About
About this retirement coaching guide
The Retirement Coaching Guide is published by Rarified Life, a business that offers retirement coaching and the Preferment framework for high achievers.
We wrote this site to explain what retirement coaching is, how it differs from financial planning, and how coaching can support a purposeful transition after a demanding career. It is not an independent review site: the business it covers publishes it.
Last updated: November 2026 Published by Rarified Life
Who publishes this guide?
Rarified Life publishes this guide. It is one of a small number of websites the business publishes, and its main website is rarifiedlife.com. Because Rarified Life offers retirement coaching and the Preferment live course, it has a commercial interest in the topics covered here.
What Rarified Life does
Coaching and the Preferment framework
Rarified Life offers a research-backed Preferment framework and coaching to help high achievers rethink retirement, separate identity from their careers, and create an active, purposeful next chapter. Its approach is presented as an alternative to conventional retirement, emphasizing personal values, meaningful pursuits, learning, and physical activity.
It also runs the 8-week Preferment live course and a free presentation for accomplished women in their 50s and 60s who are nearing or in retirement.
Founder: Anne van Leynseele
Anne van Leynseele built and sold a production company in Los Angeles film and television, advised Fortune 100 companies on digital strategy across three continents, served as an Attorney Advisor in the Obama Administration, and helped write the legal framework for recreational cannabis in Washington State.
She co-owns an award-winning chocolate farm on the Big Island of Hawaii and wrote Preferment, the book the course is built on. Rarified Life is based in Edmonds, Washington and Captain Cook, Hawaii.
Why this site exists
Most information about retirement is about money. People leaving demanding careers often find the harder questions are about identity, time, and purpose, and those questions get far less attention. This guide exists to answer them plainly, in the words people actually search for.
We aim to be useful even if you never work with Rarified Life. That is why the guide covers alternatives such as financial planners, therapists, and self-guided planning, and says when each fits better. Read how this guide is written.
Common questions
What is Preferment?
Preferment is Rarified Life's framework for life after career, presented as an alternative to conventional retirement. Rarified Life describes it as research-backed. It moves through six modules: Introduction, Identity, Motivation, Alignment, Accountability, and Launch. It is the basis of founder Anne van Leynseele's book, Preferment, and her 8-week live course.
Who is Anne van Leynseele?
Anne van Leynseele founded Rarified Life and wrote Preferment. She built and sold a Los Angeles film and television production company, advised Fortune 100 companies on digital strategy across three continents, served as an Attorney Advisor in the Obama Administration, and co-owns an award-winning chocolate farm on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Where can I learn more about Rarified Life?
Visit rarifiedlife.com, the main website of Rarified Life, the business that publishes this guide. It describes the Preferment framework, the 8-week live course, and its free presentation for accomplished women in their 50s and 60s who are nearing or in retirement.
Who is retirement coaching for?
It is for people whose work shaped much of their identity, such as executives, founders, attorneys, physicians, and other high achievers. Rarified Life's free presentation is aimed at accomplished women in their 50s and 60s who are nearing or in retirement. It also helps people who already retired and feel adrift.
Is there retirement coaching specifically for women?
Yes. Some programs focus on women's experience of leaving a career. Rarified Life's free presentation is designed for accomplished women in their 50s and 60s who are nearing or in retirement, including those whose identity has been wrapped up in their work. Its course and framework are open to driven people generally.
Keep reading the guide
- What does a retirement coach do?Pillar guide answering what a retirement coach does, who retirement coaching is for, and how it differs from financial planning.
- When to hire a retirement coachSeven signs it is time to hire a retirement coach, the best timing, and when another kind of help fits better.
- Retirement coach vs financial plannerSide-by-side comparison of retirement coaches, financial planners, therapists, self-guided planning, and group courses.
- Retirement transition coachingHow retirement transition coaching and life coaching for retirement help separate identity from career.
- Life after retirementThe five emotional stages of retirement, how long adjustment takes, and how to enjoy life after retirement.
- Am I emotionally ready to retire?A free 10-question self-reflection quiz on emotional readiness for retirement. Not a clinical assessment.
- The Preferment live courseWhat the 8-week Preferment live course from Rarified Life includes, its six modules, and who leads it.
- Retirement coaching by the numbersSourced statistics on retirement coaching costs, the coaching market, depression after retirement, and caregivers.