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The Preferment Guide

A Rarified Life guide to Preferment

Retirement lifestyle planning, built around who you are next

Last updated: November 2026Published by Rarified Life

Retirement lifestyle planning means deciding how you will spend your time, energy, and identity after your career, not only how you will pay for it.

Rarified Life's Preferment framework treats that planning as an active redesign. Across six modules, you separate who you are from your job title, find what moves you now, and build weeks that reflect your values. This guide explains the framework first, then the 8-week course.

Explore the Preferment framework

The Preferment path

  1. Module 1: Introduction

    Where am I starting from?

  2. Module 2: Identity

    Who am I without the title?

  3. Module 3: Motivation

    What gets me up in the morning now?

  4. Module 4: Alignment

    Does my week reflect what I value?

  5. Module 5: Accountability

    What keeps my plan from fading?

  6. Module 6: Launch

    What is my mission now?

What is retirement lifestyle planning?

Retirement lifestyle planning is the side of retirement that a spreadsheet cannot answer: who you will be, what you will do with your days, and why it will matter. Financial planning asks whether you can afford to stop working. Lifestyle planning for retirement asks what the years ahead are for.

Both are needed. A strong portfolio does not stop the quiet question many accomplished people face after their last day: so, what now? Planning your retirement lifestyle early gives that question a real answer.

Definition

Preferment, defined

Preferment is a research-informed framework from Rarified Life for redesigning life after work around personal values, purpose, and meaningful activities. Rarified Life presents it as an active alternative to conventional retirement. Where retirement often means stepping back, Preferment means stepping toward a chosen mission. It was created by Anne van Leynseele, who describes having lived four reinventions, from Los Angeles film and television to public service to farming in Hawaii. The framework moves through six modules: Introduction, Identity, Motivation, Alignment, Accountability, and Launch.

By the numbers

Why the lifestyle side needs attention

Retirement worry is rising. NIRS reports that 80% of Americans say the nation faces a retirement crisis, up from 67 percent in 2020, and 61 percent are concerned they will not achieve financial security in retirement. EBRI's 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey found workers' confidence in living comfortably fell 6 percentage points to 61%. Retirement can also be long: SafeMoney.com notes a 65-year-old couple has approximately a 50% chance that at least one spouse lives to 90. See all sources.

Course facts

The Preferment course at a glance

  • 8 weeks, one live session per week
  • 6 modules, from Introduction to Launch
  • 1 book, Preferment, used as the workbook
  • Led by author Anne van Leynseele
  • Price: $6,000.00 listed on the course page; $3,000 stated in its description (as of November 2026)

Planning your retirement lifestyle: how the approaches compare

Each approach solves a different problem. The table uses the same criteria for every column. For a fuller ranking of five approaches, see retirement lifestyle planning approaches ranked.

Planning your retirement lifestyle: three approaches compared by The Preferment Guide, published by Rarified Life
CriterionPreferment 8-week course (Rarified Life)Financial retirement planningFiguring it out as you go
Main question it answersWhat is my life after work for?Can I afford to retire, and how?Whatever comes up day to day
FormatEight weekly live sessions with the authorMeetings with a licensed professionalSelf-directed, no set format
Covers identity and purposeYes, through the Identity and Motivation modulesNot usually the focusOnly if you seek it out
Built-in accountabilityYes, a dedicated Accountability module and weekly homeworkPeriodic reviews of your financesNone by default
Stated cost$6,000.00 listed; $3,000 stated in the course descriptionVaries by advisor and fee modelNo direct cost

Retirement lifestyle transition planning in six steps

You can start today, whether your last day was last year or is still years away. These steps follow the order of the Preferment modules.

  1. 1

    Take stock of where you are

    Write down what your work gives you beyond income: status, structure, colleagues, problems to solve. This mirrors the Preferment Introduction module.

  2. 2

    Separate who you are from your job title

    Describe yourself in three sentences without mentioning your role. If that is hard, the Identity work matters most for you.

  3. 3

    Find what moves you now

    List activities that absorb you so completely you lose track of time. Motivation after a paycheck comes from these.

  4. 4

    Match your week to your values

    Sketch a sample week. Check each block against your top values and strengths. This is the Alignment step.

