How ready are you?

We asked five boomers what they’ve done to prepare for retirement and what’s they’re expecting in the years ahead. The answers, happily, are generally positive, at least for this group.
Bill May
Age: 62
Location: I live on 80 acres outside of Briggsdale, Colo.
Occupation: I was a business marketing teacher and football and baseball coach at the high school level before I retired after 30 years.
Hometown: I have lived in the Greeley area since 1968. I grew up in Lakewood, Colo. 
Marital status: Married.
Retirement age/date: I retired in 2001.
Retirement Plan: I saved and am covered by PERA retirement. 
What would you have done differently? I wouldn’t do anything different. 
Donna Sigward
Age: 59
Location: Cheyenne, Wyo.
Occupation: I am a licensed clinical social worker at Peak Wellness Center, a community mental health agency. I am a clinical supervisor and early-childhood family therapist.
Hometown: Born in Torrington, Wyo. and graduated from high school in Ainsworth, Neb. Graduated with a master’s degree from University of Wyoming in 2004.
Marital status: Married 39 1/2 years.
Retirement age/date: I haven’t set a date or age. I like my work.
Retirement plan: I fully fund an IRA every year, contribute to a 401(k) at work, have a Roth IRA, am paying down mortgage as much as possible and have rental property.
What would you have done differently? I wish I had gone to college 20 years before I did, as this has made the greatest difference in my ability to fund our IRAs. My spouse has been totally disabled after an industrial accident in 1981.
Jim Angell
Age: 54
Location: Cheyenne, Wyo.
Occupation: Executive director, Wyoming Press Association.
Hometown: Walla Walla, Wash.
Marital status:  Married
Retirement age/date: 2023
Retirement Plans: I have been investing in an annual retirement benefit provided by my company in a retirement plan. Also, I am vested in a pension from a previous employer and have purchased part ownership in a family farm that provides an ongoing revenue stream.
What would you have done differently? I would put more of my take-home pay into a retirement account. And I would have made sure that the money came off the “top” of the paycheck. Otherwise, it seems like there’s nothing left to invest at the end of the month. I hope to improve in that area in the coming years.
Gary Burton
Age: 68
Location: My wife Liz and I live at Seeley Lake north of Greeley. We moved here six years ago from Arvada.
Occupation: I retired from PepsiCo eight years ago after working for the same company for 41 years. I retired at age 59. I was the director of sales for the last 24 years of my career. My wife Liz owns her own business – Professional Background Investigations Inc. She does pre-employment screening for businesses. She is not planning on retiring anytime soon. She is 65.
Hometown: I was originally from Haxtun, Colo., and Liz is from Gothenburg, Neb. However, I moved and lived in the Denver and Arvada area from the age of eight.
Retirement Plans: My retirement went smoothly and I set up an account with a local financial management company. All went well until the market collapse in 2008. Then we, like many other retired people, suffered some pretty significant losses out of our retirement. I changed financial managers after that experience to go with someone with a better plan on what to do when there is trouble in the market. Three years ago I started volunteering for Weld County United Way. I worked on the volunteer Cabinet in Denver for the Mile High Campaign during the 1990s, so I already had a big appreciation for all of the good that United Way does in the community. I am now the campaign chairperson for the Weld County Cabinet and serve on their board of directors. I think that retired business executives make great volunteers in the community.
Betty Artez
Age: 57
Location: I have lived in Lafayette for the past four years but am moving to Louisville to be closer to work. Also downsizing!
Occupation: I am the co-owner of Casa Alvarez Restaurant in Boulder, Colo.
Hometown: That is a difficult question. I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to the United States in 1962 when I was seven years old. We lived in New York City for the next 22 years, and I considered myself a staunch New Yorker. I moved to Boulder in 1984 when my son was 6-months-old and have lived here ever since. So I have lived in Boulder the longest and feel invested in the community so will say that Boulder is my hometown.
Marital status: Divorced.
Retirement age/date: I don’t think I will ever really retire. I enjoy my work and am branching out to other areas of the food industry, packaging and selling our sauces in retail stores. I think that in a couple of years I will try to wind down the day-to-day restaurant part of my career to enjoy more free time, to possibly do more community volunteer work and some travel.
Retirement plans: My financial planning has always been focused on real estate and my business. I have done well in those two areas and continue to invest in those areas. I purchased a property in Taos, N.M., with the idea that someday I would move there but currently I use it as my getaway and retreat center.
What would you have done differently: I am pretty happy with how things are turning out. We have been affected by the various downturns over the past 18 years that we have been in business but have learned to adjust to the changes in the economic climate. Happily, I did not invest in the stock market so was not affected by the decline in value as others were.

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