When working with clients at Restart Coach, I often toggle between two distinct roles: coach and consultant. As a coach, my goal is to help you become the hero of your story — to empower you to define your vision, uncover your values, and take ownership of your journey. But sometimes you’ll see me step into a consulting mode: running numbers, offering frameworks, introducing investment models or Monte Carlo simulations to help clarify your path forward. I believe both modes are essential.

Why both? Because simply coaching someone through vision and mindset isn’t always enough — and consulting someone with data and recommendations without helping them internalize the change often falls short. For clients who’ve already paid off debt and are now looking at early-retirement or investment strategies, what they need is the coaching lens (to define what “freedom” means to them) and the consultant lens (to map out how much they’ll need, where the funds could go, what risk they’re comfortable with). In my consulting role I’ll take your expenses, discretionary income, investment horizon and run those through models so you can see the trade-offs: how much lifestyle you could maintain today versus how quickly you can exit the rat race.

The reality is, many people are unprepared for retirement: more than half of Americans say they are unable to achieve financial security in retirement (National Institute on Retirement Security) For example, one study found that nearly two-thirds of Baby Boomers approaching retirement are financially challenged and facing undefined risk (The Financial Brand) If you’re already in a place where you’ve cleared debt and have discretionary income, you’re in a unique position — but you’ll still benefit from both the coaching to connect your values and the consulting to validate the plan.

In short: I coach first so you lead the journey. I consult when you want to accelerate, fine-tune or explore the “how” of investments, income and retirement planning. Together we’ll make sure your retirement is not just a date on the calendar—but a clear, intentional chapter you confidently step into.