Introducing Our New Feature: Ask a Retirement Coach

Hi. My name is Gary Foster and I am a Certified Retirement Coach.

A whaaat?

It's usually blank stares, or raised eyebrows that accompany that reaction when I tell someone what I do, followed by "What the heck is a retirement coach and why would anyone need one?"

I understand the reaction.

After all, retirement is pretty cut and dried, right? You hit a certain age, gather up your stuff, and ride off into the sunset to enter those "golden years." Where's the mystery? Why would I need to be coached into that?

It's a legitimate question. Let me explain.

I'm a member of a relatively small, but growing cadre, of certified retirement coaches being spawned within an organization called – wait for it – The Retirement Coaches Association. We're all responding to a growing awareness that retirement isn't the cruise ship nirvana that people expected and that the model spawned 50+ years ago simply doesn't apply anymore.

What's to take its place? That's where coaching plays a role.

Not financial coaching. That's not our thing. We still leave that to the many highly-qualified and effective financial planners and we advocate strongly for having one in your corner.

We're all about the non-financial side of retirement. We know that, unfortunately, 2 of 3 retirees enter their retirement with NO semblance of a non-financial plan.

Like an iceberg, most of what goes on in retirement is below the surface and outside of the conversations and planning that goes on with most financial advisors.

Serious non-financial considerations such as the mental, social, physical, and spiritual adjustments accompany every retirement. These four “soft side” pillars will raise their heads in any retirement.

Most retirees drift into their retirement expecting it to take care of itself while failing to consider the potential impact of these elements. If anticipated and planned for, however, they can help lead to a longer, healthier, more purposeful retirement instead of being roadblocks.

Retirement coaching helps with these four pillars.

Coaching starts by helping pre-retirees and early retirees understand how the retirement landscape is changing away from the traditional labor-to-leisure, vocation-to-vacation model that has become so entrenched in our psyche over the last 50+ years.

It's no longer your parent's or grandparent's retirement. Extended lifespans, changing economic environments, healthcare costs, observations of previous retirees, and desire for more meaning in life are all converging to drive new thinking of how one spends their post-career life.

We haven't been here before.

The challenge comes with the realization that this new extended post-career period doesn't come with the same sort of guideposts we had for all the other phases of our lives.

We're in new territory with outdated maps but with the potential of 20-40 years of runway ahead. Where beach, bingo, bridge, and bocce ball made sense a couple of generations ago, it doesn't resonate now for most boomers and GenXers as they approach the traditional retirement years.

It's with that awareness in mind that I am teaming up with Booming Encore to initiate a monthly "Ask A Retirement Coach" column.

Every month we will answer questions from you about the non-financial aspects of retirement planning.

Our goal is to help you "go beyond the numbers" and provide additional education about this changing retirement landscape and provide insight into how to ensure that your retirement years become the most gratifying, productive, and purposeful period of your life.

So be sure to send us your questions to [email protected] and watch for our "Ask A Retirement Coach" article the first week of each month on Booming Encore's website and newsletter.

I look forward to finding out what is on your mind.

About the Author

Gary Allen Foster is executive recruiter, retirement and career transition coach, writer, and speaker. He shares his thoughts about aging and retirement on his blog – Make Aging Work.