Maria Pontes — Retirement Reinvention Coach & Author

In January 2016, while setting my New Year goals, I realised I had only five years left before retirement.

A conversation with my HR Head exposed two questions I couldn't properly answer:

What is your net worth?andWhat are you actually going to do with your time?

That moment began my personal journey into financial preparation, self-discovery and rethinking what retirement could actually look like. I began preparing not only for the money side of retirement, but for the life that would follow the role I had held for decades.

In 2020, one year before I retired, I helped a colleague who had only three months left before retirement and no plan for what came afterwards. I had recently completed my Life Coaching certification, so I coached her through the transition.

By the time she retired, she had greater clarity, confidence and direction. That experience showed me how much the identity side of retirement matters — and how rarely it is planned for.

Today I work with professionals approaching or navigating retirement, helping them move from a role-defined identity to a self-defined next chapter through my R.E.A.P. Method.