What Is a Certified Professional Retirement Coach (CPRC)?

A Certified Professional Retirement Coach (CPRC) is a designation for professionals who help clients navigate retirement beyond financial planning. The CPRC certification equips coaches with specialized knowledge to address the personal, emotional and social aspects of retirement, such as identity, relationships and lifestyle changes. This credential is increasingly valuable for those who wish to guide individuals through the non-financial challenges retirement can bring. This serves to provide a well-rounded approach to retirement readiness.

Do you have questions about planning for retirement? Speak with a financial advisor today.

About the CPRC Certification

People who seek a CPRC certification are usually already working in the retirement field, typically as financial planners. CPRC training expands their understanding of the non-financial aspects of retirement. It also provides additional skills to help them act as coaches for their clients.

The Retirement Project, an organization that financial planner and writer Robert Laura owns, administers the CPRC certification. In addition to this credential, The Retirement Project offers workshops, guides and other resources that help people plan for retirement.

How to Become a CPRC

The only prerequisite to becoming a certified retirement coach is a high school diploma. However, CPRC candidates must also fulfill an educational requirement by completing prescribed courses and passing a final exam.

The education courses are part of nine individual modules. The curriculum is self-paced and includes video instruction. There are also opportunities to interact with other students.

The subject material addresses common themes of retirement planning but also continues on to cover additional topics. In fact, financial concerns are last in the curriculum’s lineup of five key areas for a successful retirement. Other key areas include spiritual, mental, social and physical.

Each module typically requires about two to three hours to complete. The entire educational component includes 28 to 36 hours of work, including 12 hours of required practice coaching. After each module, students must pass a quiz on its content. In addition, there is a final exam that is proctored, closed-book and completed online.

To keep the certificate active, CPRC holders must complete 18 continuing education credits every two years. They also have to follow a code of conduct and ethics.

The CPRC coursework and exam costs $1,795. ¹

Are There Perks to Becoming a CPRC?

As an optional designation, the CPRC indicates that a financial professional has received training in coaching retirees.

While it doesn’t come with any special powers or privileges, CPRC designees do receive access to business-building tools, such as intake forms, client contracts and marketing templates. They may include the CPRC logo in their marketing materials and can also access a private Facebook group to trade ideas.

Certifications Similar to Certified Professional Retirement Coach

Many certificates and designations are available to financial professionals active in advising on retirement. These are similar to the CPRC.

• Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC). Issued by the College for Financial Planning, the Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC) designation requires completing the online self-study CRPC course and exam. It costs $1,375.
• Fellow, Secure Retirement Institute (FSRI). Fellow, Secure Retirement Institute (FSRI) was from LOMA, an insurance trade association. It is no longer offered today.
• Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP). The Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) designation is administered by the American College of Financial Services. The credential is for retirement advisors who want to hone their income solutions and strategies. Candidates can complete the program in as little as three months, but it requires passing three courses.
• Accredited Asset Management Specialist (AAMS). The Accredited Asset Management Specialist (AAMS) certification is overseen by the College for Financial Planning. ² For entry-level investment professionals, it requires taking a $1,375 course and passing a final exam.

What Services Can a CPRC Provide That a Financial Advisor Cannot?

While a financial advisor can tell you whether you have enough money to retire, a CPRC helps you determine what you are actually retiring to. This distinction matters because financial readiness and personal readiness are two different things, and one without the other leads to problems.

Many retirees who are financially secure still struggle with the transition. This is because they never planned for what their days, relationships and sense of identity would look like without work.

A CPRC works with clients on the practical and emotional aspects of leaving a career, including helping build a new daily routine. In fact, the sudden absence of a schedule is one of the most common causes of anxiety for new retirees.

A CPRC can also help retirees address the identity shift that occurs when they no longer have their job title or professional accomplishments to define them. For those who spent decades building a career, this loss can feel disorienting in ways they did not anticipate.

Relationships change in retirement, too, but a CPRC can help clients navigate that. When both spouses are home all day for the first time in decades, friction over space, time and expectations is common. A CPRC can help couples have those conversations before retirement starts rather than after the tension builds.

The same applies to social connections. Most people’s social lives are tied to their workplace. When that disappears, isolation can set in quickly. A CPRC helps clients build a social plan that does not depend on former colleagues or work events.

A CPRC also helps clients think through how they want to spend their time in a way that feels meaningful rather than just busy. That might involve volunteering, part-time consulting, learning something new or mentoring. The goal is not to fill a calendar but to replace the purpose and engagement that work provided.

A financial advisor lacks the training to facilitate these conversations, and most retirement planning tools do not account for them. A CPRC fills this gap.

When to Work With a CPRC

Not everyone needs a retirement coach, but there are specific situations where a CPRC can make a real difference in easing the transition. The people who benefit most are not necessarily the ones with the most complicated finances. They are the ones who built their lives around their careers and have not spent much time thinking about what comes after.

If you are within five years of retirement and feel financially prepared but uneasy about what life looks like without work, a CPRC can help you plan for the non-financial side before you leave. Starting this process early gives you time to test ideas, develop new routines and make adjustments while you still have the structure of a job to fall back on. Waiting until after you retire to figure these things out puts you in a reactive position during a period that already feels unsettled.

A CPRC is also useful for someone who has already retired and is not adjusting well. Boredom, restlessness, strained relationships at home and a feeling that something is missing are all common in the first year or two of retirement. Some retirees go back to work not because they need the money but because they did not have a plan for how to spend their time. A CPRC can help you identify what isn’t working and build a structure to give your days more direction and satisfaction.

Couples approaching retirement with different expectations are another group that benefits from working with a CPRC. One partner may be looking forward to traveling, while the other wants to stay close to home. One may want to volunteer full-time, while the other plans to start a business.

These differences are normal, but they can create serious conflict if couples do not discuss and negotiate before retirement begins. A CPRC facilitates those conversations in a structured way so both partners feel heard. They can then create a retirement plan that reflects both of their needs.

A CPRC does not replace your financial advisor, your therapist or your doctor. It fills a specific gap between financial planning and personal readiness that other professionals address individually. If your money is in order but your plan for daily life is not, a CPRC can add definite value.

Bottom Line

Whether you’re in the middle of your career, about to start retirement planning or already retired, consider how you will handle the transition to post-work life. A retirement advisor with a CPRC certificate will approach the work from a coaching perspective, meaning they will seek to engage and motivate the client more than a typical advisor. Also, their advice will cover more than just financial matters, addressing health, relationships and more.

Retirement Planning Tips

• A financial advisor can help you navigate the transition from working to retirement. Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with financial advisors who serve your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no cost to decide which one is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
• The annual payment you receive from Social Security comes from your income, birth year and the age at which you elect to begin receiving benefits. A Social Security calculator will give you a good idea of what you’ll be getting.

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