspiration to your life. You’ve worked so hard over the years, and you deserve your retirement to be everything you want.
But just like your savings journey, you won’t be able to create that idealistic life overnight. It takes a lot of work, effort, and dedication.
We’re committed to helping you mold your vision into reality. Our founder and CEO, Dale Terwedo, is so passionate about this area that he decided to pursue a certification as a retirement coach. He recently earned his official certification as a Certified Professional Retirement Coach (CPRC) and is elated to begin incorporating this important work into new and existing client relationships. Read up on Dale’s journey and personal story here.
What Does Your Retirement Bumper Sticker Say?
Think about your retirement bumper sticker like a mantra for this next incredible phase of your life. Writing a bumper sticker should be a fun and engaging exercise that helps you set the tone for retirement.
Here are some ideas to get the creative juices flowing:
- Let Freedom Ring
- Adventures Abound
- The Best Chapter
- Inspired Not Retired
It’s our goal to help you live “inspired, not retired.” If that mantra has you nodding your head and smiling, we just may be a great fit! Schedule a time to talk with our team today.
We can’t wait to help you make your retirement—your life and your money—the best it can be.
