Many people enter retirement unsure about what to expect in this new phase of life. Just the thought of retirement may bring a wide range of emotions, both positive and negative. For many, the guidance of a retirement coach is the ultimate difference maker for entering retirement optimistic and fully energized.
In retirement coaching, coaches help clients navigate various areas of their lives to develop new habits, manage relationships, find passions, and more. If you’re thinking about trying some form of retirement transition coaching, this guide tells you all you need to know.
What Is a Retirement Coach?
A retirement coach is someone who works with a retiree or someone on the verge of retiring to safely transition into retirement and map out action plans to carry out during that life period.
Retirement coaches typically work with middle-aged individuals and help them move from the career they’re exiting into whatever lies ahead. They guide and help retirees to make the most of the time they now have available. This makes it easier for a retiree to navigate the challenges associated with the “what next” question that many retirees face.
At a)plan coaching, we apply a whole-person coaching approach that helps clients review their lives holistically. While retirees often have their financial situations planned out, many are not emotionally ready for this phase of life and are often at a loss for what to do. For people nearing retirement, working with a retirement transition coach helps them to address all aspects of their lives—where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’d like to be—and helps them get there.
Who Should Consider Retirement Coaching?
As with any new phase of life, change can be scary. Some individuals entering retirement may feel there’s a void in their lives because they’re no longer as active as they used to be. Others may feel left out of key areas of life, since retirement comes at a time when family—children especially—are independent and moving through their own life phases.
The best time to prepare for any moment in life is before it arrives, hence anyone considering retirement will find the services of a coach valuable. Additionally, those who are either new to or well into retirement may also benefit from working with a retirement coach.
The transition from employment to retirement is emotional. However, one thing is certain: with the help of a coach, you can thrive in retirement. Your coach will help you navigate your fears, identify your passions, and help you organize plans to make the most of your retirement—all while helping you stay accountable.
3 Key Ways a Retirement Coach Can Help
Retirement invites deep reflection on how you’ve spent the past years and how you’d like to spend your remaining years. Here are three key ways a coach can help you smoothly navigate this time of your life.
1. Planning and Pursuing a Fulfilling Retirement
In retirement coaching, you work with your coach to identify what you want, and they help you identify how to achieve it. As many coaching clients discover, retirement age is not the time to power down, as some people assume. Rather it may be the time to unleash your genius.
Your coach walks you through your deepest passions, dreams, and ambitions to identify the best use of your retirement time. During this immersive experience, clients often unearth a great deal of potential they never knew existed. Your coach then helps you plan how to maximize that potential for a fulfilling life.
2. Your Personal Support System
Some people may face loneliness in their retirement years. With a coach’s help, you won’t have to navigate those emotions alone. Your coach supports you at each step of your retirement journey to help you optimize your life for success and fulfillment.
A retirement coach also acts as a standby accountability partner and sounding board with whom you can discuss ideas and thoughts as you consider what you really want out of life.
3. A Commitment to Self-Improvement
With a coach’s help, your self-improvement journey takes center stage. If for whatever reason, you didn’t have the opportunity to develop your potential during your working years, your coach will help you to get on track to do just that. For retirees already committed to self-improvement, retirement won’t be a time to hang up their boots either.
Your coach helps you to identify what’s important to you and works with you to draft the plan to become the best version of yourself. If you’ve ever felt like you want to pursue a better version of yourself in the future, your coach will help you map out the self-improvement schedule to become it.
Expert Retirement Coaches at a)plan coaching
At a)plan, our diverse roster of nearly 60 coaches features dozens who have personal experience with retirement and specialize in our whole-person coaching method. Our coaches are deeply passionate about coaching and focus on helping clients make and execute plans that move them from where they are to where they want to be.
Our clients and coaches meet weekly and use our simple yet powerful app to track progress along the way. Working with an a)plan coach truly represents a clean slate and the opportunity to create your ideal life. For many retirees, coaching provides the perfect backdrop to make the most of an exciting life transition.
Custom Match with a Retirement Coach
We understand that retirees have been through various life experiences that have shaped their worldviews and ambitions. That’s why it’s important to pick a coach who’s a great match for you. At a)plan, our coaches are well-trained and vetted to ensure consistency and quality of skill to serve the best interests of our clients.
To help our clients find the best retirement coach possible, our coach-matching survey provides personalized coach recommendations based on your responses. We know from experience that the perfect coach can change everything. That’s why our coach matching tool is the perfect place to start for anyone trying to make the most of their retirement with a coach by their side.
Find a retirement coach today. Try our coach-matching tool to find your perfect coach in minutes.