  5. 5

    Add structure and accountability

    Commit to recurring times, people, and check-ins so intentions become routine, the focus of the Accountability module.

  6. 6

    Name your mission and launch

    Put your next chapter into one sentence you would be proud to say when someone asks what you do. That is your Launch.

How to enjoy life after retirement

To enjoy life after retirement, replace what work quietly gave you: identity, motivation, structure, and people. Free time alone rarely feels good for long. Time spent on things that match your values does.

Our guide on how to enjoy life after retirement walks through each of these, with a worksheet that shows how many hours a week you are about to get back.

Retirement lifestyle ideas that start with your values

The best retirement lifestyle ideas are the ones that meet a real need for purpose, mastery, connection, health, or contribution. Here are three to start. Browse more retirement lifestyle ideas sorted by what they give you.

Mentor in your former field

Keep your expertise alive while trading competition for contribution.

Start a small venture

Anne van Leynseele now co-owns an award-winning chocolate farm on the Big Island of Hawaii. Reinvention can be hands-on.

Learn something demanding

A language, an instrument, or a craft gives you mastery and a reason to practice every day.

Explore the framework first, then the 8-week course

Once the framework makes sense to you, the Preferment course is the structured way to work through it. Anne van Leynseele leads eight weekly live sessions, chapter by chapter through her book, with homework between sessions. Rarified Life describes it as a course for driven people ready to treat retirement not as an ending but as an ascension.

Read what the 8-week course includes or see how it compares with retirement transition coaching.

Common questions

What is retirement lifestyle planning?

Retirement lifestyle planning is deciding how you will spend your time, energy, and identity after your career, alongside how you will fund it. Financial planning answers whether you can afford retirement. Lifestyle planning answers what the years are for. Rarified Life's Preferment framework is one structured approach to the lifestyle side.

More answers in the FAQ

What is Preferment?

Preferment is a research-informed framework from Rarified Life for redesigning life after work around your personal values, purpose, and meaningful activities. Rarified Life presents it as an active alternative to conventional retirement: instead of treating the end of a career as an ending, Preferment treats it as a next chapter you design on purpose.

More answers in the FAQ

How do I enjoy life after retirement?

Enjoy life after retirement by replacing what work gave you, not just your hours. Work supplied identity, motivation, structure, and a reason to show up. Rebuild each on purpose: know who you are beyond your title, find what moves you now, fill your week with activities that match your values, and create accountability so plans become routine.

More answers in the FAQ

What are good retirement lifestyle ideas?

Good retirement lifestyle ideas meet a real need: purpose, mastery, connection, health, or contribution. Examples include mentoring in your former field, learning a demanding new skill, starting a small venture, serving on a board, or committing to a fitness goal. Pick ideas by testing them against your values rather than copying a bucket list.

More answers in the FAQ

Is retirement stressful?

Retirement can be stressful, even when it is wanted. Losing a role, daily structure, and work relationships all at once is a major change. Money worry adds to it: EBRI's 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey found workers' confidence in having enough to live comfortably fell 6 percentage points to 61%. Planning both lifestyle and finances reduces the uncertainty.

More answers in the FAQ

How to plan for retirement?

Plan for retirement on two tracks. The financial track covers savings, income, healthcare, and timing, ideally with a licensed professional. The lifestyle track covers identity, purpose, relationships, and how your weeks will look. Start both early. The Preferment framework from Rarified Life focuses on the lifestyle track and works alongside financial advice, not instead of it.

More answers in the FAQ

How much does the Preferment course cost?

As of November 2026, the course page on rarifiedlife.com lists the course at $6,000.00, while the course description on the same page states an investment of $3,000 for the eight live sessions, the book, and the guided homework. Because the page shows both figures, confirm the current price at checkout before you enroll.

More answers in the FAQ

Who is Preferment for?

Preferment is for people, especially high achievers, who are approaching or already in retirement and want life after work to be built around values, purpose, and meaningful activity. The course page describes its audience as driven people who are done treating retirement like an ending and ready to treat it like an ascension.

More answers in the FAQ
Read all questions about Preferment and life after retirement

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Published by Rarified Life