Written by Hazel Secco, CFP®, CDFA®
Client Snapshot
- Who: “Jessica,” corporate executive turned consulting-firm founder, age 46
- The situation: $1.6M investable, twenty years of climbing, and a decision to bet on herself
- The problem: The leap raised every hard question at once:
“How much runway do I actually have?”
“What happens to my retirement pace without a corporate 401(k) and match?”
“What replaces the benefits, the equity, the predictability?”
The Weight She Carried
After two decades of climbing, Jessica was ready to build something of her own. The idea was solid, the clients were waiting, and the fear was specific: she had spent twenty years building security, and the leap felt like gambling all of it at once. She wanted to see the numbers before the numbers could scare her.
What We Did: How Align360™ Worked for Jessica
Organize & Align
We separated her personal financial foundation from the business bet, defining exactly how much runway the household needed so the firm could take risks without her family absorbing them. Her security and her ambition stopped competing for the same dollars.
Analyze & Collaborate
We modeled the scenarios: slow launch, strong launch, and no launch at all, each mapped against her retirement timeline, so she knew the worst case before it could scare her. She resigned only after the numbers said she could.
Recommend & Implement
We built her founder benefits stack: a solo retirement plan, a health coverage strategy, and tax estimates matched to irregular income, plus an investment plan that kept her long-term money working while the business found its feet.
The Transformation
Jessica launched her firm with a defined runway. Her retirement stayed on schedule through a self-employed savings structure, her benefits were replaced one by one, and she made the leap with confidence, because the numbers had already been faced.
Your Next Step
What would it take to bet on yourself without gambling your security? If the leap is calling, let’s face the numbers together. The first call is complimentary, a chance to see if we’re mutually a good fit. Book your Align Call here.
Want to go deeper first? Read our financial planning for high-earning women.
This case study is hypothetical, does not involve an actual Align Financial Solutions client, and is provided for illustrative purposes only. It should not be construed as a guarantee that any client will experience the same or similar results.