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AARP joins with Kumanu to help older adults discover ‘what’s next?’

Amy Alipio,

AARP

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Published September 11, 2025

Purposeful by Kumanu, Getty Images

Older people often find that they’ve lost their sense of purpose once their work life ends, research shows. “It’s so normal for people who are retired to start asking the questions: What next? What do I do with my life now?’ ” says Vic Strecher, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and founder of well-being company Kumanu.

Now AARP members can get help forging a new path for themselves. “We’ve teamed up with Kumanu to offer AARP members a free year of Purposeful—a science-backed app for phone or desktop—to help build positive habits to feel happier, healthier and more energized,” says Heather Nawrocki, AARP vice president of experiences and connections.

People with a stronger sense of purpose have significantly lower rates of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, lower stroke and heart attack risk, and fewer sleep disturbances and are more resilient to stressors, studies show. The key, Strecher says, is actually articulating that purpose. “If you can state it, you’re about 40 percent less likely to be depressed.”

On the Purposeful app, AARP members and aarp.org registered users can get help crafting a purpose statement as well as access to tip-of-the-week emails and a quarterly purpose webcast specific to AARP. For a limited time, AARP members can also get a free one-year subscription to the full Purposeful experience, which includes daily coaching, deeper content and additional resources from aarp.org, such as connections to local AARP events and tips and resources tailored to older adults. Nonmembers who are aarp.org registered users can also access this, for a discounted rate.

“Users of Purposeful tend to be individuals going through transitions in their lives,” such as a graduation, wedding, retirement, divorce or loss of a loved one, Strecher says. “I like to say that you usually need Purposeful when you get a Hallmark card.”

David Kanazawa, 68, began using Purposeful after he found his mental health had “taken a nosedive” because of “a very challenging past five to 10 years” that included losing a leg in an accident, going through a divorce and being laid off the job he’d held for 31 years, he says.

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The Leesburg, Virginia, area resident likens Purposeful to “having my own private counselor. It helps me to pick up my mood and not be so negative.” A self-described “huge procrastinator,” he says one of the first things the app helped him do was develop a routine for taking his medications. “All these mini steps are the things that are helping me to find my purpose simply by getting myself in a better frame of mind.”

The app, which is based on more than 1,000 psychological studies, prompts you to address whatever aspects of your life you’d like help with, from “resilience” and “self-discipline” to “physical activity” and “healthy eating.” For assistance with specific matters like food access, housing and transportation, Purposeful can connect users with services in their area, even providing maps.

To get the most out of Purposeful, Strecher suggests answering the initial assessment “as honestly as you can so the app can more authentically give you help.”

He also recommends turning on notifications so the app can send wellness tips. “We have well over a thousand tips, and every one of the tips has been carefully vetted by staff who is expert in this area,” he adds. The app also allows users to share their own wellness tips with other Purposeful users—but only after the tips are vetted by Kumanu’s health experts.

“We find especially older people tend to really want to do that, to provide a strategy for what’s worked for them,” Strecher says,

Go to aarp.org/purposeful to find out more.