The permanet magnet composed of a rare earth element, e.g. samarium, and cobalt together with iron, copper and some other additive elements and prepared according to the inventive method has a high coercive force and excellent squareness of the magnetic hysteresis loop despite the relatively low content of copper which has been considered to be indispensable for obtaining a high coercive force. The characteristic feature of the inventive method consists in the aging treatment of the sintered body of the alloy powder of a specified composition undertaken in two or more steps, each being carried out by continuously cooling the sintered body within a specified temperature range at a specified cooling velocity.